Which European countries still have a golden visa in 2026?

Spain shut its golden visa on 3 April 2025. In October 2026 Greece warned it would revoke permits, and Italy drafted a tax on wealthy residents who leave. Europe is closing its golden visas, one country at a time.

And yet Portugal granted 2,685 Golden Visas in 2025, more than in any year since its programme began in 2012.

If you’re weighing a European residence permit for your family, here’s where every programme stands now: which four closed and when, what Greece and Italy changed, and what Portugal still gives you.

In this guide9 sections

1. What do we mean by a golden visa?
2. Which golden visas in Europe are open, and which have closed?
3. Which countries have closed their golden visas, and when?
4. What has Greece changed, and is it closing?
5. What is Italy doing to wealthy newcomers and leavers?
6. Which other European golden visa programmes are still open?
7. Is Portugal next to close its Golden Visa?
8. How many Golden Visas did Portugal grant in 2025?
9. What does Portugal's Golden Visa still give you?

What do we mean by a golden visa?

A golden visa is a residence permit you get in return for investing a set amount in a country, or donating to it, without having to live or work there first. Each country gives it its own name:

• Portugal: the residence permit for investment (ARI), which everyone calls the Golden Visa.
• Italy: the investor visa.
• Hungary: the Guest Investor Programme.
• Malta: the permanent residence programme (MPRP).
• Cyprus: permanent residence for investors.
• Greece: the residence permit for property investors.

We use “golden visa” for all of them. Citizenship-by-investment schemes, which sell a passport, are a different thing, and this post only mentions them where a country’s rules changed.

This post covers the whole European map, dated and sourced. For the Portuguese routes, fees and process in full, see our Golden Visa guide, linked in the Portugal section below.

Which golden visas in Europe are open, and which have closed?

Six countries have an open golden visa: Portugal, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Cyprus and Malta. Latvia narrowed its programme, and the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain closed theirs.

Here’s every country, with what changed and when.

Country	Status	What changed	Date
Portugal	Open	Property route closed; five routes remain, most often the €500,000 fund and the €250,000 cultural donation. Citizenship moved from 5 to 10 years	7 Oct 2023; 19 May 2026
Greece	Open, tightened	Property minimum €800,000 in Athens, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and islands over 3,100 people; €400,000 elsewhere. Minister warned of revocations; opposition move to end the property route rejected	1 Sep 2024; early Oct 2026; 15 Oct 2026
Italy	Open (investor visa from €250,000); tax tightened	Flat tax for new residents raised to €300,000 a year; draft 2027 budget proposes a tax on gains for leavers with €800,000 or more in financial investments	1 Jan 2026; draft of 30 Oct 2026
Hungary	Open	€250,000 fund or €1 million donation; the property option was dropped before it started	July 2024; Dec 2024
Cyprus	Open	Permanent residence for €300,000 in a new home, other property, a Cyprus company or a Cyprus fund	2 May 2023
Malta	Open (residence only)	Citizenship by investment struck down by the EU Court of Justice; the permanent residence programme continues	29 Apr 2025
Latvia	Narrowed	Property and bank-deposit routes abolished; company route stays with two-year permits	15 Sep 2026
Spain	Closed	Investor visa repealed by law, citing housing	3 Apr 2025
Netherlands	Closed	Investor permit abolished, citing money-laundering risk; applications filed before the date still handled	17 Apr 2024
Ireland	Closed	Immigrant Investor Programme closed to new applications	15 Feb 2023
UK	Closed	Tier 1 Investor visa closed to all new applicants, citing security	17 Feb 2022

Which countries have closed their golden visas, and when?

Four countries have closed their golden visas since 2022: the UK on 17 February 2022, Ireland on 15 February 2023, the Netherlands on 17 April 2024 and Spain on 3 April 2025.

• The UK shut its Tier 1 Investor visa to new applicants of every nationality, with immediate effect. The Home Office gave security as the reason, pointing to illegitimately acquired wealth and links to corruption (gov.uk).
• Ireland closed its Immigrant Investor Programme, which had run since 2012, at close of business on 15 February 2023, a day after announcing it. The roughly 1,500 applications on hand kept being processed (Irish Immigration Service).
• The Netherlands abolished its investor permit on 17 April 2024. The official notice gives the risk of criminal activity such as money laundering as the reason. Applications filed before that date are still handled, and if you already hold the permit, you can still extend it (Staatscourant 2024, 13488).
• Spain repealed its investor residence visas completely on 3 April 2025, the day its new law came into force.^[4] The government’s notice cites the right to housing: the old route, which needed more than €500,000 in residential property, was blamed for price pressure in areas short of homes (La Moncloa).

What has Greece changed, and is it closing?

You now need €800,000 for a Greek golden visa in Athens, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and the larger islands, and Greece is not closing: in early October 2026 the government rejected an opposition amendment to end the property route. What has changed is the price and the policing.

