Golden Visa and Residency-by-Investment Property Programs Compared

"Golden visa" has become a catch-all term for a group of programmes that are actually quite different from each other. Some still link residency directly to a property purchase, some have removed that link, and some never had it. Before comparing minimum investment amounts, it is worth understanding which of these three shapes each programme takes, because that determines whether buying property is even the relevant route in a given country.

Portugal: property route removed, other routes remain

Portugal's original golden visa allowed a straightforward residential property purchase to qualify. That property route was closed, and the programme now runs through alternatives such as fund subscriptions, job-creation investment, or scientific and cultural contributions. This is the single most important thing for a property-first investor to know: you can still invest in Portuguese real estate as an ordinary buyer, and our Portugal guide covers that market on its own fundamentals, but a direct property purchase no longer buys residency on its own.

Greece: still property-linked, with a two-tier threshold

Greece has kept a property-linked residency route, but has moved to a tiered minimum investment structure rather than a single flat threshold, with higher minimums applying in central Athens, Thessaloniki, and other high-demand coastal and island areas, and a lower minimum in the rest of the country. The programme has been adjusted more than once in recent years as demand concentrated in a small number of postcodes, which is itself a useful signal: a programme's threshold is a policy lever, not a fixed constant, and it can change with limited notice. Anyone evaluating Greece specifically for the residency benefit should confirm the current minimum and eligible zones directly with a licensed Greek immigration lawyer before making an offer, not rely on a figure found in a general guide such as this one.

Italy: not property-based at all

As covered in our Italy market guide, the Italian Investor Visa route runs through government bonds, company shares, start-up investment, or philanthropic donation, not residential property. Italy remains an attractive property market on fundamentals (rental demand, tourism flow, city-level diversification) but it should not be evaluated as a residency-by-property play.

Spain: the property route has closed

Spain's former golden visa included a real estate investment route and was one of the most widely used programmes in Europe for several years. That route has been discontinued, meaning that a property purchase in Spain today should be evaluated purely on its investment and lifestyle merits, in line with our Spain market guide, rather than as an immigration strategy.

The pattern worth noticing

Across these four markets, the direction of travel over the past several years has been away from direct property-linked residency, not toward it. Portugal and Spain have both closed their property routes; Greece has tightened and tiered its threshold rather than removed it; Italy never linked residency to property in the first place. This matters for underwriting: if a property purchase anywhere in the EU is being marketed to you primarily on the strength of a residency benefit, treat that as a reason for extra diligence rather than extra urgency, programme terms in this category have shown a consistent pattern of change.

Questions to ask before treating any property as a residency investment

• Is the residency route currently linked to property at all, or to funds, bonds, or job creation instead?
• What is the current minimum investment, and does it vary by region or property type within the country?
• Has the programme changed its rules in the last 24 months, and is further change under public discussion?
• What are the ongoing physical-presence requirements to maintain the residency status, separate from the investment itself?
• Is the immigration benefit being used to justify a price premium on the property itself?

Where to go next

For the underlying property fundamentals in each of these markets, independent of any residency angle, see our Portugal, Spain, and Italy guides. For the tax side of a cross-border purchase, our cross-border property tax basics guide is a useful companion. This guide is informational only. Residency-by-investment rules change and vary by nationality; always confirm current terms with a licensed immigration lawyer in the specific country before acting.