Greece Golden Visa Eligibility Test

What the Greece Golden Visa eligibility test does

Greece's Golden Visa is one of Europe's best-known residency-by-investment routes: a qualifying property purchase earns a renewable Greek residence permit for the investor and their close family, with visa-free travel across the Schengen Area and no obligation to live in the country. This tool is a fast, five-question triage that tells you whether the programme is realistic for your budget and goals before you spend anything on legal fees or property viewings. It is built for people weighing Greek residency against other options on our citizenship and residency hub, and it mirrors the logic an adviser would apply in a first conversation. For the programme in full, read our complete Greece Golden Visa guide.

How the five-step test works

The checker asks five questions in sequence — your nationality, your target region in Greece, your investment budget, whether your goal is residency or eventual citizenship, and whether you intend to live in Greece. It then applies a simple priority order rather than a points score, so the first genuine obstacle it finds shapes your result:

• Nationality first. The Golden Visa is designed for non-EU/EEA/Swiss nationals. If you are already an EU citizen you enjoy freedom of movement in Greece anyway, so the tool flags that the programme may add little and points you to an adviser; if you are unsure, it treats nationality as the key open question to confirm.
• Region and budget together. The threshold depends entirely on where you buy. If you choose a high-threshold area — Athens/Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos or Santorini — but your budget falls short of €800,000, the tool returns a "budget gap" result and suggests either a lower-threshold region or specialist help to find qualifying stock in your target area.
• Below the floor. If your budget is under €250,000 and you are not looking at an eligible commercial-to-residential conversion, the result is "below minimum threshold", because that is beneath the lowest qualifying route.
• Otherwise. If none of those obstacles apply, you appear to meet the core criteria, and the tool surfaces the threshold table, the key programme facts and your suggested next steps.

The regional thresholds it checks

Greece deliberately tiers its minimum investment by location to steer capital away from the most over-heated markets. The tool works with three bands: €800,000 for Athens/Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and the most in-demand islands; €400,000 for most other mainland regions and islands; and €250,000 for qualifying properties converted from commercial to residential use. Whichever route you take, the property must generally be held as a single investment and retained to keep the permit valid. These figures were revised upward for the busiest areas in recent reforms — our explainer on the recent Greece Golden Visa changes sets out what moved and why.

Key assumptions and limitations

Treat the output as an indication, not a decision. The test assumes the threshold bands shown above and does not verify them against a specific property or the latest Greek legislation, which can change. It does not price the substantial costs that sit on top of the headline figure — transfer tax, VAT where it applies, legal and notary fees, and ongoing property taxes — nor does it assess the quality, title or rental potential of any particular home. It cannot judge your source-of-funds documentation, your Schengen travel history, or how Greek residency interacts with tax residence in your home country. Those are matters for a Greek lawyer, a tax adviser and your own due diligence, and this tool is not a substitute for any of them.

How to read your result

Results fall into three bands. A red "below threshold" result means a hard gate is not met — your stated budget sits beneath the lowest qualifying route. An amber result ("budget gap" or "speak to us") means the programme could work but a specific issue — usually a mismatch between your budget and your chosen region, or an open question about nationality — needs resolving first. A green result means you appear to meet the core requirements and can move on to property selection and formal advice.

For example, an investor with a €500,000 budget who has set their heart on central Athens will land in the amber "budget gap" band, because Athens sits at €800,000; the same €500,000 directed at a qualifying property in a €400,000 region would instead return green. Someone budgeting under €250,000 for a standard resale is flagged red and steered toward either the commercial-conversion route or an alternative programme. If flexibility on location or country matters more than Greece specifically, it is worth comparing the Portugal Golden Visa checker — now a fund-based rather than property route — or the UAE Golden Visa checker for a tax-free, non-EU alternative.

Why it matters and what to do next

A Golden Visa commits a large, illiquid sum into a single overseas asset, so establishing eligibility early prevents wasted time and cost. Remember too that the permit grants a right to reside, not a passport: because there is no minimum-stay requirement, reaching Greek — and therefore EU — citizenship after seven years takes deliberate planning of genuine residence, a trade-off our guide on the golden visa to citizenship pathway explains. If the test suggests Greece is viable, the practical next steps are to obtain a Greek tax number (AFM) and bank account, shortlist and legally diligence a qualifying property, and file with the Greek Migration Service. Use the enquiry form below to be connected with vetted property and legal partners.