Greece now has two investment residence routes with a minimum entry point of €250,000, although the fact that they share the same headline price can make them look more similar than they really are.
The established Golden Visa allows investors to qualify through certain categories of Greek real estate. The newer Startup Visa offers residence to non-EU nationals who put at least €250,000 into an eligible Greek startup.
Property investors acquire a tangible asset and receive a five-year residence permit, with no requirement to create jobs or support the performance of a business. Startup investors are taking on venture-style risk, a shorter initial permit and ongoing requirements linked to the company receiving their investment.
For someone mainly interested in Greek residence, those differences are likely to matter much more than the shared €250,000 figure.
Greece Golden Visa vs Startup Visa at a glance
The property route is generally simpler once the purchase has been completed, while the startup option asks more of both the investor and the company over the following years.
How the Greece Startup Visa works
The Greece Startup Visa allows non-EU nationals to qualify for residence by investing at least €250,000 in a startup registered in Greece's National Startup Registry.
It is formally a Type B.6 investor residence permit, which is useful to know because the name can give the wrong impression. This is not a typical founder visa for someone moving to Greece to launch a company of their own and work in it day to day. The applicant is investing capital into an eligible Greek startup.
The investment can be made through company shares or qualifying securities, but the investor cannot acquire more than 33% of the company's capital or voting rights. The qualifying investment also needs to remain in place for at least five years.
In practice, the route sits closer to a venture investment with residence attached than a conventional entrepreneur visa.
The startup must also create jobs
The €250,000 investment is only one part of the requirement. The startup must create at least two new jobs within the first year after the investment and then maintain the required employment level for five years.
There is no equivalent condition under the property Golden Visa, so a startup investor needs to think about more than the quality of the investment itself. The company's ability to keep meeting its employment obligations also matters because those obligations support the investor's residence permit.
This creates a slightly awkward position for the investor, who can put a substantial amount of capital into the company without owning more than 33% of it. Their residence can therefore depend partly on decisions and business conditions they do not fully control.
How the €250,000 property route compares
The Greece Golden Visa still offers a €250,000 property route, but that price does not apply to ordinary residential property across the country.
Standard property investment thresholds are generally €800,000 in designated high-demand locations and €400,000 elsewhere. The lower €250,000 threshold applies to specific categories of real estate, including eligible properties converted from commercial to residential use and qualifying listed buildings that require restoration or reconstruction.
An investor who finds a suitable property can therefore enter the programme at the same headline price as the Startup Visa, but what they are buying and what happens afterwards are quite different.
Property investors own real estate rather than equity in a private company. There is no job-creation requirement and no need for a separate business to maintain its workforce. The investor needs to keep ownership of a qualifying property and continue to comply with the Golden Visa rules.
There are still restrictions to consider. Golden Visa properties cannot be used for short-term rentals, and the €250,000 categories need careful eligibility checks before purchase, particularly where a project depends on a change of use or restoration status. Investors considering this route should make sure the property itself meets the relevant Golden Visa requirements before committing to a purchase.
Residence risk is higher with a startup
The property Golden Visa gives investors a fairly clear basis for keeping their residence permit, based mainly on retaining a qualifying asset and staying within the programme rules.
With the Startup Visa, the financial health and compliance of the company become part of the equation as well. A business can lose staff, run into funding problems, restructure or fail, and some of those events can affect the conditions supporting the investor's residence.
Startup due diligence therefore needs to cover the company's finances, management and growth prospects in the usual way, but also whether it looks capable of meeting the employment conditions attached to the visa over several years.
For someone whose main objective is predictable residence, this is a material difference.
What happens if the startup fails?
Greek rules allow some flexibility if the qualifying company enters bankruptcy or undergoes certain corporate changes. In those circumstances, the investor may be able to preserve their residence position by making another qualifying €250,000 investment within two months.
That gives the investor a route to stay compliant, although two months is not a long time to identify another startup, carry out due diligence and commit a substantial amount of capital, especially after the original investment has already run into trouble.
The rule limits the immigration damage from one company failing, but it does not remove the financial loss or the pressure to find another qualifying investment quickly.
A property investor faces a different set of risks. Property values can fall and projects can encounter problems, but their residence is not tied to the staffing level or operating performance of a private company.
Property and startup investments have different return profiles
A Golden Visa property is a physical asset whose value depends on the Greek real estate market, the location and the quality of the individual property. Returns can come from capital appreciation and permitted rental income, although neither is guaranteed.
