Golden visas in 2026: Greece, Malta or Cyprus

The three programmes answer three different questions, and the choice between them turns on what you want the status for rather than on the price. But for one of them the position has changed fundamentally.

Greece suits most people. A threshold from €250,000 under the preferential property categories, no residence requirements at all, the broadest family inclusion in a single application, and an open route to naturalisation after seven years. And crucially: with Spain’s programme closed and Portugal having removed property from its list of qualifying investments, Greece is the last major EU programme where buying real estate gets you a status.

Cyprus wins on speed and on the type of status. From €300,000 into new-build property, a decision in two to four months, and it grants permanent status straight away rather than a temporary permit requiring renewal. If the priority is a permanent status quickly, Cyprus is objectively better.

Malta wins on tax, but only if you relocate. A permanent residence programme with a multi-part investment structure and a six to eight month timeline. Its real value lies not in the status but in the non-domiciled regime, under which tax is paid only on income remitted to the island. For an investor who does not relocate, that argument does not apply.

Reduced to a sentence: Greece delivers the most for the least money if you are not moving, Cyprus delivers status fastest, and Malta delivers a tax structure to anyone genuinely relocating. What follows works through each point with figures.

Material written before 2025 describes a market that no longer exists. The chronology is worth walking through, because it explains why the choice looks the way it does today.

Portugal, 2023. Direct investment in property was removed from the list of qualifying options. What remain are funds at €500,000 and cultural investment.

Greece, September 2024. The flat €250,000 threshold across the country was replaced by a three-tier system. The programme did not close; it got more expensive in popular locations.

Spain, 3 April 2025. The golden visa was closed by Organic Law 1/2025. New applications are not accepted.

Malta, 29 April 2025. The Court of Justice of the EU found the investor citizenship programme contrary to Union law. Malta withdrew it. The residence programme survived, but a Maltese passport can no longer be bought for investment, and nor can any other in the Union.

Romania, November 2025. Proposed a programme with a €400,000 threshold and abandoned the plans after objections from its national defence council, which saw risks to the country’s Schengen membership.

The result: of the major EU programmes running through property, only Greece is left. Cyprus works with property but grants permanent status on a different basis and at a higher threshold. Malta is built around a contribution rather than an asset.

What is coming. The European travel authorisation system launches in late 2026 and becomes mandatory by October 2027. The industry expects it to add a screening layer for holders of investment-based statuses. The general direction is one way: programmes are getting more expensive and more demanding.

Comparing on the headline threshold is pointless, because the three programmes structure the investment in fundamentally different ways.

Greece. The whole sum goes into an asset. You buy a property that remains your own, can be sold and can be inherited. The threshold depends on the type of property and the location: €250,000 under two preferential categories, €400,000 across the country, €800,000 in Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and islands with a population above 3,100. Ancillary costs, meaning transfer tax, notary, registration, legal fees and state charges, run to roughly 10% of the property price.

Cyprus. Also an asset, but at a higher threshold and on stricter terms: from €300,000 excluding VAT, and the property must be new-build from a developer. The resale market does not qualify at all, and that restriction narrows the choice of properties more than it first appears. There is also a requirement to evidence annual income of at least €50,000 from sources outside Cyprus, with uplifts for family members.

Malta. A different construction: a government contribution that is not returned, plus property either purchased or leased, plus a charitable donation and an administrative fee. As at mid-2026 the contribution starts at €98,000 for South Malta or Gozo and at €300,000 elsewhere, with property purchased from €300,000 or leased from €10,000 a year. The fee structure has been revised, so current figures need confirming on the date of application.

The key difference people miss. In Malta a substantial part of the money is spent irrecoverably as a contribution, and if you take the rental route you end up with no asset at all: you are paying for the status and continuing to pay for accommodation. In Greece and Cyprus the investment remains your property. At comparable outlay those are different products, and comparing them on a single figure is not meaningful.

The money summarised. The lowest entry point that preserves capital in an asset is Greece at €250,000. Cyprus costs €50,000 more with a narrower choice of property. Malta is cheaper on the first payment if you lease, but more expensive in total and leaves you owning nothing.

This is the most competitive offer on the European market, and also where property selection goes wrong most often.

How the thresholds work. The flat €250,000 rate across the country ended on 31 August 2024. It was replaced by a system where the sum depends on both location and property type.
€800,000 covers the whole region of Attica, including Athens, Piraeus and the suburbs of the Athenian Riviera, the regional unit of Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and any island with a population above 3,100. The law defines these zones by administrative boundaries rather than by city limits.
€400,000 covers the rest of the country.
Both thresholds carry two further conditions: the investment must be in a single property, so a portfolio of several flats does not qualify, and the main living area must be at least 120 square metres, counting habitable space and excluding storage, parking and ancillary areas.
€250,000. The threshold survives but has stopped being geographic. It applies across Greece, Athens included, to two categories of property.

