With Spain’s popular golden visa scheme coming to an end in April, Brits have been offered a lifeline by Greece, which offers the same deal for half the price.
The lower house of the Spanish parliament – The Congress of Deputies -voted in favour of abolishing the Golden Visa programme, which will come as a major blow to many Brits wishing to settle in the country.
The programme, launched in 2013, allowed hundreds of Brits to move in the post-Brexit era with minimal paperwork problems.
As Brits scramble to secure Spanish residency after it was recently announced that Spain’s Golden Visa programme is to end, investors are looking to Greece who ask for €250,000 compared to Spain’s €500,000.
To secure a Golden Visa, Spain insists on a minimum investment of €500,000 and the average application takes between three and six months to be processed. As most of these investments wind up in property, Critics have argued that the policy has driven up property prices in Spain’s urban and coastal areas, making housing even less affordable for Spaniards in an already saturated market.
However, Greece’s Golden Visa requirements are much more affordable than Spain’s with a minimum required investment of just €250,000. Applications are often processed in as little as three months, after which residency can be granted for the whole family for five years. Once the five years is up, residents are given the opportunity to renew.
Like Spain, there is no requirement to live in the country and become a tax paying resident in order to secure residency and the Greek Golden Visa can be extended as long as you maintain your property investment.
Greece offers much of the same lifestyle benefits of Spain: stunning weather; beautiful beaches and landscapes; a great education system; good policing and a property market packed with opportunities for investors.
Citizenship, residence permit, and real estate investment expert for Astons, Alena Lesina, said Greece is “rapidly becoming the most in-demand Golden Visa destination in Europe.”
“Greece is one of the most welcoming of Golden Visa nations, and its programme is undoubtedly going to benefit from increased interest after Spain closes its door. This makes it a particularly attractive place to invest early and ahead of the curve, because as demand for Greek property increases, so too will values, delivering great benefit to existing investors.”