European Golden Visas: Country Rules, Residency, and Taxes

Eight countries still run European golden visas in 2026: Greece, Portugal, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria, Latvia, Cyprus, and Malta. Each grants residency to non-EU nationals who put qualifying money into the country, with minimums that run from roughly €50,000 at the low end to €2,000,000 at the top depending on the country and the investment route. Spain closed its program in April 2025, and the European Commission continues to press the remaining states to tighten or wind theirs down. The details matter, because a mistake on threshold, asset class, or timing can void an application or lock your capital in the wrong vehicle.

What Each Country Requires

Greece

Greece runs a two-tier real estate program based on where the property sits. In the Region of Attica (which includes Athens), the Regional Unit of Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini, and islands with more than 3,100 residents, the minimum is €800,000 in a single property of at least 120 square meters. Everywhere else in the country, the floor drops to €400,000 with the same single-property and size rules.¹

Two carve-outs preserve the older €250,000 threshold. The first is converting a commercial building (an industrial property, for example) into residential use, provided the conversion is finished before the visa application is filed. The second is buying and fully restoring a listed historic building; the restoration has to be completed before the first five-year renewal, and missing that deadline triggers permit revocation plus a €150,000 administrative fine.¹

Non-property routes exist too: €500,000 in Greek government bonds with at least three years to maturity, €500,000 in a fixed-term bank deposit, or €800,000 in equities and corporate bonds.² The government application fee is roughly €2,000, plus €16 for the electronic residence card.³

Portugal

Portugal removed real estate (and real-estate-linked funds) from its program in October 2023. The most common route now is a €500,000 subscription into a qualifying investment fund — typically private equity or venture capital — regulated by the Portuguese Securities Market Commission. The fund must have a maturity of at least five years, and at least 60 percent of its capital has to flow to companies headquartered in Portugal.⁴

Other routes: €500,000 into an existing Portuguese business that then creates five full-time jobs for three years, a new business with at least ten full-time positions, a €250,000 donation toward national heritage preservation (€200,000 in a low-density area), or €500,000 to scientific research.⁴

Portugal’s government fees are the steepest of the bunch. The initial processing charge is €605.10, the first application fee is €6,045.20, and each renewal costs €3,022.60. Then there’s the wait. The Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum has acknowledged a multi-year backlog and pledged to clear outstanding golden visa applications in 2026, though lawyers who work these cases note that previous 30- to 90-day approval commitments were never met.⁵

Italy

Italy’s investor visa offers four routes: €250,000 in an innovative Italian startup, €500,000 in a limited liability company, €2,000,000 in Italian government bonds, or a €1,000,000 philanthropic donation.⁶ The investment must be held for the life of the visa.² The initial residence permit lasts two years and renews for another three. Italy imposes no minimum stay, which appeals to investors who don’t plan to move full-time.

Hungary

Hungary’s Guest Investor Program cancelled its direct residential property purchase option before the start of 2025.⁷ Two paths remain: €250,000 into an investment fund share issued by a real estate fund registered with the Hungarian National Bank, or a €1,000,000 lump-sum donation to a higher education institution maintained by a public trust for educational, scientific research, or artistic purposes.⁸ Approved investors receive a 20-year residency permit.

Bulgaria, Latvia, Cyprus, and Malta

Bulgaria requires roughly €512,000 in alternative investment funds or exchange-traded funds licensed by its Financial Supervision Commission. Latvia has one of the lowest entry points in Europe, starting at €50,000 for investment in a small company, with real estate and bank deposit routes at higher thresholds. Cyprus requires €300,000 in new residential real estate (plus VAT), with commercial property and collective investment fund alternatives. Malta’s Permanent Residence Programme bundles a government contribution, a property purchase or lease, and a philanthropic donation, with total costs starting around €150,000 when leasing.²

Spain: Closed as of April 2025

Spain’s golden visa, which had required a minimum €500,000 real estate purchase under Law 14/2013, was ended by Organic Law 1/2025 and stopped accepting new applicants on April 3, 2025.⁹ Applications submitted before that date can still be granted under the old rules, and existing permits remain valid for their issued term. Renewals of previously granted authorizations are processed under the regulations in force when the initial authorization was issued.¹⁰ If Spanish residency is still the goal, the Digital Nomad Visa, EU Blue Card, and Highly Qualified Professional permit are the remaining routes.