The first category: a commercial property converted to residential use. An office, shop, warehouse or industrial unit formally reclassified as residential. The 120 square metre minimum does not apply here at all, which makes it possible to take a compact property in a good location rather than a large one in a poor one. The conditions: the change of use must be completed before the application is submitted, the conversion must have occurred after 5 April 2024, and the investment must be in a single property. Industrial buildings qualify provided no manufacturing has taken place there for at least five years. Off-plan projects do not qualify: only an actual change of function in an existing building counts, not an amendment to drawings.

The second category: a listed building for restoration. A property with formal heritage status, the same minimum acquisition value, and again no floor area requirement. The investor takes on restoration obligations. These properties often sit in historic centres, which at €250,000 are otherwise unreachable when the threshold there is €800,000. Before the transaction, check the property’s status on the register, the scope of the restoration obligations and their cost, which can approach the price of the property itself.

A separate route at the same figure with no property involved. Under Article 44 of Law 5162/2024, available from early 2026, a €250,000 investment in a Greek startup registered with Elevate Greece qualifies. The investor’s holding may not exceed 33% of share capital or voting rights, and the startup must create at least two jobs within a year and maintain them for five. The permit runs for five years and is renewable. Suited to anyone who does not want to manage a property.

What to know about yield. The investment property cannot be let on a short-term basis: the law expressly prohibits short-term letting and subletting. Long-term letting is permitted. Material promising returns through holiday letting is describing something that does not exist.

And a warning. Advertisements presenting properties at €180,000 to €230,000 as golden-visa-eligible circulate widely. The Ministry of Migration issued a circular in April 2026 partly because of them. Buying an ordinary finished flat at €250,000 and obtaining a status is not possible in any region.

Cyprus has one objective advantage over Greece, and it is worth stating plainly.

Speed and the type of status. A decision comes in two to four months, the fastest of the three. And what is issued is a permanent residence permit straight away, not a temporary one to be renewed. It runs indefinitely provided you visit the island at least once every two years, with no requirement to confirm the investment every five years.

The terms. From €300,000 excluding VAT into new-build property from a developer. The resale market does not qualify: a fundamental restriction that rules out historic properties and existing housing stock in established neighbourhoods. Evidenced annual income of at least €50,000 from sources outside Cyprus, with uplifts for a spouse and each child. There is no requirement to live on the island.

Family. A spouse, children and dependent parents can be included.

Where Cyprus falls short. The entry threshold is €50,000 above Greece’s with a narrower choice of property. Permanent status is not equivalent to citizenship and does not create an accelerated route to it: a Cypriot passport on this route comes on ordinary terms with an actual residence requirement. The Cypriot citizenship by investment programme has been closed since 2020 and has not resumed.

Who it suits. Anyone who needs an indefinite EU status quickly and without renewal obligations, and who does not regard €50,000 as decisive. It is a straightforward solution with a clear outcome.

The Maltese programme is built differently from the other two, and assessing it on the same criteria is a mistake.

First, what no longer exists. On 29 April 2025 the Court of Justice of the EU found the investor citizenship programme contrary to Union law, and it was withdrawn. Material offering a Maltese passport for investment is describing a closed product. The permanent residence programme survived, but that is a residence route rather than citizenship, and the two should not be conflated.

The investment structure. A government contribution, property purchased or leased, a charitable donation and an administrative fee. As at mid-2026 the contribution starts at €98,000 for South Malta or Gozo and at €300,000 elsewhere. Property is purchased from €300,000 or leased from €10,000 a year. Due diligence and evidence of assets are mandatory. Processing takes six to eight months.

The main argument. It is not the status. Malta operates a system under which a person without a domicile there pays tax only on income remitted to the island, subject to a minimum annual charge. For someone with substantial foreign income that is not remitted, that is a structure with few equivalents in the EU.

Where Malta falls short. A substantial part of the investment is irrecoverable: the contribution is not returned under any circumstances. If you take the rental route you end up with no asset at all. Processing takes twice as long as Cyprus and longer than Greece. And critically: the tax argument only works on an actual relocation and acquisition of Maltese tax residence. For an investor who continues living elsewhere, Malta delivers what Greece and Cyprus deliver, but more expensively and without preserving capital in an asset.

Who it suits. Anyone whose objective is tax rather than migration, and who is treating relocation seriously. As a purely residential document Malta loses to both alternatives.

Marketing material counts the timeline from filing to decision. What matters to an investor is the full stretch, including finding the property and completing the purchase.

Cyprus takes two to four months to review, the fastest of the three. With property selection on the new-build market and completion, the full cycle runs four to seven months.

Greece has a statutory review period of two months from a complete file. In practice it runs four to nine months in 2026 depending on the property category and the regional office workload. Demand explains it: around 9,386 initial applications were filed in 2024, and around 8,879 were approved in 2025. With property selection, the full cycle is six to twelve months, longer for the preferential categories involving restoration.

Malta takes six to eight months to review, plus property selection or lease arrangements. The full cycle runs eight to twelve months.

What affects the timeline in all three. Not the volume of documents but their consistency and how quickly you answer follow-up questions. That is the only part of the timeline the applicant controls, and preparing the file before submission shortens it more noticeably than the choice of jurisdiction does.

