Greek Real Estate Investment Visa

Overview

This visa gives overseas individuals permanent residence status in Greece in exchange for an investment of €250,000 in Greek real estate (Article 20 (B1) Law 4251/2014).

Eligibility

As stated above you will need to invest a minimum of €250,000 into Greek real estate, which must be paid in full before the visa is granted (Article 20 (B2) Law 4251/2014). The transfer of funds must be made from a credit institution or payment service provider operating in Greece.

N.B. this visa route does not provide a right for the individual to work in Greece.

Documents You Will Need

You will need to provide:

  1. a residence permit application form;
  2. a passport and/or additional travel document valid for at least 3 months after the duration of the stay 3 recent passport-sized photographs;
  3. transfer deed(s), lease agreement(s) or deed(s) of repayment and dissolution (if the property purchased was subject to the payments of a credit price) evidencing the investment of €250,000;
  4. the following specific payment details:
    • seller’s, buyer’s, and third party’s identification;
    • the payer’s account number, address, official personal document number;
    • payer’s identification number and date or date the place of birth;
    • the method of payment and the relevant payment accounts of the payer and credit of the beneficiary; and
    • a declaration from the buyer for any marital relationship or kinship with any third party payer;
  5. a certificate for submission to the notary who drafted the transfer deed or lease agreements providing the following details:
    • the parties;
    • the details of the property; and
    • the means of payment (as above);
  6. a health insurance policy to cover any costs of medical care for you and your dependents (Article 20 (B2) Law 4251/2014); and
  7. a health certificate from a Greek public hospital.

Can I bring my family members?

Once your residence permit has been granted, any accompanying direct family members will, upon request, be provided with individual residence permits which will expire on the same date as your residence permit (Article 20 (B4) Law 4251/2014).

Application Process

STEP 1 – Set up a Greek Bank account and transfer the investment funds.

STEP 2 – Purchase Greek real estate in the value of €250,000.

STEP 3 – Submit residence permit application form. At this stage, should your application be accepted, you will be issued a temporary residence permit.

STEP 4 – Visit Greece and attend an appointment for submission of biometric data using your temporary residence permit.STEP 5 – Your residence permit will be issued within 2 months of submission (Article 20 (B7) Law 4251/2014).

Pathway to Citizenship

STAGE 1 – Residence permit is granted for an initial period of 5 years (Article 20 (B1) Law 4251/2014).

STAGE 2 – The residence permit can then be extended for subsequent 5 year periods so long as the real estate investment remains in your ownership and you can produce the title deeds or lease agreements to prove this (Article 20 (B5) Law 4251/2014).

N.B. To retain permanent residency status, you are not required to spend any time in Greece.

STAGE 3 – After 7 years permanent residency in Greece you may be entitled to apply for Greek citizenship (and therefore EU citizenship) (Article 5 Greek Nationality Code). However, you must have been legally resident in Greece for the entirety of this period, an individual is legally resident in Greece if they are present for 183 days in any 12 month period (Greek Income Tax Code (Article 4 Law 4172/2013)).

Additionally, in accordance with Article 5A Greek Nationality Code you will also be required to:

  1. have sufficient knowledge of the Greek language (B1 for understanding and speaking, A1 for writing);
  2. be able to prove that you are familiar with Greek history and culture
  3. prove your participation in a Greek social or charitable organisation·       be familiar with the Greek political institutions and the country’s political history (especially modern history), prove active participation in politics through membership of a Greek political group or society; and participate in local government elections.

Visa Fees

The application fee for the residence permit is €2000. There is an additional fee of €150 per person for any adult dependents. Children under 18 years old are exempt from this fee.

APPENDIX

Article 20 (B) Law 4251/2014

http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/100567/120684/F-12516934/GRC100567%20Grk.pdf

B. Permanent investor residence permit.

By decision of the Coordinator of the Decentralized Administration, a residence permit is granted for five (5) years, with the possibility of renewal, to a third country citizen, who:

  1. Has entered the country legally with any entry visa or resides legally in the country, even if the residence permit he holds does not allow a change of purpose.
  2. It has, in full ownership and prefecture, real estate in Greece.
  3. In the case of indivisible property, the value of the property is at least equal to that specified in case 2, the right to reside is granted only if the co-owners are spouses or partners who have entered into a cohabitation agreement. Otherwise, the right of residence is granted only if the percentage of each co-owner is at least equal to the value specified in case 2.
  4. It has full ownership and prefecture real estate in Greece, through a legal entity based in Greece or another EU Member State, whose shares or corporate shares it holds in its entirety.
  5. Has entered into a long-term contract for a complex tourist accommodation, in accordance with the provisions of article 8 par. 2 of Law 4002/2011 (A ‘180) or a contract for the lease of tourist accommodation, in accordance with the provisions of Law 1652/1986 (A ‘167), as in force.
  6. He has acquired in full ownership and prefecture as an heir of a disposition or from a testamentary will or as a result of parental benefit, real estate of objective value of two hundred and fifty thousand (250,000) euros, and is an adult.

The minimum value of the real estate at the time of its acquisition, as well as the total contractual lease of the hotel accommodation or tourist accommodation of this article, as shown by the notarial transfer deeds and, if they are subject to the payment of a credit price. , from the corresponding legally transcribed notarial deed of repayment and dissolution of the dissolution clause, or the lease agreements, respectively, is set at two hundred and fifty thousand (250,000) euros and must have been paid in full before the request for investment is granted.

