Source check: 11 July 2026. Programme rules can change, so recheck the linked official source before filing or investing.
The original golden visa marketing pitch was straightforward: invest enough money, usually in real estate, and get residency. That pitch has aged badly.
Spain closed its investor route to new applicants on 3 April 2025, while preserving transition rules for pre-closure applications and existing visas and permits. Portugal kept the programme but removed its real estate route two years earlier. Greece raised most property thresholds. Malta retained permanent residence but ended its separate investor-citizenship framework. Italy remains a strategic-investment route rather than a property programme. The UAE operates a broad long-term residency framework, while Cyprus remains an investor permanent-residence route.
European scrutiny is one common thread. The European Commission's January 2019 report on investor citizenship and residence schemes flagged security, money-laundering, tax-evasion, corruption and transparency risks and called for stronger oversight. National programmes have since changed in different ways and on different timetables. Below is what is open to new applicants, what changed, and where the routes are commonly confused. European Commission report
Spain: closed for new applicants
Spanish law repealed the investor-route provisions with effect from 3 April 2025, so the route is closed to new applicants. Applications submitted before the repeal took effect, valid investor visas and authorisations, and renewals retain the transition treatment in the consolidated law. Repeal instrument · Transition rules
Before closure, the programme allowed a EUR500,000 unencumbered property investment or higher thresholds for capital, government bonds and qualifying business projects. New applicants who want to live in Spain must instead assess a different immigration route, with its own eligibility and evidence requirements. BOE consolidated law
The unglamorous lesson from Spain: a popular golden visa can vanish on a few months' notice. Confirm the route is open before paying advisers, reserving property, or wiring funds anywhere.
Portugal: still open, but no longer a real estate play
Portugal remains open for qualifying non-real-estate investment. Law 56/2023 removed the property and passive-capital routes, while current AIMA guidance lists qualifying fund, business, research, cultural and job-creation activities and states that eligible investments cannot be intended directly or indirectly for real estate. Law 56/2023 · AIMA ARI guidance
That clause matters more than it sounds. A fund branded "Portugal golden visa eligible" is not automatically clean. Investors now have to look at what the fund actually owns, how it's structured, and whether anything in the underlying portfolio could be construed as real estate exposure. The live Portugal funds database makes side-by-side comparison easier when there are dozens of options to filter through.
Portugal still appeals because it offers EU residency with light physical-stay requirements relative to most immigration routes. The legal review just got more technical. The question used to be whether an applicant had enough capital. Now the question is whether a specific investment structure survives the post-2023 rulebook.
Greece: still property-driven, but the bar moved
Greece is one of the few European programs where direct real estate purchases remain central. The old, easy €250,000 version is largely gone.
The current property thresholds are generally EUR800,000 in Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and islands with more than 3,100 inhabitants, and EUR400,000 elsewhere. The EUR400,000 and EUR800,000 routes generally require one property of at least 120 square metres. A EUR250,000 route remains for specific conversions and listed-building restoration cases, subject to the statutory conditions. Greek Article 100
Greece is still active. The product is just very different from what it was three years ago. A property that looks eligible in a sales brochure can fail on location, type, size, use, or conversion status. The legal details now matter as much as the headline price.
Malta: residency, not a passport shortcut
Malta's current investment-migration residence route is the Malta Permanent Residence Programme for eligible non-EU, non-EEA and non-Swiss nationals. The official framework combines qualifying property, a government contribution, a donation, an administration fee and due diligence. Residency Malta MPRP
Current MPRP rules set a qualifying property purchase threshold of EUR375,000 or qualifying rent of EUR14,000 per year. They also set a EUR60,000 administration fee for the main applicant and a EUR37,000 government contribution, alongside the separate donation requirement. MPRP legal framework
MPRP is a residence programme, not a passport-purchase route. In April 2025 the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled against Malta's separate investor-citizenship scheme, and Malta subsequently removed that framework in Act XXI of 2025. CJEU judgment · Malta Act XXI
Italy: an investor visa, not a property golden visa
Italy's route is a two-year investor visa for eligible non-EU citizens investing in specified assets. The published options are EUR2 million in Italian government bonds, EUR500,000 in an Italian limited company, EUR250,000 in an innovative startup, or EUR1 million in a philanthropic initiative. Investor Visa for Italy
Italy therefore suits investors who want exposure to Italian companies, startups, public debt, or philanthropy. It is the wrong route for someone who simply wants a holiday home and assumes the purchase would deliver residency.
