Obtaining a 5-year Residence Permit in Greece and Europe

BUY REAL ESTATE PROPERTY IN GREECE AND GET A FIVE-YEAR RESIDENCE PERMIT

NOVELTIES IN IMMIGRATION POLICY IN GREECE:

UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY FOR OBTAINING A 5-YEAR RESIDENCE PERMIT IN GREECE AND EUROPE

The law office of Mrs. Svetlana Kasatkina-Kouskou offers legal services regarding the title check of real estate property and also cooperates with the real estate agencies in order to offer assistance with purchasing or selling real estate property in Greece. It also takes care of the process needed to obtain residence permit for the owner of the real estate property and his or her family in Greece, which is valid for the whole Schengen area for 5 years. In addition to this the law office offers special legal services for starting a company and/or a branch of a company in Greece and at the same time is responsible for obtaining the residence permit for the company/branch’s members in the County. 

According to the provisions of Law No 4146/2013 by buying or renting real estate property valued of 250.000 € or more the owners are allowed to get a five year residence permit in Greece and Europe for themselves and their family members as well.

Currently Greece is the only country in the European Union that implements the special investment law listing “Configuration of Friendly Development Environment for Strategic and Private Investments and other provisions” which defines the criteria for long term immigration for individuals and legal entities. An important aspect of this law is the integrated help and the attraction of direct investments to the Country while the ones who already hold a residence permit in Greece have also the right to visa free travelling in the Schengen area.

The law mentioned above divides the investments for “private” and “strategic”:

I. For the “private” investments the next categories of third country nationals are allowed to get the long-term residence permit with a possibility of prolonging:

a) A third country national who already owns property or it is proved that they are intended to buy property in Greece for the price at list 250.000€

b) A third country national who have signed at least 10-year rental contract for a hotel or a tourist furnished apartments for the minimum value of the rental 250.000€ (Paragraph 2, Article 8 of Law № 4002/2011)

c) Family members of the above mentioned third country citizens.

Α1. Εspecially for the third country nationals falling within the indent (I) the following should be considered in mind:

1. The owners should have the complete and absolute ownership of the real estate property.

2. In case of joint ownership with value 250.000€, the residence right is given as long as the property owners are spouses holding the property undivided. In all other cases of joint ownership the residence right is only given to the co-owners who has invested 250.000€ each.

3. If the real estate property owner has bought it via legal entity, he or she has to be the only owner of all stocks and shares of the company.

4. The residence permit is also given in case the third country national owns, either directly or via legal entity, more than one property with a total value of at least 250.000€.

5. The intension of buying property has to be proved by the documents that show financial ability (e.g. certification of a recognized A class bank or an official financing organization) which certifies the existence of bank accounts or other values, especially bonds or shares, enough to cover the investment capital of value at least 250.000€ and the purpose of the claimant to buy the real estate property (delegation agreement with a lawyer or an estate agent).

Α2. For the ones falling within the indent (b) the contract should result in the form of the one-off payment of the rental, which is equivalent to the 10-year rental of the accommodation or the tourist furnished apartments.

Α3. In both of the above mentioned cases the value of the property has to be proved by the value mentioned on the contract or the rent contract.

Α.4. Third country nationals who buy parcel or land and move on to building construction as long as the total value of the contract and the property development contract is up to at least 250.000€.

Advantages given by the long-term residence permit in Greece:

1. This permit allows free entry into the property as often as the owners wish and in addition to this they are allowed to travel freely on the territory of Europe and the countries of the Schengen area.

2. The residence permit does not include the right to access any kind of work. According to the meaning of the paragraph 3 of the Law № 3386/2005 the financial activity of a shareholder or a managing director is not considered as “work”.

3. Real estate property owners can be outside Greece for as much time as they wish without that being a problem for the renewal of their residence permit.

4. The children of the long-term residence permit’s holder are allowed to enter all education levels in the countries of Schengen area.

5. To get the permit mentioned above you will definitely have to buy the real estate property with value of 250.000€ or more and enter Greece with a special national visa type D. It is clarified that there is a possibility to submit an application for residence permit according to the Law № 4146/2013 to every third country citizen who lives legally in Greece regardless the state or the type of their residence permit. This includes the ones who already hold a C type visa and the asylum seekers.

6. Granting residence permit in Greece can be achieved not only by buying real estate property, but also by starting business or a branch of a foreign company. All those choices are strongly encouraged by the Greek competent authorities who are interested in foreign capitals.

7. “Property with advantages”

Buying property in Greece regardless the value makes it easier to get a two year residence permit for you and your family members with the possibility of renewal.

The law office of Mrs. Svetlana Kasatkina-Kouskou is based in a convenient place for the clients, in the centre of Athens. The branch office is located in the seaside area of Glyfada and provides legal support concerning buying and selling real estate property throughout Greece.