Moving to Greece
Europe's cheapest serious cost of living, a working golden visa, and a seven percent tax rate for foreign pensioners.
Greece spent a decade rebuilding its economy after the debt crisis and one of its instruments was immigration: residence permits for investors, tax incentives for foreign retirees, and a digital nomad visa for remote earners. The result is one of the most open countries in the European Union for someone arriving with money rather than a job.
Three programmes do the work. The golden visa grants residence for a property investment, though the thresholds were raised sharply in 2024 and now depend on where you buy. The financially independent person visa admits people with stable passive income. And a flat seven percent tax on all foreign income for fifteen years is available to pensioners who move their tax residence here.
What Greece does not offer is a fast passport. Naturalisation requires seven years of residence and a genuinely demanding examination in Greek language, history and civics — the hardest citizenship test in southern Europe.
| Region | Southern Europe |
| Capital | Athens |
| Population | 10.4 million |
| Foreign-born residents | about 13% of residents |
| Official language(s) | Greek |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) |
Free: the Greece visa checklist
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Why people move to Greece
- The lowest cost of living in the eurozone outside the newest member states.
- A seven percent flat tax on all foreign income for fifteen years for qualifying foreign pensioners.
- A golden visa that still grants residence for property investment, with no minimum stay requirement.
- A digital nomad visa with a fifty percent income tax reduction for those who become tax resident.
- Public healthcare for residents, and private care that is inexpensive by western European standards.
- EU residence, and eventually an EU passport, at a lower entry cost than Portugal or Spain.
What to know before you commit
- Golden visa thresholds rose in 2024 and are now tiered by region, with the highest bands in Athens, Thessaloniki, Mykonos and Santorini.
- Seven years to citizenship, with difficult language, history and civics examinations in Greek.
- Salaries are the lowest in western Europe and the labour market is weak outside tourism and shipping.
- Bureaucracy is slow and heavily paper-based; a Greek tax number and bank account take persistence.
- Island life is expensive in summer, and healthcare on smaller islands is limited.
- Golden visa residence does not accumulate toward citizenship as quickly as people assume, because of the presence requirement.
The eight guides
Work Visas
How to get a work permit and which routes actually exist
Student Visas
Studying there, and whether study leads to residency
Family & Spouse Visas
Sponsoring a partner, children, or parents
Permanent Residency
The routes to a long-term, renewable status
Citizenship
Naturalisation timelines, tests, and dual nationality
Cost of Living
What a month actually costs, with rent and salary context
Healthcare
Who is covered, from what date, and what insurance you need
Finding a Job
The job market, in-demand fields, and how hiring works
Official sources
- Ministry of Migration and Asylum
- Enterprise Greece — golden visa
- Independent Authority for Public Revenue
Checked against these pages in September 2026. Fees and processing times change without notice — confirm before you act.