In the uncertainty of the post-Brexit world, Edward Pike and Robert Sykes were looking for a back-up.
Pike, 39, a personal trainer and life coach from London, runs retreats in Crete with his husband, a sound therapist. When they were buying a property in Greece, they took the opportunity to apply for a golden visa.
It allows non-EU nationals to live and work in Greece, and make visa-free travel across the Schengen area, but it also permits family members to move over more easily than with other visas.
“We will have peace of mind that we can stay on in Crete,” says Pike, “but also that Rob’s 82-year-old mum can come and live with us.”
High earners moving to Greece can also make use of huge tax advantages, with a very attractive flat rate.
These perks have made it a hugely popular option. There were 2,767 golden visas granted in 2022, jumping to 7,752 in 2023, according to the Ministry of Migration and Asylum.
Although the level of applications can’t compete with the lure of the United Arab Emirates, Greece was the most applied-for golden visa in Europe last year, in part because other schemes had a higher entry level – until Hungary launched a new golden visa for €250,000 (£209,000) earlier this month.
Other countries have ended their golden visa programmes, such as Portugal, or are ending it soon, like Spain.
In September, Greece raised its entry level for the visa – it is now €400,000 or €800,000, depending on the area. Cities and islands with more than 3,100 residents are at the higher level.
These changes prompted a frenzy of applications, and created a bureaucratic logjam – of the 8,898 applications submitted from August 2023 to August 2024, only 1,446 permits have been approved.
Agents and lawyers in Greece expect these official figures to continue to increase because there are still many stuck in the queue.
Pike and Sykes are buying a home for over the €250,000 minimum investment, and managed to get in just before the threshold rose to €800,000 in Crete. Deposits needed to be paid by August, and property completion must be done by the end of 2024.
Alternatively, buyers can purchase property in a less highly populated island or area of the mainland with an investment of €400,000 (investments at all levels must be made without a mortgage).
Interest from Britons in the golden visa has been high until the August cut-off for deposits to be paid – there has been a 50pc year-on-year increase in approved permits, with 482 visas granted to date.
“The main motivations [for applying for any golden visa] are the same,” says Stuart Wakeling, of Henley & Partners, the migration advisers.
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“People want to claw back their EU status and pay lower tax, get freedom of movement, to have a Plan B, and because of a growing disassociation with the UK, and the desire for a better climate and value for money when buying a property.’
The majority of golden visa buyers are from China, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt, China and Israel, and instability in the Middle East has also made it a popular “back-up” plan among Iranians and Egyptians.
Most British buyers looking to get the visa had a budget of up to €500,000, according to Danae Tsakiris, of Savills, so some have now been out-priced.
“British interest generally centres on the Ionian islands (especially Corfu) as well as Crete and the Peloponnese.”
She says the poor air connections to smaller islands with the €400,000 threshold limits their appeal. Yet there is interest in the “limited projects” in the cities where an investment of €250,000 can still qualify, but this must be a property conversion from commercial to residential status, or the renovation of a listed building.
British interest generally centres on the Ionian islands such as Corfu and Crete – Rainer Hackenberg/The Image Bank RF
British buyers are looking at the Peloponnese, but also the Ionian Coast of the mainland, where the €400,000 threshold still applies, says Eleni Acquarone, a real estate lawyer at Elxis At Home in Greece.
Three other changes to the golden visa this year are that a property must be at least 120 sq m – you are now allowed to rent it out for short-term lets – and the investment has to be spent on a single property.
The cost of a golden visa application – usually made via an intermediary company due to its complications – is €10,000 to €30,000. This is on top of the price of the property, according to Marios Rafail, who oversees Greek residency at Henley & Partners – but he includes the purchase costs of the property, typically 10pc to 12pc of its value.
Pike has budgeted €8,000 to €10,000 to get their visas, and expects it to take around six months.
“We had to show proof we are legally married, have crime checks and also take out private healthcare cover.”
The visa lasts five years and then is renewable – after seven continual years of holding the golden visa, you can apply for citizenship.
Greece’s lump sum tax incentive is “a huge draw” for those getting a golden visa, says Rafail.
Offering a flat tax of €100,000, Greece’s scheme is half that of Italy’s non-dom regime. This tax is payable on worldwide income for 15 years.
Immediate family members can also benefit at a fixed €20,000 per person per year. But you must acquire a visa separately from this tax regime in order to live in Greece – the golden visa gives you the legal right to reside, and the lump sum taxation scheme offers the tax benefits.
Many high-net-worth individuals from outside the EU apply for both the golden visa and the lump sum tax deal at the same time because the latter requires €500,000 investment into Greece – which can include the real estate purchase made to get the visa.
Greece is the fourth most popular location for millionaires leaving the UK this year, says Henley & Partners, after the United Arab Emirates, the United States and Italy, but above Portugal and Switzerland.
Greece currently has 64,700 millionaires, mostly in Attica (greater Athens area), Mykonos and Crete, according to research by the company.
There is also a tax incentive for financially self-sufficient retirees – non-working individuals can pay tax at a rate of 7pc on their foreign-sourced income.
If those resident in Greece are on neither of these regimes, they will pay progressive income rates, depending on source, with a top personal or pension income tax rate of 44pc (above €40,000), or 45pc above €45,000 on income from property.
There is also a Greek digital nomad visa (for those with a minimum salary of €3,500 per month that comes from outside Greece).
But the most popular option for residency is now the Financially Independent Persons visa (FIP) offered to people from outside the EU who wish to live in Greece without buying property, according to Marcel Cremer of Cremer & Partners, a law company based in Athens.
This visa lasts three years, which can be renewed, and requires proof of income of at least €2,000 per month, depending on the number of immediate family members.
“This is the easiest to obtain and is the preferred visa for those who have the financial means to live in Greece [without working],” says Cremer.
He says the FIP is a “much less expensive visa” to apply for, with no property acquisition costs. “It will probably cost an average of €4,000 per main applicant.”
Applicants need to beware of minimum-stay requirements for this visa.
Contributing €2.3bn of investment up to 2023, the golden visa scheme has made a significant contribution to the Greek economy.
But the scheme has been blamed for an increase in property prices and rental rates in the major cities, especially in Athens/Attica. Most of the 37,413 Greek golden visas issued up to October 2023 have been in this area.
The Socialist Opposition party, PASOK Nikos Androulakis, has called for the scheme to be abolished, and while the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has acknowledged the housing shortage in Greece, he has stated that the government still wants to attract investments.
While golden visa programmes have been curtailed around Europe, Greece appears eager for more.
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Publish date : 2024-11-22 11:44:00
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