Greece Golden Visa Applications Down One-Third as Backlog Halves

Greece received 3,862 initial Golden Visa applications in the first nine months of 2026, marking a drop of roughly one-third from the 5,747 registered during the same period in 2025, according to data from the Ministry of Migration and Asylum.

Processing speed increased despite the drop in new filings. The Ministry issued 8,107 initial permits between January and September 2026, compared to 6,282 issued during the first nine months of 2025. Authorities also approved 1,476 renewal applications over the same window. The combination of lower inbound demand and faster processing cut the total application backlog to 25,970 investor and family applications by the end of September 2026, down from 49,301 at the end of December 2024. Of the remaining pending queue, 6,962 represent primary investor files (5,405 initial permits and 1,557 renewals), down from 11,553 investor applications pending at the end of December 2025.

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The slide in application volume directly follows higher minimum investment thresholds and tighter residency guidelines enacted since September 2024.

Investor Nationality	Valid Initial Permits (Sept 2026)	Share of Total Initial Permits	Operational Status
China	13,070	47.4%	Largest investor segment
Türkiye	5,403	19.6%	Up from 1,268 permits (9.8%) in Dec 2024
Lebanon	1,187	4.3%	Third-largest investor segment
Iran	1,024	3.7%	Fourth-largest investor segment
Israel	893	3.2%	Fifth-largest investor segment
United Kingdom	839	3.0%	Top non-EU Western applicant group
Egypt	675	2.4%	Seventh-largest investor segment
United States	659	2.4%	Eighth-largest investor segment

At the end of September 2026, 35,857 investors held valid residency permits, 27,602 initial permits and 8,255 renewed documents, alongside 68,653 family members. A year prior, active investor permits totaled 24,666.

For international investors and legal advisers, the Ministry’s operational shift significantly reduces administrative turnaround times for non-EU applicants. While overall application volume fell by 26 percent across full-year 2025 (6,978 initial applications compared to 9,391 in 2024), total initial approvals almost doubled to 8,879 in 2025 from 4,536 in 2024. Processing bottlenecks remain concentrated regionally; at the end of 2025, the Attica region accounted for 9,095 pending investor applications, or nearly four out of every five outstanding files across the country.

UK and US nationals represent two of the largest Western applicant pools adjusting to the higher capital thresholds, holding 839 and 659 active initial permits respectively as of September 2026.