Due Diligence in question as Greece lowers Golden Visa investment to €250,000 

As the announcement of Greece expanding its Golden Visa Programme under a new startup option is making headlines, experts are raising concerns over the due diligence and background checks on the applicants.  

This comes after the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotaki said that the residency programme under the startup will be accessible for just €250,000. Experts are now questioning whether due diligence will be comprised as Greece is lowering its Golden Visa investment.  

The announcement was made by the PM as he was speaking during the ongoing 88th Thessaloniki International Fair where he also mentioned that the move is part of a comprehensive economic strategy.  

According to the information, the newly announced investment option will allow foreign investors to secure a five year Greek residency permit by investing just €250,000 in local startups established in Greece.  

While further details over this new development are still not completely out, people are looking forward to a detailed statement from the Minister of Finance Kostis Hatzidakis. The Minister is responsible for the country’s Golden Visa Programme as well as other investment options across the nation.  

It has also been reported that as of recent times, the Greek Golden Visa Programme has been gaining a lot of attention from discerning investors and there are more than 30,000 unprocessed applications which are still waiting in row for a review. 

The clearly shows that the country needs to be much more careful in terms of processing all these applications and must ensure that only legitimate investors gets the permission to make an investment. 

Furthermore, a former Greek Government official also discussed the urgent need for robust background checks on the applicants. While he asked to remain anonymous, the official noted that the reduction in the minimum investment amount for the Greek Golden Visa Programme will make it much more accessible to a wider range of people.  

He emphasised that with this increased accessibility, there also comes a greater risk of due diligence negligence, as the background checks might get compromised in the approval process.  

Not only this, but it is also being anticipated that this step is aimed at drawing more investors to Greece and stimulate the overall economy. 

However, the uncertainty surrounding due diligence checks remains a major concern amid European Union moving forward with its policies to make the borders secure from any threats. This includes the roll out of a major system by next year that is the European Travel Information and Authorization System which makes due diligence and background checks even more important.  

Investment Options under Greece’s RBI Programme  

The Golden Visa Program of Greece is designed in a way that it offers the investors with several investment opportunities providing the chance to secure residency in the country while opening doors to the Europe with minimum investment amount of 250,000.  

While previously this amount was for real estate projects only, but the new announcement expands it to even startups.  

Earlier, the applicants were required to make a minimum contribution of 250,000 in real estate development by making purchase in commercial properties to residential structures in only sites listed by the government. This option was flexible for investors as they were not limited to location or size of the properties.  

In addition to this, the country also offers 400,000 investment option in which the applicant can make a purchase of single property which must be atleast 120 sq meters. Other than this, an investment of 800,000 allows investors to make purchase in city centres such as Thessaloniki and Athens.  

Apart from the Real Estate option, the country also provides diverse portfolios and interests to investors with entrance to 10 years leasing agreement for furnished tourist residences or hotel accommodations having cost over EUR 400,000 or EUR 800,000. 

Also, through traditional financial instruments, investors can opt for a fixed term deposit of €500,000 in a Greek credit institution.  

For the ones looking for more liquid investment opportunities, the Golden Visa Program offers several alternatives which are as follows: 

• Investing a minimum of EUR 500,000 in Greek Government bonds with a maturity period of at least three years  

• Purchasing shares, corporate bonds or government bonds worth at least EUR800,000 

• Allocating a minimum of EUR350,000 to shares or stocks of a mutual fund