The thresholds come from a Greek law published on 5 April 2024.^[5] If you had paid a 10% deposit by 31 August 2024, you could still complete under the old rules by 31 December 2024;^[7] every other purchase from 1 September 2024 needs the new minimums. The main areas had already doubled from €250,000 to €500,000 on 1 August 2023 (Enterprise Greece).

On the two main tiers you need a single property with at least 120 square metres of living space, and you can’t use it for short-term lets.

The policing came on 15 October 2026. Migration Minister Thanos Plevris warned that if you let your golden-visa property short-term, or quietly take back part of the purchase price as a rebate, you lose the permit, and the property’s owner faces a separate €50,000 fine.

• The short-term letting ban and the revocation are in Greek law.^[5] A government circular of April 2026 defines short-term as under 60 days.^[6]
• The rebate ground is less settled. Greek City Times (26 October 2026) notes it may be contested.
• You can still let the property long-term.

An attempt to end the property route failed. In the week before 7 October 2026, PASOK, the main opposition party, tabled an amendment during a debate on a Development Ministry bill to end investor permits for property purchases and steer the incentive to business investment. The governing New Democracy party rejected it, as IMI Daily and To Vima reported on 7 October 2026. With about 30 of the 300 seats, PASOK could not pass it alone.

What is Italy doing to wealthy newcomers and leavers?

If you move your tax residence to Italy and opt into its flat tax, you pay €300,000 a year from 1 January 2026. Italy’s draft 2027 budget, dated 30 October 2026, also proposes a tax on your unrealised gains if you leave with €800,000 or more in financial investments.

The flat tax is a tax option, separate from the investor visa. If you move your tax residence to Italy, you can pay a fixed yearly substitute tax on income from outside Italy, for up to 15 years, in place of ordinary rates.

• €100,000 a year until 10 August 2024.
• €200,000 from then.
• €300,000 if you become resident from 1 January 2026, under Italy’s 2026 budget law, with the add-on per family member doubled to €50,000 (Agenzia delle Entrate).

The draft budget is the newer and less certain measure. The draft sent to parliament on 30 October 2026 would tax gains that have built up but not been cashed in when you move your tax residence out of Italy, if you hold financial investments (shares, funds, bonds, crypto and similar) worth at least €800,000 and were Italian tax resident in at least six of the previous ten tax years. Property and cash in euros don’t count. It would apply when your loss of residence takes effect from 1 January 2027, and Italy counts residence by whole years: if you lived there for most of 2026, leaving in late 2026 doesn’t avoid it.

The draft applies Italy’s ordinary rates to those gains: 26% on shares and funds, 33% on crypto and about 12.5% on government bonds, according to the draft budget’s text (article 17), as Il Fatto Quotidiano (30 October 2026) and IMI Daily (31 October 2026) also reported. If you move within the EU, you can defer it: you pay half up front, and gains on assets you don’t sell within five years aren’t taxed. It’s still a draft bill, which parliament usually approves by the end of December and can amend before then.

Neither measure changes what you need to invest for Italy’s investor visa. They change the tax cost of arriving and, if the draft passes, of leaving. If you’re leaving Italy for Portugal, here’s how the exit tax and Portugal’s IFICI regime fit together.

Which other European golden visa programmes are still open?

Four other programmes are open, in Italy, Hungary, Cyprus and Malta, and Latvia kept a narrowed route from 15 September 2026. One sourced line each, at the legal minimums, in no particular order.

• Italy’s investor visa: you invest €2 million in government bonds, €500,000 in shares or bonds of an Italian company (€250,000 if it’s an innovative start-up) or a €1 million donation to a project of public interest (Italian consulate in London).
• Hungary’s Guest Investor Programme, launched in July 2024: you put €250,000 into units of a real estate fund registered with the central bank and hold them for at least five years, or a €1 million donation to a public-trust higher-education institution. The permit runs ten years and can be extended for ten more. A planned €500,000 direct property option was dropped in December 2024 before it started (Hungarian immigration office, OIF).
• Cyprus: you get permanent residence for €300,000 in one of four investments: a new house or apartment bought from a developer (a first sale, plus VAT), other real estate such as offices or shops, a Cyprus company that employs at least five people, or units of a Cyprus collective investment fund. You also need a secure income from abroad of at least €50,000 a year, and the investment rises with each adult child you include (€600,000 with one) (Migration Department, criteria in force since 2 May 2023).
• Malta’s permanent residence programme (MPRP) is open. Its citizenship-by-investment scheme closed after the EU Court of Justice ruled it incompatible with EU law on 29 April 2025. The MPRP costs €97,000 in administrative fee and government contribution before the property (bought for at least €375,000 or rented for at least €14,000 a year, and kept for five years), plus a €2,000 donation and proof of at least €500,000 in capital (Residency Malta).
• Latvia abolished its property and bank-deposit routes on 15 September 2026. The company-investment route stays, with permits now two years instead of five, and a new €150,000 state-fund route (held for five years) was added. Existing permits run to expiry (Fragomen, 27 October 2026).