The agreed price or rent is paid in full with a two-line bank check on the payer’s account paid to a credit institution operating in Greece or by transfer of credit, according to definition 24 of article 4 of law 4537/2018 (A ’84) , or through a POS installed by a payment service provider, which operates in Greece, by charging a bank credit or debit card of the buyer, in the payments account of the beneficiary kept in a payment service provider, according to definition 11 of article 4 of law 4537 / 2018, which operates in Greece. The above payment methods can be made by a spouse and / or relatives by blood or marriage up to the second degree of the buyer.

All the above provisions also cover the payments that have taken place with the above payment methods from 01.01.2017 until today. All special details of payment, including seller’s, buyer’s, and third party’s identification, the payer’s account number, address, official personal document number, payer’s identification number and date or date the place of birth, the method of payment and the relevant payment accounts of the payer and credit of the beneficiary, as well as the responsible declaration of the buyer for the marital relationship or kinship with any third party payer, must be declared and submitted responsibly by the parties. draft the notary’s contract and be listed on it.

The third-country national, when submitting the application for the grant of a permanent residence permit to an investor, shall submit a certificate to the notary who drafted the transfer notarial deed or the lease agreements of case 2 of paragraph B of this article, the details of which shall be verified. parties, the details of the property, the manner of payment of the agreed price or rent and all the more specific details of the payment, in accordance with the provisions hereof, the existence of any solvent heresy and whether the property has been used by the seller for issuance of a permanent investor residence permit. By joint decision of the Ministers of Finance, Justice and Immigration and Asylum, the type and content of the certificate are determined, as well as any other relevant issue.

By joint decision of the Ministers of Finance, Development and Investment and Immigration and Asylum, the amount of the above real estate may be adjusted, as well as lists of areas of the territory shall be drawn up, with a minimum duration of five years, for which a differentiation may apply. the amount of the investment in the above paragraph, taking into account elements such as development targeting, tourism development, geographical location, as well as the commercial or objective values of the properties located in these areas and to regulate any other details for the application of the above provisions. .

Citizens of third countries, property owners are provided with the opportunity to rent them.

The above third-country national may also be accompanied by his family members to whom, upon their request, an individual residence permit is issued, which expires simultaneously with the residence permit of the maintainer.

Family members are:

  • the other spouse or partners with whom the third-country national has entered into a cohabitation agreement in Greece,
  • the unmarried children of spouses or partners under the age of 21,
  • the unmarried children of the spouse or other spouses or partners, provided that custody has been legally assigned to the children of the spouse and to the children of the other spouses or partners to him / her. under 21,
  • the direct spouses of the spouses or partners.

Children of sub-cases (b) and (c) who reach the age of 21 are granted an independent residence permit for three (3) years, in proportion to the application of the provisions of Article 76 (5) hereof, with the sole obligation to provide of the previous residence permit for family reunification.

The above license may be renewed for a period of time, each time if the real estate remains in the ownership and prefecture of a third country citizen or the contracts of paragraph 1 hereof remain in force and the other conditions provided by law are met. Periods of absence from the country are not an obstacle for the renewal of the residence permit. The resale of real estate during the validity of the residence permit to another third-country national provides the right to grant a residence permit to the new buyer at the same time as revoking the seller’s residence permit.

The residence permits granted in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 4 of this Article shall not establish access to any form of work.

The issuance of the residence permit is granted within two months from the inclusion of all the data of the file in the issuing authority.

In the event of a contract for the sale of a property at any cost, the seller, a third-country national, must provide a certificate from a locally competent Foreigners and Immigration Service of the Decentralized Administration as to whether the property in question has been used for permanent issuance. The above have an analogous application in the case of sale of real estate as a legal entity, the shares or corporate shares of which are held entirely by a third-country national, in accordance with sub-indent c) of indent 1 hereof.

Greek Naturalisation Information Sources

https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/12_greece_pathways_to_citizenship_en.pdf

https://www.ypes.gr/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/egk6-01072019.pdf

Article 4 Law 4172/2013

http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/100462/120514/F90614468/GRC100462%20Grk.pdf

Tax domicile

A natural person is a tax resident Greece, if:

  • has in Greece his permanent or main residence or his usual stay or the center of his vital interests or personal or financial or his social ties or
  • is consular, diplomatic or public a similar regime or civil servant who has Greek citizenship and serves in the other cutting.

A natural person who has a physical presence in Greece for a period of more than one hundred eighty-three (183) days within any ten-month period, uninterrupted or with breaks, is a tax resident of Greece for the tax−year during which the twelve months period.

A legal entity or a legal entity is tax resident of Greece for any reason clock year, if:

  • established or established, in accordance with Greek fair enough,
  • has its registered office in Greece or
  • the place of exercise of actual administration is in Greece at any time during the tax year.

The “real administration place” is in Greece based on the facts and the conditions taking into account in particular the following:

  • the place of daily administration,
  • the place of strategic decisions,
  • the place of annual general meeting of shareholders or partners,
  • the place of keeping books and data,
  • the meeting place of the board of directors or any other executive body,
  • the residence of the members of the board of directors or any other executive body.

In combination with the assistance of the above static and conditions can be considered and the residence of the majority of shareholders or partners.