New changes and reforms that are supposed to be implemented on July 1 for the Greek golden visa program has been postponed to after elections in Greece on July 7th.
The 2019 Greek legislative election will be held on 7 July 2019 for all 300 seats in the Hellenic Parliament will be contested.
The changes announced previously were the inclusion of Govt bonds and shares eligible for golden visa scheme in Greece requiring atleast €400,000. These measures were previously announced to diversify investment options for golden visas, to decouple the real estate market from soaring property market as large number of foreign buyers investing in greek property market.
Currently Greece offers golden visas for foreign property investors for €250,000 or ownership in hotels. There is also another option for strategic investments from €300,000 to €1 million which give a 10 year visa.
Currently Greece is struggling with backlog with huge influx of golden visa applicants to deal with. The three central authorities in Attica (Athens, Piraeus and Pallini) have experienced an influx over the 18 months that they cannot deal with. Law firms and estate agents have been delayed due to the application overload by the Decentralised Authorities – regional state agencies above Regional Authorities. Some applicants had to wait until 2021 for appointments due to shortage of staff.
Greece issued 4,537 residence permits to property investors under golden visa scheme as of June 2019. Chinese account more than 50% of the real estate buyers, followed by Russians and Turks, according to the new data released by Enterprise Greece. Greece has the lowest prevailing property prices in Europe, making it attractive for property buyers.
Greece amended the law in 2018 to include Real Estate Owners and Investors have been added to the categories of residence permits that are eligible for the submission of an application for the acquisition of Greek citizenship after 7 years of living.
