Greece from €250,000 with no minimum stay; Portugal €500,000 via funds and 7 days a year. Compare 2026 thresholds, processing times and citizenship routes. (155)
Choosing between the Greece Golden Visa and the Portugal Golden Visa is the single most common question we field from clients exploring European residency by investment. Both remain fully open in 2026 — unlike Spain, which closed its programme entirely in April 2025 — but they now serve genuinely different investor profiles. Here's the complete 2026 breakdown.
The Greece Golden Visa program uses a tiered real estate system based on location:
This makes the Greece Golden Visa minimum investment roughly half of Portugal's in its lowest-cost category, which is why Greece is often described as the more budget-accessible EU golden visa option.
The Portugal Golden Visa looks very different today than it did five years ago. Since October 2023, the real estate route is gone entirely. The current path is a minimum €500,000 investment in a qualifying venture capital or private equity fund regulated by Portugal's CMVM, with a lower €250,000 cultural heritage donation route also available. There is no longer any way to qualify for Portugal's Golden Visa through direct property purchase — a critical fact many investors still don't realize.
If speed matters to you, Greece wins decisively. Greek applications typically move in a few months, with a 90-day legal processing target, though 2025's application surge pushed some cases closer to the 6–9 month range. Portugal, by contrast, remains burdened by backlogs at its immigration agency, AIMA — processing commonly takes 12 to 18 months, and some cases have stretched well beyond that. For investors who want EU residency status sorted quickly, this is often the deciding factor on its own.
This is where the two programs diverge philosophically:
For years, Portugal's five-year citizenship timeline was its biggest selling point over Greece's seven years. That gap has now narrowed sharply. In May 2026, Portugal passed Lei Orgânica 1/2026, raising the standard naturalization requirement from five years to ten (seven years for EU and Portuguese-speaking nationals). Greece's path remains seven years — but critically, it also requires genuine residence in Greece to qualify, not just visa renewal. The upshot: Portugal's citizenship-speed advantage has largely disappeared for most non-EU applicants, and the practical difference now comes down to execution rather than headline years.
Both countries offer optional tax regimes for new residents, but they work differently:
Neither country taxes worldwide income simply by virtue of holding the Golden Visa — tax residency only triggers if you spend significant time in-country, which ties back to the stay-requirement difference above.
| Factor | Greece Golden Visa | Portugal Golden Visa |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum investment | €250,000–€800,000 | €500,000 (fund) / €250,000 (donation) |
| Real estate route | Yes (tiered) | No (closed Oct 2023) |
| Processing time | ~3–9 months | ~12–18 months |
| Minimum stay | None | 7 days / year |
| Path to citizenship | 7 years (residency required) | 7–10 years (as of May 2026) |
| Dependent children age limit | Under 21 | Up to 26 (if students) |
| Tax regime | €100,000 flat tax option | Reduced NHR successor regime |
Choose Greece if: you want the fastest processing, the lowest entry cost, zero obligation to actually live in the country, and you're comfortable with a citizenship timeline that requires genuine residence.
Choose Portugal if: you want the lightest possible physical presence requirement (7 days a year) with a still-reasonable citizenship runway, broader family inclusion for older children, and you're prepared for a longer, fund-based application process.
The old shorthand — "Portugal for speed to citizenship, Greece for speed to approval" — no longer fully holds in 2026. Portugal's citizenship extension has closed much of that gap, while Greece's lack of a stay requirement and faster processing make it the more flexible, lower-friction option for many investors. The right choice ultimately depends on whether your priority is a fast, hands-off EU residency (Greece) or a longer-term foothold with minimal annual presence and broader family coverage (Portugal).
At MW Immigration, we help Pakistani and Gulf-based investors navigate both programmes end-to-end — from choosing the right route to managing the application through to approval. Our full list of European residency programmes also covers Malta, Hungary and Latvia if you'd like to widen the comparison. Get in touch with our advisory team to discuss which Golden Visa fits your goals.
