The well-known Golden Visa (Investor Residence Permit) started in 2013 with Law 4146/2013 and is in recent years the largest pole of attraction for investment in our country by foreign investors. In fact, Golden Visa is a 5-year residence permit issued to third-country nationals who either acquire real estate worth 250,000 euros, or invest 3 to 100 million euros in infrastructure projects or Greek companies, creating 150 positions. work. Golden Visa does not allow access to any form of employment (Article 36A, Law 3386/2005) but its holder may engage in economic activity as a managing director, shareholder, or manager in Societes Anonymes, Limited Liability Companies. Liability to Private Capital Companies. They can only acquire citizenship if they are proven to meet the requirements of current legislation.
An additional option for the foreign investor is the possibility of concluding a ten-year time-sharing lease agreement or even the lease of tourist residences or hotel accommodation.
The Ministry of Finance then extended the Golden Visa Program to categories of investors who buy bonds, shares, mutual funds, corporate shares or will maintain bank deposits in Greece. This extension concerns cases of granting a national entry visa for “investment in securities or bank deposit”, granting a residence permit for “investment in securities or bank deposit” and certain “Special Cases”. In this case, in addition to the necessary supporting documents, a recent certificate from the Directorate of Foreign Funds is required, not exceeding two months.
A third-country national belonging to the aforementioned category may apply and provide the necessary supporting documents himself or herself to a potential attorney who undertakes to facilitate and expedite the entire procedure for obtaining a residence permit.
The specific foreign investors have the opportunity to be accompanied by members of their family, which as the law stipulates can be:
a) the spouse, b) the common children of the spouses or one of the spouses, who are under the age of 21 and c) the direct relatives of the spouses.
It should be noted that each member is required to submit a separate application and expires or is renewed at the same time as the owner’s permission.
