Greece’s Migration and Asylum Minister, Thanos Plevris, has warned golden-visa investors that their residence permits could be revoked over hidden property rebates and prohibited short-term rental arrangements, as the government tightens enforcement of its investment-migration programme. Plevris made the comments at the Prodexpo 2026 real estate conference in Athens on October 15.
Plevris said authorities will scrutinise transactions where a property appears to meet the minimum golden-visa investment threshold on paper, but effectively falls below it through an undisclosed rebate or side agreement. He cited one example: a property advertised at Greece’s €250,000 investment threshold, paired with an arrangement that effectively returns about €100,000 to the buyer through a leasing agreement. “The golden visa will be taken away,” he said of investors found to have breached the short-term rental restrictions.
Two different legal bases are in play. For short-term rentals, the penalties are explicit: Article 100 of Greece’s Migration Code bars golden-visa properties from short-term letting or sharing-economy subletting, and a violation can mean revocation or non-renewal of the residence permit plus a €50,000 fine for the property’s owner. Ministerial Circular 1/2026 (issued April 2026) defines short-term letting as any lease or sublease under 60 days that provides accommodation without additional services — regardless of which platform it’s advertised on. Not every golden-visa property is covered, though: some properties acquired under the rules in force before Greece’s 2024 reforms, or under transitional provisions, may be exempt, so the acquisition date and the applicable rule-set matter.
For hidden rebates, the legal footing is less settled: while Greek legislation sets payment requirements and penalties for certain violations, the article notes that the precise statutory basis for revoking a permit solely over a post-sale rebate “may be contested,” and investors facing such a finding could challenge a revocation if they believe authorities lack sufficient legal grounds.
Context: Greece has sharply raised golden-visa investment thresholds since 2023. Since the 2024 reform, the minimum is €800,000 in high-demand areas (Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and islands with populations over 3,100) and €400,000 elsewhere, generally for a single property of at least 120 square metres; the lower €250,000 threshold survives only for specific categories such as converting commercial property to residential use or restoring listed buildings. New golden-visa applications fell 39% in the first seven months of 2026, to 3,086, even as faster processing pushed active investor residence permits to 34,278 by the end of July — of which Chinese nationals hold just over half, followed by investors from Turkey, Israel and the UK.
The programme remains politically contested in Greece: opposition party PASOK has proposed ending the real-estate investment route entirely and extending the short-term rental ban to existing permit-holders at renewal, a proposal the governing New Democracy party has rejected.
What this means in practice for golden-visa investors and prospective buyers: verify that the full qualifying investment amount is paid through traceable channels, treat any side agreement or fixed-return arrangement as a red flag, check which rule-set applies to an existing property before assuming short-term letting is permitted, and get independent legal advice before paying for anything advertised below the standard threshold.
References
Greek City Times – Greece Targets Golden Visa Abuse Over Hidden Rebates