What’s the cheapest golden visa in Europe?

The €250,000 headline buys you four different things. Compare what your money becomes before you compare the number.

Is Portugal next to close its Golden Visa?

Not so far. The big immigration law Portugal passed in September 2026, in force since 11 September 2026, left the Golden Visa untouched.^[16] It was mostly about borders and asylum, bringing Portugal’s rules into line with the EU’s migration pact.

Portugal made its housing-driven cut two years before Spain did. On 7 October 2023, the Mais Habitação housing law^[16] closed the property route, the capital-transfer route and the renovation route, and barred the remaining routes from putting money into real estate even indirectly. If you already held a property Golden Visa, you could keep it and carry on renewing.

You have five routes today, and most investors use two of them:

• The fund route: at least €500,000 in units of a Portuguese fund that runs for five years or more, puts at least 60% into companies based in Portugal and stays out of property.
• The cultural donation: €250,000 to an approved arts or heritage project (€200,000 if the project is in a low-density area). The donation is a gift, and you don’t get it back.

The other three are rarely used: €500,000 in scientific research (€400,000 in a low-density area), €500,000 into a new or recapitalised Portuguese company that creates 5 permanent jobs, and creating 10 jobs (8 in a low-density area).

Our Golden Visa guide covers the routes, the government fees and the process.

The change that did hit investors came from the nationality law. From 19 May 2026, citizenship takes ten years of legal residence, seven for EU and CPLP (Portuguese-speaking) nationals, counted from your first residence permit. Applications filed by 18 May 2026 keep the old five-year rule. What that means if you invested for the five-year passport is in our article on Portugal’s 10-year citizenship rule.

How many Golden Visas did Portugal grant in 2025?

Portugal granted 2,685 Golden Visas in 2025, the most in any year since the programme began in October 2012 and about 29% more than the 2,081 granted in 2024. The figures come from the 2025 annual report of AIMA, Portugal’s immigration agency, as reported by ECO on 25 September 2026. They count permits granted to investors only. Family members are left out.

Running totals:

• 12,718 Golden Visas and €6,451 million in investment from October 2012 to September 2023, under the old border agency, SEF.
• 5,536 more granted since then, taking the total to 18,254 through AIMA’s 2025 report.
• AIMA no longer publishes how much money the programme brings in, so SEF’s €6,451 million is the most recent official total.

Don’t read 2,685 as 2025 demand. AIMA grants a permit when it gets to the file, and most of the 2,685 had applied a year or two earlier. So the record says more about AIMA working through its queue than about who applied in 2025.

If you apply now, you join thousands of investor applications still waiting. How long the files we analysed took, with dates, is in our article on Golden Visa processing times.

Money is also moving the other way. Between January and May 2026, investors redeemed €94.7 million from Golden Visa-eligible funds, nine times the figure for the same months of 2025, while €283 million of new money came in, about three times as much (ECO, 26 June 2026, citing the fund managers’ association APFIPP).

What does Portugal’s Golden Visa still give you?

A residence permit for you and your family that you keep by spending 7 days in Portugal in the first year, then 14 days in each later two-year period.

• That presence rule is the stay requirement in full. The absence limits that apply to other Portuguese permits don’t apply to you as a Golden Visa holder, which our partner lawyer confirmed on 30 October 2026.
• You don’t have to become Portuguese tax resident. Nothing in the rules requires it.
• You can make short trips around the Schengen area on the card.
• Your family comes with you. Your spouse and children apply alongside you, with no waiting period, and a parent can be included in the family.
• You can get permanent residence at five years, with basic Portuguese (A2). You then choose between a permanent Golden Visa card, which can’t be cancelled because you live abroad, and ordinary permanent residence, which costs far less but expects you to live here, with tax residence after 183 days and the normal absence limits (both confirmed by our partner lawyer on 30 October 2026).
• You can apply for citizenship after ten years of legal residence, seven for EU and CPLP nationals. On the text of the nationality law, Golden Visa years count as legal residence.

Who is Portugal’s Golden Visa still for?

If you want a second base in Europe for your family, without moving your life or your taxes, and you’re happy to think ten years ahead, it still does that job.

• If your plan was a passport in five years, that’s gone. It’s ten years now, counted from your first permit.
• If you wanted to buy a home and get residency with it, Portugal closed that route in October 2023. Greece and Cyprus still have a property route, at the minimums above.
• If you actually want to live in Portugal, a regular visa usually fits you better: the D7 if you live on passive income such as a pension or dividends, the D8 if you work remotely and are paid from abroad, the D2 if you’re starting a business here. Our D7 vs D8 vs D2 comparison sets the three side by side.

