Frequently asked questions

That is what it is designed for. Each residence is offered under the €250,000 change-of-use route, which requires the conversion permit to be issued on or after 5 April 2024, the conversion to be completed before you apply, and the full price to be paid through a Greek bank. Eligibility is therefore subject to completion of the change of use, and the Ministry of Migration and Asylum decides each application: read how the €250,000 route works.

Greece has three real-estate investment tiers. €800,000 applies in Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and islands with more than 3,100 inhabitants, and €400,000 applies everywhere else, including Patras; both need a single home of at least 120 m². A separate €250,000 tier applies anywhere in Greece to property converted to residential use from another use, and to listed buildings that are restored. See how it compares with other European routes.

Not on this route. The 120 m² minimum applies only to the €400,000 and €800,000 tiers, and Circular 1/2026 confirms that it does not apply to the €250,000 change-of-use route. A residence of 16–28 m² is therefore not excluded by its size, as our guide to the 120 m² rule explains.

No. The investment must be one single property worth at least €250,000, and two separate apartments cannot be combined to reach it. Each MVR 19 residence is a separate property offered at €250,000, so one residence is one investment. Co-ownership works only if each share is worth at least €250,000 or the co-owners are spouses or registered partners.

No. The change of use must be completed, under a permitting act issued on or after 5 April 2024, before your application is filed, and an engineer's report certifying it is part of the file. MVR 19's permitting act has yet to be issued, so eligibility is prospective until then. Ask for the reservation and payment terms in writing and have your own lawyer check them, including what happens if the permit is delayed; the timeline guide shows where each step falls.

Non-EU nationals aged 18 or over, with a clean criminal record and private health insurance that covers Greece. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens do not need this permit. New applications by Russian and Belarusian nationals, including their family members, are currently suspended; see the full requirements checklist and the notes by nationality.

One investment can cover your spouse or registered partner, your children under 21, and the parents of both you and your spouse. Each family member receives a residence permit linked to yours. Family fees apply, and the rules for children who turn 21 during the permit are technical, so check them with your lawyer; see family members on a Greek Golden Visa.

In full, before your permit application, by bank transfer, crossed bank cheque or card payment into a Greek bank account. The payer must be you, your spouse or a relative up to the second degree, and the payment details are declared before the notary and recorded in the deed. Cash and payments by unrelated third parties do not qualify, as the €250,000 route guide sets out.

No. €250,000 is the full price recorded in the deed, and the seller does not pay the buyer's taxes, fees or furniture. Circular 1/2026 treats undocumented transfers of money before or after a purchase, and misleading adverts about price or payment, as grounds for referral to the tax, police and anti-money-laundering authorities and for revoking permits. Buyer costs are paid on top of the price: see costs and taxes.

Not to buy. A Greek lawyer acting under a power of attorney, signed at a Greek consulate or apostilled, can obtain your tax number, open a bank account, sign the deed and file the digital application. You must attend in person once, in Greece, to give biometrics; our guide to buying property in Greece remotely covers each step.

Yes. The law allows the purchase through a company based in Greece or another EU state that you own 100%, and the permit is then issued to you as its shareholder. The residence itself cannot be the company's registered seat or a branch, because change-of-use properties must stay in residential use. Company ownership has its own tax and accounting costs, so take advice first; companies were reported as outside the announced 15% transfer tax, which is not yet law.

The official procedure lists 50 days from a complete digital application, but in practice you should allow several months from purchase to residence card. The clock can only start once the change of use is completed. The main steps are tax number and bank account, deed and full payment, land registry filing, application, biometrics and card, as the step-by-step timeline shows.

Today the main tax is a 3.09% transfer tax on the higher of the price and the official objective value: €7,725 on €250,000. Add notary fees of about 0.65–1% plus VAT, land registry fees of about 0.5%, and a lawyer at about 0.5–1% plus VAT. In total, expect roughly 5–7% on top of the price, as the worked example shows.

