Family members on a Greek Golden Visa

Who one investment covers

The family members who can join the investor are set by article 100 of the Migration Code and explained in Circular 1/2026. The list is closed: relatives who are not on it need a permit of their own.

Your spouse and your parents-in-law are covered through you. If the marriage or partnership ends through divorce or death, your spouse's parents lose their permits as family members. Spouses may also co-own the property; they then receive one investor permit and one family permit, not two investor permits.

The suspension of new applications by Russian and Belarusian nationals also covers their family members' applications (Circular 1/2026, Clarification 22).

How family permits work

• Linked to yours. Family permits depend on the investor's permit. They run for the same five-year period and are renewed with it, while you still own the property.
• Separate cards. Each family member receives an individual residence card and gives biometrics in person in Greece.
• No minimum stay. As for the investor, time spent abroad does not prevent renewal.
• Work. The investor permit gives no right to take employment. Do not assume a family permit does: check any plan to work with your lawyer before anyone takes a job in Greece.
• Applying together or later. Families usually apply together with the investor. Ask your lawyer how a family member can be added later, for example after a marriage or a birth.

Choosing the main applicant

Every family permit hangs on one person: the investor who owns the property. That choice shapes who can be covered, so make it with your lawyer before the deed is signed.

• The owner is the investor. The permit goes to the person, or spouses, named in the deed. A company based in Greece or another EU country that you own 100% can also hold the property, with the permit issued to you as its shareholder.
• Coverage runs from the investor. The investor's spouse, children under 21 and both sets of parents can be included. An adult child who buys in their own name can therefore include their own parents, but not their brothers or sisters.
• Who pays is a separate question. The price may be paid by the investor, the investor's spouse or a relative up to the second degree, such as a parent. The payer is named in the deed, and the money must reach a Greek account by bank transfer, crossed cheque or card.
• Everyone depends on the property. If the investor sells without first buying a replacement investment, the whole family's permits end with the investor's.

Documents each family member needs

Your lawyer assembles the family file with the investor's. Expect to provide:

• a valid passport for each person;
• a marriage or registered-partnership certificate;
• a birth certificate for each child, showing both parents;
• for a child of one spouse only, custody documents or the other parent's consent;
• for parents, birth certificates that link them to you or your spouse;
• private health insurance covering each person in Greece;
• photographs to the required specification;
• a power of attorney from each adult family member, if your lawyer files for them.

Civil documents issued abroad need an apostille if the issuing country is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, or consular legalisation if it is not, plus an official Greek translation. Two practical points save weeks. Order recently issued certificates, because older ones may be questioned. And make sure names are spelt the same way in passports, certificates and translations: a transliteration mismatch can stall a file for weeks.

Fees

The main applicant pays a €2,000 government fee plus €16 for the residence card, and €2,000 again at each five-year renewal. Family fees apply for family members' permits. Secondary sources report a fee for each adult family member, with minors exempt, but we have not confirmed the amount against the official fee schedule, so ask your lawyer for current figures before you budget.

Add private health insurance for every family member, apostille and translation costs, and your lawyer's fees for the family file. For the purchase itself, see costs and taxes.

Children at 21, and after

A child's family permit is tied to being under 21. When the child reaches that age, family status ends. The Migration Code provides, in some cases, for an autonomous residence permit for young adults up to 24 who held a family permit. Rules apply, so check with counsel well before the 21st birthday rather than at renewal.

Other options depend on the young person's plans. A child who studies in Greece may qualify for a student permit, and an adult child can apply as an investor in their own right. None of these is automatic, and timing matters, so note the dates when you first apply.

Travel, school and daily life

Each family member's Greek permit allows short stays in the other Schengen countries of up to 90 days in any 180-day period. It does not give the right to live or work elsewhere in the EU.

Children who live in Greece can enrol in state schools, where teaching is in Greek, and fee-paying private schools also exist. Patras is a university city: the University of Patras had 28,418 active undergraduates in 2025. Admission to a Greek university follows its own rules for non-EU students and does not come with a residence permit.

Parents who plan to spend long periods in Greece should look at health cover early. The Golden Visa requires private health insurance, and policies for older applicants can cost more or exclude pre-existing conditions.

One MVR 19 residence, one family

Each MVR 19 residence is a separate property offered at €250,000, the full price recorded in the deed, and is designed for the €250,000 change-of-use route. Eligibility is subject to completion of the change of use before your application and to the Ministry's decision. If your application proceeds, one residence can support permits for your whole eligible family, from your children to both sets of parents.

Be clear about what the studio is. At 16–28 m² it is planned for long-term letting, for example to a university student, or as a small base in Patras. It is not designed as a family home, so a family that intends to live in Greece should budget for a larger home as well.

How the €250,000 change-of-use route works

Compare the 19 residences