Pandemic Greece Golden Visa Example

Igor S. from Belgorod, 44 years old. Owner of a furniture center. Applied in June 2020. He has a family - a wife and two children.

The client's goal is to obtain a residence permit in Europe for long-term family residence. The couple chose Greece because:

• They would prefer to live in a “warm” Europe;
• Greece seems to them mentally close, understandable country, besides the Golden Visa here is relatively inexpensive, the minimum investment threshold - € 250 thousand. For example, in Portugal it is equal to € 280 thousand, and in Spain - € 500 thousand.

At the time of the application the family had a Greek Schengen visa, which significantly accelerated the work together.

June and part of July were spent on collecting the package of documents, their verification and necessary processing. During the same period the lawyers remotely opened a Greek TIN for the client, plus an account with Piraeus Bank.

By the beginning of August we found a property in Halkidiki that suited and pleased the client. The sale and purchase transaction was completed remotely.

In the middle of August the family, using their visas, traveled to Greece. In Athens, at the Department of Migration Service, there was a big queue due to the coronavirus quarantine.

The lawyers found the following solution. They organized the family's trip to Crete, where the enrollment for biometrics took place without delays. There, the clients provided the Greek authorities with the originals of the required documents.

In order to avoid a second visit to the country, a power of attorney was issued to a lawyer in Greece. Using this power of attorney, about a month later, at the end of September, he picked up the finished residence permit cards and sent them to the family's place of residence by DHL mail.

In the end, it took about 4 months to work out the whole case. The family received a 5-year Greek residence permit with the right of unlimited residence.