The Greek Golden Visa: What Actually Qualifies in 2026
The thresholds moved, and they now depend on where you buy. Here is the current picture and the traps buyers keep falling into.
Eleni Marinaki
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It is no longer one number
The Golden Visa used to be a flat investment threshold anywhere in Greece. It isn't any more. The minimum now depends on the area, with the highest tiers covering central Athens, Thessaloniki, Mykonos and Santorini, and a lower tier applying to the rest of the country.
This is the single most common misunderstanding I see: a buyer budgets against the old flat figure, then finds the apartment they liked sits in a higher-threshold zone.
What the permit gives you
- Residency for the investor, their spouse, and dependent children.
- Free movement in the Schengen area.
- No automatic right to work in Greece.
- Renewable as long as the qualifying property is still held.
Where files get delayed
- A single property below the threshold. Combining two cheap apartments to reach it doesn't always work, the rules on aggregation are narrower than people assume.
- Money trail. Funds must arrive from the applicant's own foreign account, traceably. Paying through a relative is the fastest way to a rejection.
- Off-plan timing. With presale, what matters is when the qualifying value is actually paid and registered, not when you signed.
Before you commit
Have a lawyer confirm the threshold for the specific address before you pay a deposit. The zone boundaries are not intuitive and the difference is not small.
General guidance, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and every purchase differs, get a licensed Greek professional to confirm your own position.