Frequently asked questions

Is Portugal closing its Golden Visa?

No. Portugal’s September 2026 immigration law left the Golden Visa untouched. All five routes are open, including the fund route and the cultural donation. What changed in 2026 was citizenship, which now takes ten years.

Which European golden visas have closed?

Four: the UK on 17 February 2022, Ireland on 15 February 2023, the Netherlands on 17 April 2024 and Spain on 3 April 2025. Latvia also abolished its property and bank-deposit routes on 15 September 2026, but kept its company route.

Did Spain’s golden visa end?

Yes. Spain repealed its investor residence visas on 3 April 2025, the day its new law came into force. The government cited the right to housing. If you work remotely, Spain’s digital nomad visa is still open.

Can I still get a golden visa in Europe by buying property?

Yes, in Greece and Cyprus. Greece needs €800,000 in Athens, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and the larger islands, and €400,000 elsewhere. Cyprus grants permanent residence from €300,000. Portugal closed its property route on 7 October 2023.

What’s the cheapest golden visa in Europe?

The €250,000 headline buys you different things in different countries. In Portugal it’s a donation you don’t get back, in Italy a stake in a start-up, in Hungary fund units you hold for five years, and in Greece a building you must convert or restore. Compare what your money becomes before you compare the number.

Can I rent out my Greek golden visa property?

Long-term, yes. Short-term, no. If you let it for under 60 days at a time, you can lose the permit, and the owner faces a €50,000 fine, as the Migration Minister warned on 15 October 2026.

Is Italy bringing in an exit tax?

It’s a draft as of 3 November 2026. Italy’s draft 2027 budget would tax unrealised gains if you leave with €800,000 or more in financial investments after six of the last ten years as a resident, at Italy’s ordinary rates (26% on shares and funds), when your loss of residence takes effect from 1 January 2027. If you lived there for most of 2026, leaving in late 2026 doesn’t avoid it. Parliament can amend it before it usually approves the budget at the end of December.

Does Malta still sell citizenship?

No. The EU Court of Justice ruled Malta’s citizenship-by-investment scheme incompatible with EU law on 29 April 2025. Malta’s permanent residence programme (MPRP) is still open.

How many Golden Visas did Portugal grant in 2025?

2,685, a record and about 29% more than in 2024. Most of those investors had applied a year or two earlier, so the number reflects AIMA working through its queue.

Which nationalities get the most Portuguese Golden Visas?

In 2025: the United States (535), China (392), the United Kingdom (252), Turkey (188) and India (170), from AIMA’s 2025 report as reported by ECO.

How long does it take to get Portuguese citizenship on a Golden Visa?

Ten years of legal residence, or seven if you’re an EU or CPLP national, counted from your first residence permit. That’s been the rule since 19 May 2026. Applications filed by 18 May 2026 keep the old five-year rule.

How much time do I have to spend in Portugal on a Golden Visa?

7 days in the first year, then 14 days in each later two-year period. You don’t have to become Portuguese tax resident, and you can make short trips around the Schengen area on the card.

Sources and how we checked

Dates are when rules took effect. We checked every line on the date shown at the top of this post.

1. UK: Home Office press release, 17 February 2022.
2. Ireland: Irish Immigration Service notice, 14 February 2023.
3. Netherlands: Staatscourant 2024, nr. 13488, 26 April 2024 (the official notice ending the policy on 17 April 2024).
4. Spain: La Moncloa press release, 2 April 2025; Ley Orgánica 1/2025.
5. Greece, tiers: Enterprise Greece newsletter, April 2024.
6. Greece, warning: Greek City Times, 26 October 2026.
7. Greece, transition: Investment Migration Council, 2 July 2024.
8. Greece, amendment: IMI Daily, 7 October 2026; To Vima, 7 October 2026.
9. Italy, flat tax: Agenzia delle Entrate, updated 16 January 2026.
10. Italy, draft budget: Il Fatto Quotidiano, 30 October 2026; IMI Daily, 31 October 2026.
11. Italy, investor visa: Consulate General of Italy in London.
12. Hungary: immigration office (OIF) factsheet, 3 March 2026.
13. Cyprus: Migration Department, “Immigration Permits for Investors”, 4th revision, in force 2 May 2023.
14. Malta: Residency Malta Agency; Court of Justice of the EU, 29 April 2025.
15. Latvia: Fragomen, 27 October 2026.
16. Portugal, law: Lei 56/2023, Lei 62/2026 and Lei 37/81 as amended by LO 1/2026, read 29 October 2026; our partner lawyer, 30 October 2026.
17. Portugal, statistics: ECO, 25 September 2026 and ECO, 26 June 2026.