The practical takeaway. If timing is critical, Cyprus is objectively faster. If a difference of two or three months is not decisive, it should not drive the choice: you hold the status for years, and the difference in processing is measured in weeks.

This is where Greece has an advantage that is rarely voiced, although it is worth money.

Residence requirements. Greece requires no presence at all: no minimum number of days, no visits, no reporting. Malta likewise requires no residence. Cyprus requires a visit to the island at least once every two years. A small difference, but the Cypriot condition needs remembering so the status is not lost on a technicality.

Family composition. Here the difference is substantial. A Greek application can include a spouse, children under 21 extendable to 24 in certain circumstances, and dependent parents on both sides, meaning yours and your spouse’s. There is no additional sum per family member: the threshold is calculated on the property. Cyprus and Malta also permit family inclusion, but Cyprus raises the income requirement with each family member and Malta’s fees scale with composition.

For a family of four or five with elderly parents on both sides, the Greek structure can work out tens of thousands of euros cheaper than the Cypriot one despite the nominally lower entry threshold.

Terms of holding the status. Greece: five years, renewable while you retain the property. Selling means losing the basis, so exiting the investment is planned together with the status. Cyprus: indefinite, with no requirement to confirm the investment. Malta: permanent status with the document renewed every five years.

A section absent from the earlier version of this material, although it determines the economics of the decision.

Common to all three. Obtaining a residence permit does not in itself make you a tax resident. Residence is determined by actual presence and centre of vital interests, usually on a 183-day threshold. An investor who obtains a status and continues living elsewhere does not acquire worldwide income obligations in the country of the status.

Wording of the type “no tax on worldwide income where you are not tax resident”, which appears in descriptions of the Maltese programme, is true of every country in the world and is not a feature of any particular programme.

If you relocate, the differences appear.
Greece offers a special regime for new tax residents with foreign income, substantially reducing the burden in the early years. The terms depend on the source of income and the professional category.
Malta operates its non-domiciled system: tax only on income remitted to the island, subject to a minimum annual charge. This is the most interesting of the three constructions for someone with large foreign income.
Cyprus applies its own regime for new residents with an exemption on part of the income, and its corporate rate has been 15% since 2026.

What to work out before deciding. The tax burden after relocation rather than before it. The process for exiting your previous tax residence under that country’s rules. And the ancillary costs of holding the asset: property tax, utilities, maintenance, and for the Greek restoration category the cost of the works themselves.

Three statuses that marketing material constantly conflates, and the difference between them determines the whole point of the investment.

A temporary residence permit gives you the right to live in the country and to move around Schengen as a tourist for up to 90 days in any 180. Greece issues exactly this, for five years and renewable.

Permanent status requires no confirmation of the investment. Cyprus and Malta grant it immediately; Greece after five years of lawful residence.

Citizenship. Not available for investment anywhere in the EU since April 2025. What remains is naturalisation. In Greece, after seven years of actual residence, with Greek at B1 level and a civics examination. In Cyprus and Malta the periods are longer, and all three require genuine residence.

The central contradiction. The main convenience of all three programmes is the absence of residence requirements. But residence is precisely the condition for naturalisation. An investor who does not relocate gets mobility, a status and an asset, but comes no closer to a passport by a single year.

For comparison: in Portugal, following the law that took effect on 19 May 2026, naturalisation takes ten years for most applicants. Greece’s seven years is the best figure among the options considered here, but the actual residence condition applies everywhere.

You want an EU status with capital preserved in an asset, and you are not relocating. Greece. The lowest entry threshold with an outright purchase, no presence requirements, the broadest family scope. This is the scenario behind most enquiries, and Greece wins it on the balance of factors.

You want an indefinite status as quickly as possible. Cyprus. Two to four months and permanent residence straight away with no renewal obligations. The €50,000 difference against the Greek preferential threshold is what you pay for speed and for the type of status.

Your objective is tax, and you are relocating seriously. Malta with the non-domiciled regime. The calculation has to be run on your particular income structure: the construction delivers where foreign income is large and stays outside the island, and delivers very little otherwise.

Your objective is an EU passport. It cannot be bought anywhere in the Union in 2026. What remains is naturalisation with actual residence, and here Greece has the best period of the three at seven years against Portugal’s ten. In that case start with the Greek status and plan a genuine relocation.

The working order is simple. First define the task: an asset, speed, tax or a basis for a future move. Then choose the programme that answers it. Then find a property to suit the programme and check it against every condition before the transaction. For the Greek preferential threshold that is critical: an error in selection means a refusal, not an overpayment.

Finextwin is an international corporate services firm with offices in Hong Kong and Tbilisi. Over 6+ years we have worked across 30+ jurisdictions with more than 1,250 clients. We carry out a preliminary assessment before any investment is made, match the programme and the property to the task, verify compliance with the preferential threshold conditions before the transaction, model the tax position after relocation and support the application. The decision belongs to the government authority and nobody can guarantee it: our job is to remove the reasons for refusal in advance. A manager responds within 30 minutes.
All active programmes and their terms are set out in the immigration section.