Golden visas in Europe are getting rarer, with Cyprus and Greece offering two of the last affordable options. But how can you choose between the two?
Both permit real estate as well as financial investment options. Each combines glorious Mediterranean lifestyles with attractively low taxation for qualifying foreign residents. And both of them have excellent connections to the rest of Europe. Here we pitch them against each other to help you decide between them!
Like everything in life, investing in an EU country to get residency and borderless travel around Europe’s Schengen Area is only getting more expensive. Your investment options – to invest in real estate or a financial entity – are shrinking too.
Cyprus and Greece are two destinations whose golden visas are gaining traction
Portugal and Spain, two champions of the golden visa era remain attractive options, but both now require minimum investments of €500,000 (financial investments only in Portugal). Turkey is more reasonable at $400,000 (€380,000) but isn’t a member of the European Union. Malta’s choice of residency by investment (RIB) schemes includes what appears to be the cheapest option around, although it requires you to rent property and make a government contribution.
Cue Cyprus and Greece, two destinations whose golden visas are gaining traction for their lower upfront costs, fast application process (approximately 2 – 4 months), favourable tax options on foreign income and of course affordable sunny lifestyle. For the sake of clarity, golden visas are sometimes associated with citizenship only, but we also use the term in relation to residency.
You can spend a lot of time abroad on your path to Cyprus residency
Cyprus offers a generous fast-track route
Especially appealing about Aphrodite Isle’s golden visa is that holders get immediate permanent residency (rather than a renewable temporary residency). They also need to visit the island just once every two years.
The conventional route to citizenship is still only seven years of residency during the last 10
Thanks to new rules introduced in December 2023, the country also offers fast-track routes to citizenship by naturalisation. You need to have either three or four years of legal residency status during the last 10 years followed by 12 months of consistent residency. You are allowed an absence of 90 days within that year. Otherwise, the conventional route to citizenship is still only seven years of residency during the last 10 years, followed by a consistent 12-month stay. Again an absence of up to 90 days permitted. In both cases, other conditions apply.
The minimum investment required for a Cypriot golden visa application is just €300,000 excluding VAT. This can be invested in one or two new residential properties sold for the first time by a developer or developing company. Alternatively, the investment can be in commercial property, such as offices, hotels or retail units, and they need not be new.
Non real estate investment options with the same minimum €300,000 threshold include an established Cypriot company with at least five employees or a Cypriot investment fund or collective investment organisation. The applicant must also meet minimum income requirements but can include a spouse and children in their application.
Find the right property for an affordable golden visa
Restore a property in Greece for the most affordable golden visa
The terms of Greece’s golden visa arguably offer even more freedom than Cyprus’s. Holders are not required to remain in the country to retain their residency status – you need only return after five years when it needs renewing. However, citizenship rules are more stringent than Cyprus. Foreign residents can apply for Greek citizenship after 7 years of residency, but they must have spent 183 days in the country for each of those years.
At first glance, Greece might not appear like an especially affordable golden visa options. Over the past 18 months the government there has raised its minimum residential real estate threshold not once but twice from its old and very attractive level of €250,000.
Which means that since September this year, the minimum investment has been €400,000 for most of the country. In high-demand areas, including Athens, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and islands with a population exceeding 3,100, the threshold is even higher at €800,000.
There are still two real estate options with a minimum requirement of €250,000
However, there are still two real estate options with a minimum requirement of €250,000. These are the conversion of a commercial building for residential use or the restoration of a listed building. Speak with an international residency by investment provider, such as Holborn Assts, for identifying specific properties or designated projects for either of these routes.
Meanwhile, a new non-real estate option with the same low threshold is expected to become available in 2025. According to an announcement made in September by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, golden visa applicants in Greece will have the option to invest €250,000 in a qualifying startup.
Other financial investment options include shares in an alternative investment or mutual fund (minimum €350,000), government bonds or fixed term deposit through Greek credit institution (€500,000), capital contribution to a REIC, closed-end mutual fund or company shares or bonds (€500,000).
