How soon should foreign investors expect Greece to pass and implement reforms to its investment immigration laws?

Answers

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  Vicky Veli

  VV Legal

  September 02, 2021

  Changes and improvements of the immigration law are under discussion these days in the Greek parliament and the new law will be published in the Greek government gazette in the coming days. Investment in financial products is expected to be granted to the relatives of the main applicant (spouse, children, parents, parents in law, brothers and sisters) to transfer the amount of investment in the main applicant’s bank account in Greece; the main applicant is expected to get the right to use the money of the investment (e.g. bank deposit of 400,000 euros) to buy either another financial product or a property. The completion of the new investment shall take place within 2 months from the use of the money. In that case, the main applicant keeps the permanent residency card which has already been issued. Any details of the specific procedure and the deadlines will be provided in the circular of the Ministry which will be issued; the investor is also expected to be able to invest in one-to-three financial products for a total amount of 400,000 euros.

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  Mary Tsiganou

  Synergia Technical and Consulting SA

  September 03, 2021

  The Greek Golden Visa program is expected to get upgraded and improved for foreign investors in the coming days; a bill to this effect has been submitted to the Greek parliament for public consultation; voting is being done to amend the following: A third country citizen, holder of a valid residence permit, under investment in one of the categories of intangible assets as per provisions of Art.16 par. C Law 4251/2014, has the right to liquidate the investment, in order to invest, within an exclusive period of two months, in another category of financial products or in real estate in accordance with par. Another article in the amendment states that the investor would retain the residence permit already granted until the completion of the certification procedures of the new total investment and the issuance of the residence permit under it. The investment in intangible assets, transferred to Greece for the purposes of the investment, may be funded either by the spouse and/or blood relatives or relatives up to the second degree of the investor. The citizen of a third country may invest in more than one of the categories and up to three distinct investments in total. In the event that the investment is made in more than one category, the minimum required amount of the total investment is determined on the basis of the category with the highest required investment amount. Besides the above amendments referred to the investments in financial products, a new Visa is expected to be launched for digital nomads that would be valid for a period of up to 12 months. The above amendments is estimated to be voted within the next few days and will be implemented once it is published in the government gazette.

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  Dimitris Foutsis

  Foutsis & Partners Law Firm

  September 07, 2021

  No change for the time being.