What is Golden Visa? Complete Guide

A Golden Visa is a residence permit by investment. The applicant does not need a job offer, a university place, or another conventional reason to move — instead they meet the programme's investment, due diligence, and family-eligibility conditions.

Conditions vary by country, but most programmes share a core set of requirements. To apply, an investor usually must:

• be over 18,

• have a clean criminal record and no relevant prosecutions,

• hold qualifying funds in line with the programme threshold,

• show that the funds are lawfully held.

Investment options also vary. The most common is qualifying real estate, but routes can cover capital transfer, qualifying fund or share purchases, government bonds, donations, and business or job-creation investments.

Investment minimums sit roughly between EUR 50,000 and several million euros, depending on the route and country. As one example, Greece uses tiered real-estate thresholds: EUR 250,000 remains available only for specified exceptions such as qualifying change-of-use properties or listed-building restoration cases, while EUR 400,000 or EUR 800,000 applies to other qualifying real estate depending on property type and location.

Most programmes let investors include close family members on the same application. Some allow adult children, parents, or other dependants where the eligibility tests are met. Eligible categories and supporting documents differ from programme to programme.

Each programme runs its own process, but most follow a similar shape: document gathering, application submission, due diligence, and investment fulfilment. The full cycle usually takes several months and can stretch longer for routes with deeper compliance checks or processing backlogs.

Collection of documents and application submission. The core document set typically includes:

• a passport or national ID,

• a police clearance certificate,

• a reference letter from your bank,

• proof of health insurance,

• programme-specific documents such as property contracts, fund subscriptions, or proof of source of funds.

Applicants usually need to complete government forms, notarise and translate documents, and pay processing and government fees. Experienced lawyers help organise the package and keep it consistent with current programme rules.

Once the package is ready, the applicant or their legal representative files it with the unit responsible for the programme.

Due diligence is then conducted to confirm that the applicant meets the programme's requirements. The reviewing unit checks the investor and listed family members against international watchlists and reviews open-source records. Additional documents may be requested if the file is incomplete.

Fulfilment of investment conditions. Depending on the programme, investors complete the investment either before or after due diligence. Pre-investment is more common.

Some routes only accept filings through a licensed agent — for example, applicants to the Malta Permanent Residence Programme must apply through a licensed agent registered with the Residency Malta Agency. Other programmes accept direct filings or filings through accredited representatives. A qualified legal adviser can confirm which channel applies to a specific case.

Most programmes also require the investor and accompanying family members to visit the host country at least once for biometrics, document collection, or a medical examination.

A residence permit by investment can deliver several practical benefits, depending on the country and the route. The most common are below.

Living in another country. A Golden Visa gives the investor the right to reside in the issuing country for the validity period of the permit and to renew it while the qualifying investment is maintained. Most programmes do not require the investor to live in the country full time. If the investor later pursues naturalisation, that process has its own residence and physical-presence rules.

Residence-by-investment programmes are typically offered by jurisdictions with strong infrastructure, safety, healthcare, and education, including EU member states and the UAE.

A second base. Holding a residence permit issued by another country can provide a useful alternative base for the investor and their family if conditions in their primary country of residence change.

Travel within the Schengen Area. Holders of a residence permit issued by a Schengen member state can usually travel within the Schengen Area for short stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Schengen rules apply to the Area as a whole and to short-stay travel; they are not a substitute for a full residence right in any individual Schengen state.

Tax considerations. Some host countries operate specific tax regimes for new residents, and the position depends on personal facts including residency status, source of income, and any applicable double-taxation treaty. Rules in this area have moved repeatedly in recent years, and cross-border tax planning should be reviewed with a qualified tax adviser before committing to an investment route.

UAE corporate tax has been in force since 1 June 2023 at a headline rate of 9% on qualifying business profits. Personal tax treatment for UAE residents — including income, capital gains, inheritance, gifts, and property — depends on the resident's circumstances and should be confirmed with a qualified tax adviser.

Business and banking. Investors can typically register a company or open a local bank account in the country that granted residence. Specific eligibility for company directorships, work rights, and bank-account opening varies by programme and by bank.

