Law 4251/2014 concerning Greece Permanent Residency Permit for Investors amended by the law 4332/2015 (valid from July 2015) offers the possibility of granting residence permits to third country nationals (and their family members), who proceed to the purchase of real estate property in Greece whose value exceeds 250,000 Euro.
Specifically:
A. “Permanent residence permit of the investor.” (Article 20)
1. By decision of the Secretary General of the Decentralized Administration, a five year residence permit, subject to renewal, is granted to a third country national who:
(a) has legally entered the country with any type of visa or legally resides in the country, even if the type of residence permit possessed, does not permit change of purpose.
(b) has personally the full ownership, possession and peaceful enjoyment of real estate property in Greece. In the case of jointly owned property, worth 250,000 euro, the right of residence is granted only if the owners of the property are spouses with indivisible property shares. In all other cases of joint ownership, the right of residence is granted only if the joint ownership rate of each joint owner is worth 250,000 euro.
(c) has the full ownership, possession and peaceful enjoyment of real estate property in Greece via a legal entity whose shares are fully owned by him.
(d) has concluded an agreement for at least ten years lease of hotel accommodation or furnished tourist residences in tourist accommodation complexes, pursuant to the article 8 par. 2 of the Law 4002/2011 (Government Gazette 1, no 180).
(e) has concluded a time sharing agreement pursuant to the provisions of the Law 1652/1986 “Time sharing agreement and related issues” (Government Gazette 1, no 167), as in force.
2. The minimum value of the real estate property, as well as the contractual consideration of hotel accommodation or tourist residences leases of this Article, is determined at two hundred and fifty thousand (250,000) euro and must have been paid in full upon the signing of the contract.
“The consideration is paid by crossed bank check or by the deposit of bank transfer to the beneficiary’s account which is held in a banking institution of Greece or in a credit institution under the supervision of the Bank of Greece, the specific elements of the ones should be solemnly stated by the contracting parties before the notary, who redacts the agreement and declared on it.”
By joint decision of the Ministers for the Interior and Finance, the value of the above real estate property may be adjusted and shall result from the property value stated in the contracts or the lease agreements.
3. Το third country nationals property owners, the possibility of leasing that property is granted.
4. The above third-country national may be accompanied by the members of his family to whom, at their request, an individual residence permit is issued. The later expires together with the residence permit of the sponsor.
Family members include:
(a) the spouse
(b) the lineal descendants of the spouses or either spouse, who are under 21 years old.
(c) the lineal ascendants of the spouses.
5. The above permit may be renewed for an equal duration, each time, provided that the real estate property remains in the ownership and possession of the third-country national or the agreements of paragraph 1 of this remain in force and all other requirements, provided by law, are fulfilled. Periods of absence from the country shall not disrupt the renewal of the residence permit.
“The resale of the real estate property during the period of validity of the residence permit, to another third-country national shall provide the right to the granting of residence permit to the new buyer with simultaneous withdrawal of the vendor’s residence permit.”
6. The residence permits, being granted pursuant to the paragraphs 1 and 4 of this Article, do not establish the right of access to any form of employment.
7. The residence permit shall be issued within two months from the submission of all the documents of the file to the issuing authority.
Source: Enterprise Greece
