A new €250,000 residency route steers foreign investors from property to innovation, as Athens tries to ease housing pressures while turning its Golden Visa into a startup engine.

A New Pathway Into Greece

Greece has unveiled a fresh track within its Golden Visa program that allows foreign investors to secure residency by backing Greek startups instead of buying property. The minimum investment remains at €250,000, but the political message has shifted decisively toward innovation and job creation.​

To qualify, investors must put their money into companies listed on Elevate Greece, the national registry created to map and support the country’s startup ecosystem. Eligible businesses span sectors such as real estate, defense, and finance, reflecting a broad attempt to funnel foreign capital into high-growth, strategic areas of the economy.​

How the Startup Golden Visa Works

Successful applicants receive a five-year residence permit tied to their qualifying investment. During this period, the permit must be renewed every other year, contingent on continued compliance with the program’s conditions.​

The new route is designed with performance safeguards meant to ensure a measurable impact on the real economy. Each startup benefiting from Golden Visa funds must create at least two jobs in its first year and keep those positions in place for five years. At the same time, investors cannot own more than 33 percent of a company’s equity or voting rights, a cap aimed at preventing outsized control by any single foreign backer.​

Residency, Citizenship, and Long-Term Stakes

The Golden Visa continues to serve as a fast lane to long-term presence in Greece and, ultimately, the European Union. Holders can apply for Greek citizenship after seven years of continuous legal residency, provided they satisfy language and integration benchmarks.​

If granted, citizenship offers the right to remain in Greece permanently and full access to the benefits of EU nationality. For many investors, the startup option now sits alongside traditional routes as a way to combine migration goals with a stake in the country’s emerging innovation story.​

Mounting Scrutiny of Golden Visas

Greece’s move comes as Golden Visa and broader “citizenship-by-investment” schemes face rising criticism across Europe and beyond. Opponents say these programs create a two-tiered immigration system in which wealthy applicants encounter softer residency and language demands than other migrants.​

Housing has become a flashpoint, especially in countries where Golden Visas have been tied heavily to property purchases. Real estate–focused models have been blamed for driving up prices and squeezing local residents, a dynamic that contributed to Spain’s decision to scrap its real estate-based Golden Visa program. Across the EU, lawmakers increasingly question whether residency and nationality should function as commodities in financial markets.​

Supporters See Strategic Value

Defenders of Golden Visa and citizenship-by-investment schemes argue that, when carefully structured, they can deliver critical funding for national priorities. They point to examples such as Nauru, which recently launched a citizenship-by-investment program to help finance the relocation of its population to higher ground as climate risks intensify.​

In the Greek context, the new startup route is being framed as a way to channel foreign wealth into innovation rather than speculative property plays. The government has made clear that this is an addition, not a replacement: the real estate route remains in place, even as officials test whether a pivot toward entrepreneurship can blunt public anger over housing pressures. How quickly investors embrace this startup-focused option—and whether it delivers the promised jobs and growth—will help determine if Greece’s Golden Visa model can survive the next wave of political scrutiny.

Source: John Koutroumpis, “Greece Expands Golden Visa With Startup Investment Route”, Greek Reporter