The main applicant pays a €2,000 fee plus €16 for the residence card, and €2,000 again at each five-year renewal. Family fees also apply; your lawyer confirms the current amounts. You also need private health insurance that covers you in Greece, as listed in the requirements checklist.

In September 2026 the government announced a 15% transfer tax, from 1 July 2027, for individuals from outside the EU and EEA buying residential property; companies, people of Greek origin and long-term residents were reported as excluded. It is not yet law, and how it would treat converted properties such as MVR 19 is unknown. If it applied to a €250,000 purchase, the tax would be about €37,500–38,600 instead of €7,725. Read what is known so far.

Rent from Greek property is taxed in Greece whether or not you live there, and you file an annual Greek tax return. From tax year 2026 the scale is 15% up to €12,000, 25% up to €24,000, 35% up to €36,000 and 45% above, applied after a 5% deduction. Your home country may also tax the income, so check with a tax adviser; the costs guide includes yearly holding costs.

Yes, on long-term leases, for example to university students or young professionals. Golden Visa homes may not be let short-term (under 60 days) through sharing-economy platforms such as Airbnb: the penalty is a €50,000 fine and loss of the permit. Greek law sets a three-year minimum for main-residence leases, so ask your lawyer how that applies to academic-year student leases. Read the short-term rental ban explained.

No. We do not offer guaranteed rent or yields, and the figures here are dated market observations, not forecasts. In September 2026 Geoaxis put the Patras median asking rent for typical student flats at €11.3 per m² a month (about €374 for 33 m²); conventional studios of up to 25 m² in our area were advertised at about €250–300 a month plus bills, and all-inclusive purpose-built studios at €500–740. At €250,000 that is a gross yield of roughly 1–3% before costs, so the case rests on the residence permit and a low-maintenance, long-let home, not on income; see student demand, both sides.

Mainly university students, plus young professionals. The University of Patras had 28,418 active undergraduates in 2025 and only about 840 public dormitory places; the Koukouli campus is about 2.2 km on foot, and the main campus at Rio is 9.4 km by road, about 13 minutes by car. There are soft spots too, such as admitted students who do not register and new purpose-built student housing, which the Patras student housing guide weighs up.

You can sell, but the €250,000 route can be used only once per property. A later non-EU buyer seeking a permit would need the €400,000 tier and a home of at least 120 m², which a studio cannot meet. Plan for resale at local market value, to buyers who do not need a permit; the once-only rule is explained in full.

Selling the property ends the permit unless you replace the investment. To keep your status, buy the new qualifying property first, notify the authority, and only then sell the old one. Selling first puts the permit at risk of revocation, so plan any switch with your lawyer and read the rules of the €250,000 route.

We do not forecast prices or promise capital growth. Because the next buyer cannot use the €250,000 route, resale value is set by the local market: average asking prices in Patras were about €1,467 per m² in the first quarter of 2026, with new or renovated homes in the centre advertised well above that average. If resale value matters to you, ask an independent registered valuer before you buy, and read our risk disclosure.

No. There is no minimum stay to keep or renew the investor permit, and time abroad does not prevent renewal. You attend in person once, to give biometrics. Time actually spent in Greece matters for tax residence and for any later citizenship application.

Five years. It is renewable for further five-year periods for as long as you own the property, with a €2,000 fee at each renewal. Family members' permits are linked to yours, and at renewal you declare that the property is still in residential use and has not been let short-term.

No. The investor permit does not give the right to take employment in Greece. You may be a shareholder or a non-executive board member of a company, but not its legal representative, and working requires a different type of permit; see what the permit gives you.

Yes, for short stays. A Greek residence permit lets you visit the other Schengen countries for up to 90 days in any 180-day period, but not live or work there. Countries outside the Schengen area, such as the United Kingdom and Ireland, apply their own entry rules; the notes by nationality cover common cases.

Not directly: buying property does not make you a Greek citizen. You may apply for naturalisation after 7 years of lawful residence and after passing the Greek-language (B1) and civics exam. In practice the authorities expect you to have actually lived in Greece, so take legal advice before relying on permit years alone; see from Golden Visa to citizenship.