Italy's official investor-visa site also states that the programme is suspended for Russian and Belarusian citizens and describes how the suspension applies to specified dual-passport cases. Applicants affected by nationality restrictions should check the current notice before acting. Official Italy programme
UAE: long-term residency expanding beyond investors
The United Arab Emirates is not a European program, but it has become one of the most visible long-term residency destinations globally.
The UAE's Golden Residency provides renewable five- or ten-year residence for eligible categories without a sponsor. Categories include investors, real estate investors, entrepreneurs, exceptional talents, outstanding students, humanitarian pioneers and frontline workers. The official property-investor criterion refers to real estate worth at least AED2 million. UAE Golden Residency
The UAE program is broader than a classic property golden visa. It is designed to attract capital, talent, founders, specialists, and high-performing students all at once. For investors weighing Europe versus the Gulf, the strategic difference is large: the UAE delivers long-term residency and business access in a major commercial hub, but it should not be evaluated as though it were an EU residence or citizenship pathway.
Cyprus: permanent residence by investment remains active
Cyprus offers qualifying investors permanent residence through investments of at least EUR300,000, plus VAT where applicable, across four official categories: a new house or apartment, other real estate, shares in an eligible Cyprus company employing at least five people, or units in an eligible Cyprus investment fund. Secured annual income must be at least EUR50,000, plus EUR15,000 for a spouse and EUR10,000 for each minor child. For the new-home category, the income must derive from abroad; for the other three categories, all or part may derive from activities within Cyprus. Parents and parents-in-law are not included as dependants under the current criteria. Cyprus investor criteria
Cyprus can be relevant for investors seeking permanent residence rather than an EU-wide mobility product. The decision still requires a careful check of the selected investment category, permitted income source, source-of-funds evidence, family eligibility and continuing obligations.
As with Malta, the distinction matters. Permanent residence is a real, valuable status. It is a separate legal animal from a passport.
5 things to check before paying anyone
The golden visa market has become more legalistic in the last few years. That is good for consumer protection. It also makes shortcuts more dangerous than they used to be.
Before signing an engagement letter, reserving a property, or subscribing to a fund, investors should confirm five things.
First, determine whether the program is still open to new applicants. Spain shows why this cannot be assumed even six months out.
Second, find out whether the specific investment qualifies under current law. Portugal's shift away from real estate and Greece's tiered property thresholds are the obvious examples of why marketing claims need to be verified against the latest rules and circulars.
Third, identify who is giving each part of the advice. Distinguish licensed lawyers, immigration consultants, real estate agents, fund promoters and introducers. If one party both sells the investment and assesses its legal eligibility, ask for written disclosure of roles, fees and commercial interests and obtain independent legal advice where appropriate.
Fourth, find out what happens after approval. Renewal rules, physical-stay obligations, family-member eligibility, tax residency consequences, and exit conditions can be just as important as the initial application — and far more expensive to fix later.
Fifth, determine whether the route actually leads to the outcome the investor wants. Residency, permanent residence, long-term renewable residence, and citizenship are four different legal statuses. Treating them as interchangeable is one of the most expensive mistakes in investment migration.
The new reality
These seven routes no longer fit one interchangeable golden-visa template.
Spain closed its investor visa. Portugal redirected its program away from real estate. Greece kept property investment but raised the bar substantially. Malta and Cyprus remain focused on residence rather than instant citizenship. Italy emphasizes strategic investment in companies, debt, or philanthropy. The UAE built a broader long-term residency framework around capital, talent, and entrepreneurship. These shifts have rolled out on a staggered timeline: Cyprus ended its citizenship-by-investment program in late 2020, Portugal removed real estate in October 2023, Greece raised property thresholds in September 2024, and Spain's abolition and the European Court of Justice ruling against Malta's citizenship program both landed in April 2025.
The right starting question for an investor is no longer "which golden visa is cheapest?" Better questions are whether the route is still open, whether the specific investment satisfies current law, whether the post-approval obligations fit the family's actual life, and whether the legal status at the end is the one the investor needs. Anyone who can answer all four with documents — not marketing brochures — is already further along than most applicants.
This story was produced by Movingto and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.