Return of capital. Most qualifying investments can be unwound after a defined holding period set by the host programme. The minimum holding period and the rules around resale, redemption, or replacement vary between routes, so the timeline for any return of capital should be checked against the current programme rules rather than older marketing material. A return of capital is not guaranteed and depends on market and programme conditions.

Access to healthcare and education. Several programmes give residents access to local healthcare services and to public or private schools and universities. Specific access rights, including any private-pay obligations, depend on the country and on the resident's status.

No employment, language, or education test at the investment stage. Golden Visa routes are investment-based and do not normally require the applicant to find work, pass language exams, or enrol in education to obtain or renew the residence permit. Citizenship by naturalisation, where available, is a separate process with its own integration and language requirements.

Rental income. Many programmes do not require permanent occupation, so investors who hold qualifying real estate may be able to rent the property out under local rules. Specific rental and short-stay restrictions vary by programme and by country.

Several European countries operate active residency-by-investment routes. The European picture has changed substantially in recent years, with route closures, threshold reforms, and new nationality rules. The current snapshot:

• 🇬🇷 Greece — qualifying real estate at EUR 250,000 / EUR 400,000 / EUR 800,000 depending on property type and location. EUR 250,000 remains available only for specified exceptions, such as qualifying change-of-use properties or listed-building restoration cases.

• 🇮🇹 Italy — Investor Visa with a government-bond route at at least EUR 2,000,000. Other routes (innovative startup, business investment, philanthropic donation) also exist; their exact thresholds are reviewed against current legal source records and should be confirmed with a qualified adviser before any investment decision.

• 🇨🇾 Cyprus — permanent residence by investment under Regulation 6(2). Several exact figures — including the paid-before-submission threshold, dependant income increments, processing time, and naturalisation timing — are currently reviewed against My Golden Visa legal source records and should be confirmed with a qualified adviser before any commitment.

• 🇲🇹 Malta — Permanent Residence Programme (MPRP). Cost components are summarised in the dedicated Malta section below.

• 🇱🇻 Latvia — qualifying company-investment route from EUR 50,000 plus a EUR 10,000 government fee. Latvia also has separate property, subordinated-debt, and government-securities routes with their own thresholds and conditions.

• 🇵🇹 Portugal — the ARI (Autorização de Residência para Investimento) was reformed by Law 56/2023, which removed the real-estate purchase route. Exact thresholds for the remaining ARI routes are currently under legal-database reconciliation and are not published in this guide. Use the dedicated Portugal page on mygoldenvisa.io or speak to a qualified adviser for the live position.

• 🇪🇸 Spain — the investor residence route under Law 14/2013 is closed to new applicants from 3 April 2025. See the dedicated Spain section below for the closed-route position and separate Spanish residence options.

Outside Europe, several jurisdictions also offer investor-residence routes. Coverage in this guide is limited to programmes whose conditions are verified against current legal sources:

• 🇦🇪 The UAE — 10-year Golden Visa property route from AED 2,000,000, and a separate two-year Dubai property investor residence route updated in April 2026. Both are covered in the dedicated UAE section below.

For Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mauritius, Namibia, New Zealand, Panama, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States, programme conditions, eligibility tests, and minimum investments have moved frequently. Please use the relevant country guide on mygoldenvisa.io or speak to a qualified adviser before relying on any specific figure.

Citizenship typically grants more rights than residence — for example, the unconditional right to live and work in the country, voting rights, and (depending on the issuing country) wider travel rights. Specific travel access depends on the issuing country's current visa-policy network at the time of travel and changes over time; any current visa-free count should be checked against an up-to-date official source rather than treated as a fixed number.

Naturalisation is a separate process from residence by investment. Holding a Golden Visa does not on its own deliver citizenship. Each country sets its own residence period, physical-presence rule, language and integration test, criminal-record check, and other discretionary conditions.

Indicative minimum residence periods for naturalisation in countries that issue Golden Visas:

• Cyprus — naturalisation timing is reviewed against My Golden Visa legal source records and the current Ministry of Interior position. The earlier "5 years" framing is not current and is not used here. The post-2023 framework is based on 12 months' immediate residence plus seven years' lawful residence in the preceding ten years, with statutory and discretionary requirements.

• Greece — at least 7 years of legal and continuous residence with physical presence of at least 183 days per year, plus language, integration, criminal-record, and tax-compliance tests. Simply holding a Golden Visa without actual residence does not, on its own, qualify.