For someone already interested in buying property in Greece, the residence permit can sit alongside an investment they might have considered anyway.
Startup equity has a different risk and return profile. A successful early-stage company can produce returns well above those available from conventional property, but the chance of losing a significant proportion of the investment is also much higher. Valuation and liquidity are less predictable, and there may be no easy way to exit the investment at the point an investor wants to.
The startup route makes most sense when the company itself is genuinely attractive to the investor. Choosing it mainly because the minimum investment happens to match the €250,000 property threshold would be a weak reason to take on venture risk.
The permit terms are different
Property investors receive a five-year Golden Visa, which can be renewed for further five-year periods as long as the qualifying investment and other conditions remain in place.
The Startup Visa begins with a one-year residence permit, with further permits issued for two-year periods provided the investment and programme requirements continue to be met.
Neither route requires the investor to spend a minimum number of days living in Greece simply to keep the permit, so both can work for people who want residence without relocating full-time.
A five-year property permit gives the investor a much longer period before their residence status needs to be reassessed, while the startup route brings more frequent checks against conditions that include both the investment and the company's employment obligations.
The Startup Visa does not give general employment rights
The word "startup" can make the route sound more entrepreneurial than it is.
The Type B.6 residence permit does not provide general employment rights in Greece, so someone who wants to move to the country specifically to work in or build a company should check whether this investor permit actually fits what they plan to do.
Entrepreneurs looking for EU residence may have other routes available depending on how actively they intend to work in or operate a business.
The property Golden Visa does not provide general employment rights either. Both routes are built around investment rather than employment, although the Startup Visa has much closer ties to the performance of a specific business.
Family members can be included
Qualifying family members can receive residence linked to the main investor under both routes, and there is no minimum stay requirement for keeping either permit valid.
Family inclusion is therefore less useful as a deciding factor between the two. The more important differences are the investment itself, the permit length and the conditions that need to remain in place after approval.
Which route requires less ongoing involvement?
For most investors, the property Golden Visa will require less attention after the initial purchase.
There is still proper due diligence to do upfront. The investor needs to confirm that the asset qualifies, particularly when relying on one of the specialist €250,000 categories, and the purchase has to be structured correctly.
Once that work has been completed, there are relatively few performance conditions to monitor.
The startup route needs more oversight because even an investor who has no role in running the company still has a reason to keep an eye on its staffing and compliance. If either starts to drift away from the visa requirements, the problem is no longer purely a business issue.
That is a significant consideration for someone looking for a largely passive residence investment.
Who is the Startup Visa suited to?
The startup route is most likely to suit investors who:
- Already invest in startups or private companies
- Are comfortable with venture-style risk
- Would consider the underlying investment even without the residence permit
- Are prepared to keep the qualifying investment in place for at least five years
- Accept the company's ongoing employment requirements
- Do not mind a one-year initial permit followed by more frequent renewals
There is a fairly specific investor behind that profile. Someone who already understands private-company risk may see Greek residence as another benefit attached to an investment they wanted to make anyway.
Who is the property Golden Visa suited to?
The property route is likely to suit investors who:
- Put residence certainty ahead of higher potential returns
- Prefer owning a tangible asset
- Already want exposure to Greek real estate
- Want fewer ongoing compliance conditions
- Prefer a five-year residence permit
The €250,000 property route still needs careful due diligence because buying at the right price is not enough if the property itself does not meet the relevant eligibility rules.
For investors who find a qualifying property and are mainly interested in long-term residence, though, it is generally a simpler proposition than tying their permit to the performance and staffing of a startup.
Greece Golden Visa or Startup Visa?
For an investor mainly seeking Greek residence, the property Golden Visa will usually be the more straightforward choice. It offers a five-year permit, a tangible underlying asset and fewer conditions to monitor once the initial investment has been made.
The Startup Visa has a narrower audience and makes more sense for someone who already wants venture exposure and is comfortable accepting the extra business and compliance risk that comes with it.
The shared €250,000 entry point is useful for comparison, but it should not be the reason for choosing one route over the other. A better test is whether the investor would still be comfortable making the underlying investment if the residence permit were taken out of the picture.
Investors leaning towards property can look at current investment opportunities in Athens or browse Greece Golden Visa properties currently available through Investment Visa.
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