Buy Property In Greece and Get Residence

By Christos ILIOPOULOS*

If you are a foreign (not Greek and not EU) national, you are not of Greek ancestry, you have not obtained the Greek citizenship via your ancestors and you do not have a residence permit, neither a visa for stay in Greece, you are now going to be able to obtain the right to reside in Greece by purchasing real estate property in the country.

This is not yet enacted law, passed by the Greek Parliament. However, according to the Greek press, the Greek government has prepared a bill for boosting foreign investment in Greece. When the bill becomes law, it will state that any foreign national who is willing to invest in Greece a minimum of 300,000 euros in the real estate market, will be able to obtain a residence permit for a long period of time (possibly for five years initially).

The requirement will be to buy in Greece property worth of 300,000 euros at least.

Although more details of the bill have not been published yet, it must be noted that under the basic rules of European Union law, any person legally residing in one member state (like Greece), has the right to travel and, under conditions, to reside in any other member state of the European Union.

As a result of such rules, foreign nationals of third countries (who are not EU citizens, as in that case they have the right of residence anywhere in the EU, anyway), who obtain a residence permit in Greece by purchasing property, will also enjoy free travel and possibly residence rights in other European countries.



*Christos ILIOPOULOS, attorney at

the Supreme Court

of Greece , LL . M .

e-mail: bm-bioxoi@otenet.gr

ktimatologiolaw@yahoo.gr