Who Qualifies and Who Can Come With You

The primary applicant has to be a third-country national — someone who does not hold citizenship in an EU, European Economic Area, or Swiss country. Most programs require an age of at least 18, no serious criminal record, and documented proof that the investment capital comes from lawful sources. Bank statements, tax returns, business ownership records, and professional income documentation are standard.

Family members can generally be included in a single application. Greece, for example, covers the investor’s spouse, children under 21, and the parents of both the applicant and the spouse.¹¹ Other countries follow similar patterns, though the age cutoff for children and whether parents qualify varies. Each dependent typically needs their own health insurance and criminal record clearance, even though only the primary applicant makes the qualifying investment.

How Much Time You Actually Have To Spend There

Several programs impose no minimum stay. Greece and Italy are the clearest examples: investors can hold valid residency without spending a single day in the country.¹² Portugal’s physical presence obligation is also minimal for keeping the golden visa itself alive.

The demands rise sharply if you want to convert temporary residency into permanent residency or citizenship. Greece requires seven years of residency plus 183 days of physical presence during that window, along with language and culture tests, before a citizenship application is possible.¹² Portugal opens citizenship eligibility after five years, Italy after ten.

Documents You’ll Need

A valid passport is the starting point. For travel to and within the EU, it must be valid for at least three months beyond your planned departure from the Schengen Area and issued within the last ten years.¹³ Many immigration attorneys recommend six months of validity to give the application room to run.

Private health insurance covering the host country is required for the primary applicant and every included family member. Policies meeting EU residency standards often start around €30 per month and rise with age and coverage.

A criminal record certificate is required from the applicant’s country of origin or residence. U.S. citizens need an FBI identity history summary, apostilled by the U.S. Department of State and translated into the host country’s language. By standard mail, the FBI check plus apostille takes roughly 14 to 20 weeks. Expedited services through approved FBI channelers can compress that to two or three weeks, but the document’s validity window starts from the FBI’s issue date, not the apostille date, so sequence the steps carefully.

Financial documentation must prove the investment has been completed or that the funds are available and lawfully sourced: property deeds, bank certificates confirming transfers, fund subscription agreements, and similar records depending on the route. Each country also issues its own tax identification number that ties the investment to the applicant’s fiscal record. Greece uses the AFM; Portugal issues a NIF (Número de Identificação Fiscal); other countries have equivalents.

Fees, Filing, and How Long It Takes

Applications typically go in through a scheduled consulate appointment or a dedicated online portal. The applicant must appear in person at some stage for biometrics (digital fingerprints and a facial photograph), even if the initial filing was electronic.

Government fees vary widely. Greece charges roughly €2,000.³ Portugal’s combined processing and application fees on an initial file exceed €6,600. Those figures cover only the government side; legal representation, translations, apostilles, and notarization add thousands more.

Processing times are the least predictable variable. Some countries decide in a few months; others sit on files for years. Portugal is the extreme case, where authorities have historically taken two to three years to issue permits and golden visa holders were explicitly deprioritized behind other immigration categories.⁵ Greece and Italy tend to move faster, though several months is typical.

Once approved, the government issues a physical residency card. Initial permits generally run two years for Italy and Greece, and renewals extend the permit for as long as the qualifying investment stays in place. At each renewal you’ll need to show that the investment hasn’t been sold, withdrawn, or otherwise liquidated.

What the Visa Actually Lets You Do in Europe

A golden visa from any Schengen member state gives its holder visa-free travel within the Schengen Area, which covers 29 European countries. That freedom of movement is one of the program’s most valuable features, especially for investors from countries whose passports face heavy European visa requirements. The limit: travel rights for non-EU residents in countries other than the issuing state are generally capped at 90 days within any 180-day period. Unlimited residency exists only in the country that issued the permit.