• Portugal — for nationality applications filed from 19 May 2026 onward, the residence period under Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 is 7 years for CPLP and EU nationals and 10 years for other nationalities. Administrative nationality procedures that were already pending when the law entered into force are covered by the prior law. Holding a Portugal Golden Visa does not automatically qualify the holder for citizenship.

• Spain — the general residence period for Spanish nationality by residence is 10 years, with statutory exceptions for certain nationalities and circumstances. Spain's investor residence route is closed to new applicants from 3 April 2025 (see below).

• UAE — long-term residence routes exist for investors and other categories, but UAE citizenship is granted on a discretionary basis under the existing nationality law and is not a standard outcome of Golden Visa holding.

Some countries, such as Spain, do not generally permit multiple citizenships, and the UAE has traditionally taken a restrictive view as well. An applicant who reaches the naturalisation stage may be required to renounce other nationalities, depending on the country and the route. Specific rules can change, and applicants should confirm the position with a qualified adviser before committing.

In February 2022, the United Kingdom closed its Tier 1 (Investor) visa route to new applicants, citing fraud and illicit-finance concerns.

In February 2023, Ireland closed its Immigrant Investor Programme to new applicants.

Portugal's Golden Visa was not scrapped, but it was substantially reformed. Law 56/2023 removed the real-estate purchase route and restructured the ARI programme. The remaining ARI route thresholds are currently under legal-database reconciliation and are not republished in this guide. Separately, Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 changed the residence periods for nationality applications filed from 19 May 2026 onward — see the citizenship section above for the current 7-year and 10-year split.

In April 2025, Spain's investor residence route under Law 14/2013 was closed to new applicants. The closure covers the full former investor category under Articles 63 to 67 of Law 14/2013, not just the real-estate component. Applications submitted before 3 April 2025 and existing investor-residence holders fall under separate transitional rules: existing valid authorisations keep their issued validity, and renewals are assessed under the rules that applied at the time of the original grant where the legal requirements continue to be met. Separate Spanish residence routes may exist for eligible applicants, but they are not replacements for the closed investor route.

🇨🇾 Cyprus permanent residence by investment. Cyprus permanent residence is granted under Regulation 6(2) and is a residence route, not citizenship by investment. Qualifying investments include residential property, commercial real estate, shares in Cypriot companies, and securities. The investor must visit Cyprus at least once every two years to maintain status. Several exact figures — the paid-before-submission threshold, dependant income increments, parent inclusion, processing time, and naturalisation timing — are currently reviewed against My Golden Visa legal source records and the official Ministry of Interior position; we do not republish disputed values in this guide. The earlier "5 years to citizenship" Cyprus framing is not used here; naturalisation is a separate process subject to current statutory and discretionary requirements.

🇬🇷 Greece Golden Visa. Real estate is the most-used route. Current thresholds are tiered at EUR 250,000 / EUR 400,000 / EUR 800,000 depending on property type and location. EUR 250,000 remains available only for specified exceptions such as qualifying change-of-use properties or listed-building restoration cases. The permit is a five-year residence permit that can be renewed while the qualifying investment is maintained. Non-real-estate routes include qualifying mutual fund or alternative investment fund shares from EUR 350,000 and listed corporate or government bonds from EUR 800,000. Greece company-capital financial routes are currently under legal-database reconciliation, so a single company-capital figure is not republished here. The Greek Golden Visa does not on its own grant Greek citizenship; naturalisation by residence is a separate process with its own requirements (see the citizenship section above).

🇲🇹 Malta Permanent Residence Programme (MPRP). MPRP grants permanent-residence status, with a residence card renewed every five years. Application timing is typically "3–6 months+" or "6 months+"; this is not a guaranteed window. Cost components, per current legal source records, are:

• property purchase from EUR 375,000, or property rent from EUR 14,000 per year;

• an official/application fee of EUR 60,000, plus EUR 7,500 for each dependant aged 18 or over (excluding spouse);

• a government contribution of EUR 37,000, plus a philanthropic donation of EUR 2,000;

• evidence of financial resources of at least EUR 500,000 in assets with at least EUR 150,000 in financial assets, or alternatively at least EUR 650,000 in assets with at least EUR 75,000 in financial assets.

