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Bureaucracy & Legal
The FIP visa is the actual retirement visa. The Golden Visa is a real-estate investment that happens to come with a residence card. Confusing the two costs people money.
Two different paths get lumped together in casual conversation. The Golden Visa buys you a residence card through real estate, no requirement to actually live in Greece. The Financially Independent Person (FIP) visa is the one built for someone who wants to actually retire there on passive income, and it requires you to.
Phase 1: Before you apply (in the US)
- ✓ AFM tax number, via Greece's tax authority (myAADE) or an in-person appointment
- ✓ Proof of stable passive income of at least €3,500/month for the main applicant (+20% for a spouse, +15% per dependent child), or a €126,000 bank deposit covering the 3-year permit period
- ✓ One year of documented income stability and legal source of funds
- ✓ Criminal background check
- ✓ Full private health insurance covering Greece
- ✓ Proof of accommodation in Greece
Phase 2: Consulate and residence permit
- ✓ National Type D entry visa filed at a Greek consulate
- ✓ Residence permit application filed with Greece's decentralized administration after arrival
- ✓ Application fee: €1,000 for the main applicant, €150 per accompanying family member
Phase 3: After you land, and beyond
- ✓ Maintain a minimum of 183 days/year physical presence in Greece to keep the permit valid
- ✓ 3-year permit, renewable in 3-year blocks as long as the financial and residency conditions still hold
- ✓ No dependent employment or independent economic activity allowed under this permit, by design
- ✓ Permanent residency eligible at 5 continuous years, with A2-level Greek proficiency
- ✓ Citizenship eligible at 7 continuous years, with Greek language proficiency and a naturalization exam on history and culture
⚠️ €3,500/month is roughly four times Portugal's D7 thresholdPortugal's D7 asks for around €820/month. Greece's FIP visa asks for €3,500/month for a single applicant, a genuinely different bar, and one that was itself raised from €2,000/month by law in 2023. If you're comparing the two countries side by side, this is the number that actually filters who qualifies.
The Golden Visa, and how it's genuinely different
- It's an investment product first: €800,000 in Athens/Attica, Thessaloniki's metro area, and islands over 3,100 residents (Mykonos and Santorini included); €400,000 in less-dense rural zones; €250,000 for heritage-building restoration or commercial-to-residential conversion, with a minimum 120m² living area on the two higher tiers.
- No 183-day residency requirement to keep the permit, the headline reason people choose it over the FIP visa even though it costs far more upfront: it's designed for people who want the option to live in Greece, or the EU access, without relocating full-time.
- No EFKA/EOPYY access either, and a ban on short-term rentals (Airbnb-style) on qualifying properties under the current rules.
- Not a retirement-income visa. If your plan is to actually live in Greece on Social Security and a pension, the FIP visa is very likely the correct legal path, not the Golden Visa.
⚠️ Why this page has a shelf lifeThe FIP income threshold has already moved once (2023). Golden Visa zone boundaries and minimum investment amounts were rezoned in 2023 and again through 2025. The 7% tax regime runs on annual law updates. None of these numbers should be treated as fixed. Check the quarterly update bar before planning a filing date around anything on this page.
What changes once you're official
- Voting: absentee voting from abroad continues; process varies by state.
- Wills and inheritance: Greece, like Portugal, has forced-heirship rules that differ from US at-will estate law. A US will alone may not control what you expect it to, worth a cross-border review rather than a DIY assumption.
- Power of attorney: having both a US and a Greek POA in place matters if a spouse's health declines, the same gap Portugal's page flags, and it applies here too.