Golden Visa issues suffer from Covid-19

The issuing of five-year residence permits to property investors from outside the European Union has all but ground to a halt. Based on Migration Policy Ministry data, in the year to early September only 368 so-called Golden Visas were issued, taking the sum of investors to have received these permits since the beginning of the program to 7,903.

At end-2019 their number had come to 7,535, from 4,107 permits at end-2018. Therefore 2019 was a record year for the program with the issue of 3,428 Golden Visas, after the inflow of at least 857 million euros for the acquisition of properties setting each investor back at least €250,000.

The sum of at least €857 million accounts for almost half of the total amount all foreign investors spent on Greek properties last year. In fact that sum was much higher, as according to estate agents specializing in this market the figure...