Coronavirus has dented Golden Visas too

The Migration Ministry has upwardly revised the 2019 data for the Golden Visa program, which provides residence permits to non-European Union citizens who invest over 250,000 euros in Greek realty, but it is clear that 2020 will be the first year that the program sees a drop, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The latest figures show that the total number of five-year residence permits issued last year amounted to 3,080, a new high for a single year. This constitutes an increase of 39 percent on the 1,881 permits issued in 2018.

It should be noted that, up until early February, the number of permits issued from applications made in 2019 was at just 2,239, but hundreds more have been added in the meantime, as the last stage of processing for February and March has now been completed.

Nevertheless 2020 is expected to be the first southbound year in the program's...