European Golden Visa 2026: Spain shuts down, Portugal transfers funds, how many opportunities are left after Greece steps up

The category of 'Golden Visa' in Europe has undergone a significant restructuring from 2025 to 2026. The investment residency program in Spain will officially terminate in April 2025, Portugal's home purchase path will be closed and investment methods such as funds will be turned to, while Greece will implement a tiered investment threshold between 2024 and 2026.

For Chinese families who have been paying attention to obtaining European residency through real estate investment, the density of changes in recent years has been high. Many projects that people saw a few years ago have now either been closed or the threshold has doubled. Clarifying the path that will remain open until 2026 is the first step in making decisions.

1、 First, let's take a look at the paths that have already been closed or transformed

Spain: On April 3, 2025, Spain passed laws to cancel the original terms related to investment residence, including all investment naturalization paths such as purchase of houses with 500000 euros, 2 million euros of treasury bond, and 1 million euros of company equity. This means that the Spanish Golden Visa has become history, and previously approved applicants can still continue, but new applicants cannot continue on this path.

Portugal: The path for homebuying immigration in Portugal has been closed. At present, the fund investment path (starting from a minimum of 500000 euros) and cultural donation path (starting from 250000 euros) are still open. Having resided in Portugal for at least five years allows one to apply for citizenship, which is one of the relatively clear naturalization processes within Europe.

After these two once popular paths changed, many families who were originally comparing between Spain and Portugal need to choose a new destination.

2、 Greece: Real Options Under the Ladder Threshold

The Greek Golden Visa is still open and is one of the lower threshold EU residency pathways within Europe. But from 2024 to 2026, a tiered investment threshold will be implemented, which needs to be viewed by region.

€ 800000 range: applicable to the Athens metropolitan area, Thessaloniki metropolitan area, Mikonos Island, Santorini Island, and any island with a population of over 3100 people. These areas are the core hotspots of Greek real estate.

400000 euros range: applicable to other regions of Greece outside of the aforementioned areas.

250000 euros: only applicable in specific situations - converting commercial properties to residential use, or restoring historic buildings listed on the protection list.

In addition, the Greek project also comes with some restrictions, such as exclusion clauses for short-term rentals (Airbnb) and rules for areas over 120 square meters. These details need to be confirmed with licensed consultants on a case by case basis.

From the type of identity obtained, the Greek Golden Visa provides a five-year residence permit that can be renewed. The EU level citizenship pathway typically requires seven years of legal residency and passing language and integration exams. For families who want to reside in the EU but are not in a hurry to naturalize, the Greek program remains a cost-effective option.

3、 Other still open European paths

In addition to Greece, there are several investment residency programs in Europe that will remain open until 2026.

Visa for Italian investors: There are several levels according to the amount of investment, and the minimum investment can start from 250000 euros in innovative enterprises, or 500000 euros in Italian treasury bond bonds. The approval speed is relatively fast, suitable for families with European business layout.

Malta, Cyprus, and other countries have higher investment residency requirements, but some paths include direct citizenship options, which are suitable for families with sufficient budgets who hope to obtain an EU passport in one go. Specific policies need to be checked against the latest regulations on a country by country basis.

Non European options: Caribbean investment naturalization project, Türkiye house purchase naturalization, long-term residence visa in Southeast Asia, etc. are also options for many families. These projects have completely different characteristics from Europe and are suitable for evaluation as supplementary options.

4、 What kind of family is suitable for taking the path of investment and residence

Investment residency is not a solution suitable for everyone. A suitable family portrait is roughly:

There are certain investable assets (at least equivalent to 250000 to 500000 euros of working capital), as well as clear identity requirements - such as children taking the overseas Chinese student entrance examination in the future, hoping for visa free EU residency, or having plans for long-term residence or retirement in Europe.

Not very suitable families include: those who simply want to make quick money from overseas properties (European properties have a long appreciation cycle and high holding costs); Unable to explain the compliance of funding sources (all mainstream investment residency projects will review funding sources); There are mandatory requirements for actual residence days that cannot be met by oneself (need to be checked country by country, some items do not require actual residence, while others have requirements).

5、 November Shanghai Exhibition: Annual centralized docking of the Golden Visa project

From November 20th to 22nd, the 2026 Shanghai Overseas Immigrants, Study Abroad, Real Estate and Enterprise Overseas and Cross border Cooperation Expo will be held for three days at the Shanghai World Trade Exhibition Center, with an expected attendance of about 8000 people.

The immigration real estate section of the exhibition gathered licensed institutions and law firms from Greece, Portugal, Italy, Malta, Türkiye, the Caribbean and other projects. For families with clear investment and residency intentions, on-site comparisons of the latest thresholds, approval cycles, residency requirements, and tax impacts of multiple projects can be made at once, avoiding being led by the sales orientation of a single institution.

For participating organizations, the three-day concentrated contact with high net worth families with clear budgets and intentions is a key customer acquisition scenario for the year. On site project roadshows, one-on-one program evaluations, and pre contract consultations can be conducted.

Consultation hotline: 13681692751 (same as WeChat), official website www.qs-expo.com.