MPRP is a residence programme and is kept strictly separate from Malta citizenship by naturalisation, which is governed by separate Maltese law.

🇵🇹 Portugal Golden Visa (ARI). Portugal's ARI programme was reformed by Law 56/2023, which removed the real-estate purchase route. Remaining ARI routes exist — broadly: scientific research, artistic and cultural-heritage support, qualifying investment funds, and company-capital with job creation — but the exact thresholds are currently under legal-database reconciliation. We do not republish a single ARI minimum-investment figure in this guide. Citizenship is not available "after five years": for nationality applications filed from 19 May 2026 onward, the residence period under Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 is 7 years for CPLP and EU nationals and 10 years for other nationalities. Golden Visa holders should not be described as automatically grandfathered into the prior regime.

🇮🇹 Italy Investor Visa. The Italian Investor Visa includes a government-bond route at at least EUR 2,000,000. The innovative-startup, business-investment, and philanthropic-donation routes also exist; their exact thresholds are reviewed against current legal source records before being quoted, and should be confirmed with a qualified adviser before any commitment. Italy citizenship by descent and the new-resident flat-tax regime are kept under separate legal-database review and are not described in this guide. Naturalisation by residence remains a separate statutory process.

🇪🇸 Spain — closed investor route. Spain's investor residence route under Law 14/2013 is closed to new applicants from 3 April 2025. The closure covers the full former investor category under Articles 63 to 67. Historical thresholds — real-estate purchase from EUR 500,000; bank deposit, share purchase, or fund subscription from EUR 1,000,000; government bonds from EUR 2,000,000 — are noted here only as closed-route history and should not be read as current programme pricing. Existing valid investor-residence authorisations keep their issued validity, and renewals are assessed under the rules that applied at the time of the original grant. Separate Spanish residence routes may exist for eligible applicants, but they are not replacements for the closed investor route. Spanish nationality by residence is a separate process with a general residence period of 10 years.

🇦🇪 UAE Golden Visa and two-year property investor residence. The UAE 10-year Golden Visa property route is available for qualifying real estate from AED 2,000,000. Processing typically takes around two months once documents are complete, but timelines are not guaranteed. Following the April 2026 Dubai Land Department / Cube Centre update, the separate two-year Dubai property investor residence route works differently: there is no minimum property value for sole-owner qualifying Dubai freehold residential property; for joint ownership, each co-investor must hold a share worth at least AED 400,000. The route accepts only freehold residential, ready-to-move property in Dubai — off-plan and commercial properties are excluded, and other emirates and DIFC are not accepted. Mortgaged or instalment-plan property requires a bank or developer no-objection certificate, and for completed properties, evidence of payment of at least 50% of the property value or AED 375,000 is required. The two-year and 10-year routes have separate eligibility and should not be conflated.

Several countries operate Golden Visa or residence-by-investment routes. As of May 2026, the European picture is shaped by recent law changes and the wider list looks like this:

• Greece — tiered real-estate thresholds at EUR 250,000 / EUR 400,000 / EUR 800,000 depending on property type and location.

• Cyprus — permanent residence under Regulation 6(2); several exact figures are currently reviewed against My Golden Visa legal source records.

• Malta — Permanent Residence Programme with property purchase from EUR 375,000 (or rent from EUR 14,000/year), plus a defined fee and contribution stack.

• Italy — Investor Visa with the government-bond route at at least EUR 2,000,000.

• Portugal — ARI reformed by Law 56/2023; remaining route thresholds are under reconciliation; nationality residence periods changed under Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026.

• Spain — investor residence route under Law 14/2013 closed to new applicants from 3 April 2025.

• UAE — 10-year Golden Visa property route from AED 2,000,000; separate two-year Dubai property investor residence updated in April 2026.

A Golden Visa is a residence permit granted in return for a qualifying investment in the host country.

Investment options vary by programme: qualifying real estate has been the most common route historically, but several countries also offer fund, capital, donation, and business-investment routes.

A Golden Visa can support — but does not on its own deliver — a future application for naturalisation. Naturalisation is a separate process, with country-specific residence periods, physical-presence rules, and other statutory requirements. For any specific country, route, or family situation, reliable next-step advice should come from a qualified legal or tax adviser.