From Temporary Residency to Citizenship

Golden visas grant temporary residency, not citizenship. Residents can live, work, study, and access healthcare in the issuing country, but they can’t vote in national elections, hold certain public offices, or carry the country’s passport. Citizenship by investment, which some Caribbean and a few European nations offer, is a separate concept.¹⁴

Most golden visa countries do provide a pathway to citizenship after a set period of residency. Portugal opens the door after five years, Greece after seven, and Italy after ten.¹⁴ Each layers on its own conditions: language proficiency, integration tests, physical presence during the qualifying period, and continuous maintenance of the investment. The gap between the theoretical minimum and an actual passport can stretch much longer in countries running processing backlogs.

U.S. Tax Obligations for American Investors

U.S. citizens and green card holders who obtain a European golden visa keep their full U.S. tax obligations. The United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income regardless of where they live, and moving to Europe or holding European investments does not reduce U.S. federal income tax liability.¹⁵ Foreign earned income exclusions and foreign tax credits can reduce double taxation, but only with careful planning and proper filing.

Foreign account reporting kicks in fast. If the aggregate value of all foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any point in the year, U.S. persons must file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR, FinCEN Form 114) by April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15. Records for each account, including account numbers, bank names, and maximum annual values, must be kept for five years from the filing due date.¹⁶

FATCA reporting under Form 8938 applies separately, at higher thresholds. For U.S. taxpayers living abroad, the trigger is $200,000 in specified foreign financial assets on the last day of the tax year (or $300,000 at any point during the year) for single filers, and $400,000 on the last day (or $600,000 at any point) for married couples filing jointly.¹⁷ Since most golden visa investments start at €250,000 or higher, virtually every American golden visa holder will clear at least the FBAR threshold. Penalties for failing to file these forms are severe and can be assessed even when no tax is actually owed.

Why the Rules Keep Changing

Golden visa programs run under each country’s sovereign authority, but the European Commission has grown steadily more skeptical. The Commission views citizenship-by-investment schemes — where applicants buy a passport directly rather than earning one through years of residency — as incompatible with EU law, and it has taken legal action against at least one member state over such a scheme. For residency-by-investment programs, it has submitted proposals to regulate certain aspects and urged member states to repeal citizenship schemes after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.¹⁸

The pressure has produced results. Ireland closed its immigrant investor program. Cyprus shut down its citizenship-by-investment scheme. Portugal stripped real estate out of its golden visa. Spain abolished its program outright. Anyone committing hundreds of thousands of euros should treat current program terms as subject to change and build that risk into the plan.

1
Varnavas Law Firm. Greek Golden Visa 2.0 New Rules – Key Clarifications and Practical Implications
2
IMI Daily. Every Golden Visa Still Open in Europe in 2026
3
Ministry of Migration and Asylum. Golden Visa
4
Get Golden Visa. Portugal Golden Visa May 2026 Updated Guide
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IMI Daily. Portugal Vows 2026 Golden Visa Backlog Resolution as Lawyers Denounce Shameless Timing
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Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy. Investor Visa for Italy
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International Bar Association. The Latest Updates to the Guest Investor Residency Programme
8
National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing. Residence Permit for Guest Investor
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KPMG International. Spain Golden Visa Cancelled
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Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation. Investor Visa
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Henley & Partners. Greece Golden Visa
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Get Golden Visa. Greece Golden Visa Requirements for Residency by Investment
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Your Europe. Travel Documents for Non-EU Nationals
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Henley & Partners. Golden Visas
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Internal Revenue Service. Frequently Asked Questions About International Individual Tax Matters
16
Internal Revenue Service. Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)
17
Internal Revenue Service. Do I Need to File Form 8938 Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets
18
European Parliament. Aspects of Golden Passport and Visa Schemes in the EU