Greece golden visa: when your permit can be revoked

A €250,000 flat with €100,000 quietly handed back to the buyer: on October 15, 2026 Greece's migration minister promised to revoke residence permits over deals like that. Who is affected, which thresholds apply, and how to buy so your permit stays yours.

In detail

For years Greece's golden visa was sold as the EU's most affordable residence permit through property. In October 2026 it turned out that some buyers had paid even less than the law allows, and the state noticed. On October 15, at the annual real estate conference in Athens, Migration and Asylum Minister Thanos Plevris put it plainly: permits will be taken away.

There are two grounds. The first is hidden discounts, where part of the price flows back to the buyer after the deal. The second is short-term letting that gets around the ban. Below is what the minister said, what it rests on legally, and what to do if you have already bought or are about to.

What Greece's migration minister said

The minister gave an example the whole industry recognises: a flat is sold for €250,000, and the buyer gets €100,000 of it back through a lease with guaranteed returns. On paper the threshold is met; in reality the person invested €150,000 and received an EU residence permit. According to Plevris, the state has no interest in deals like that.

The wording is tough: if a deal was marketed as a golden visa route below €250,000, the permit will be revoked, however the low price was achieved. Flats at €180,000-230,000 labelled as visa-eligible really were advertised on social media and foreign portals.

The second statement concerns rentals. Investors who let their flat short-term through parallel subleases were promised the same outcome: the golden visa will be taken away.

What law this rests on

The basis is Article 100 of Greece's Migration Code (Law 5038/2023 as amended by Law 5100/2024). It requires the full minimum price to be paid before filing and only by traceable means: cheque, transfer or card into the seller's account at a Greek bank. A notary certifies the payment.

The same article bans short-term letting of a golden visa property, including through subleasing. The penalty is spelled out: the investor loses the permit and the owner pays an administrative fine of €50,000.

In April 2026 the ministry issued Circular 1/2026 with guidance for migration offices. It defines short-term letting precisely: a lease or sublease of under 60 days providing nothing beyond accommodation and bed linen, whether via a platform or directly. A long-term lease to a hotel or tourism business that offers guests additional services is not covered by the ban.

On discounts, the circular refers suspicious cases to the tax authority, police and Greece's anti-money laundering authority. It states separately that permits already granted can also be revoked.

Greece golden visa thresholds in 2026

The figures have not changed since September 2024. The minister did not announce a new law; he announced strict enforcement of the existing one.

That third row is what created the grey market. The €250,000 threshold survives, but only for conversion and restoration. Anything offered as an ordinary visa-eligible flat for €200,000 is now a direct risk of losing the status.

The programme is sizeable: at the end of July 2026 Greece had 34,278 active investor residence permits. Chinese nationals hold the most, followed by citizens of Turkey, Israel and the UK.

What it means if you have already bought

• You paid the full price officially. This does not affect you. Keep the transfer statements and the notarised payment certification; they are requested at renewal.
• Your contract included a guaranteed lease. A lease in itself is not a breach. The danger is a structure where rental payments effectively return part of the price. Show that contract to a lawyer before renewal, not after a letter from the ministry.
• The flat is let short-term. If the property was bought under the Law 5100/2024 rules, short-term letting is banned and a sublease scheme does not save you. Switching to long-term leases of 60 days or more resolves the issue.
• You bought before the new rules. The short-term letting ban does not apply to properties bought under the old rules or during the transition period.

One more point: in parliament the opposition party PASOK proposed closing the property route and applying the rental ban to all holders at renewal. The ruling party rejected the idea, but the debate about the programme's future has started.

How to buy a flat for Greek residency without risk

The rule is as simple as a good notary's bookkeeping: the price in the contract must match the real money that went to the seller and never came back. Everything else is detail.

• Check the zone. The threshold depends on the address. A €400,000 flat in an Athens suburb will not qualify, because all of Attica sits in the €800,000 zone.
• Check size and type. The €400,000 and €800,000 thresholds require a single property of at least 120 m². Two small flats do not add up.
• Pay in full, by traceable means, before filing. Cash or instalments after filing close the route to residency.
• Read the lease. Guaranteed returns above market are a warning sign. If income over the first years looks like a refund of a third of the price, that is exactly the scheme the minister described.
• Do not plan on short lets. For investment returns, long-term leasing works and is permitted.

The full process, timelines and documents are on our Greece residence by investment page and in the article Greek residency through property. If you are choosing a city, start with our guides to Athens and Thessaloniki; the purchase itself is covered in how to buy a flat in Greece.

Tax and passport: what else to consider in Greece

The golden visa does not require you to live in Greece and does not make you a tax resident. But if you are moving for real, Greece has a preferential regime for new residents: a flat tax on foreign income instead of the progressive scale. How it works and who benefits is covered in our article on Greece's 15 percent tax for foreigners.

The road to a passport via the golden visa is long: naturalisation requires years of actual residence plus a language and history exam. Those with Greek roots will move faster through repatriation to Greece.

If Greece feels risky: alternatives

The Greek programme still works; it simply stopped forgiving tricks. If you want to compare, here is what else works in Europe and nearby:

• Portugal - residency through investment funds, no property purchase. Details on our Portugal residence page.
• Cyprus - permanent residency through property from €300,000 plus VAT, covered in Cyprus permanent residency through property.
• An overview of all programmes with thresholds - in Europe's golden visas in 2026 and residency through property in 2026.
• A second passport instead of residency - Paraguay and other options in our citizenship section.

Our Greece services

We run property purchases for residency so that, five years on at renewal, you never have to explain the origin of a discount to the ministry.

Plus the formalities no deal starts without: a Greek AFM tax number, a local bank account, a power of attorney for your representative, renewal of the permit and family cards. Company formation for holding the property runs through our corporate services team.

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