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Greece Now Offers €250K Startup Visa With “Burdensome” Ownership Restriction

Despite a low threshold by European standards, Alexander Risvas warns the program's structure may penalize investors for outcomes beyond their control.
Moustafa Daly IMI

Moustafa Daly

IMI
• Cairo

Greece has recently launched a startup-focused Golden Visa, offering residence permits to non-EU nationals who invest €250,000 in early-stage companies registered on the national startup registry.

The program grants an initial one-year permit, renewable in two-year increments. Investors must maintain their stakes for five years while the companies meet job-creation targets.

The Ministry of Development and Investments and the Ministry of Migration and Asylum present the scheme as a way to deepen the venture market and align migration incentives with measurable economic contribution.

The program caps individual ownership at 33% and ties residence renewals to employment outcomes beyond the investor’s control. Alexander N. Risvas of Risvas & Associates describes this as a mismatch between capital exposure and governance rights.

Ownership Ceiling Effectively Creates a Passive Investment Structure

The program bars any single investor from holding more than 33% of a target company’s shares or voting rights, a restriction that Risvas calls “bothersome” and says will ensure “the investment remains passive rather than entrepreneurial in nature.”

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He says the €250,000 threshold mirrors other routes, but paired with the ownership ceiling, it limits governance influence and risk management relative to the capital at stake, creating an asymmetry between financial exposure and control.

Applicants may structure their stake through a Greek startup they wholly own or through a foreign entity with up to three shareholders, each holding at least 33% of the capital.

Funds must originate from abroad and move through regulated banking channels that meet EU anti–money laundering standards. If investors sell before five years, they must reinvest in another qualifying startup within two months to preserve their residency status.

The permit confers no employment rights for the investor in Greece. Continuous physical presence is not required for validity.

Job-Creation Rules Link Residency to Company Performance

The startup must create at least two full-time positions within the first year and maintain total staffing levels for five years. Noncompliance halts renewal and can trigger administrative penalties of €50,000 for both the investor and the company.

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Risvas says this binding obligation creates a risk to residence stability. “Any reduction in staffing, even due to market conditions, regulatory changes, or strategic restructuring unrelated to the investor, may jeopardize renewal of the residence permit,” he explains.

In cases of bankruptcy or restructuring, renewal is possible only if the investor makes a new qualifying investment within two months. Missed notifications or deadlines risk revocation and the €50,000 fine.

Given high failure rates in early-stage ventures, Risvas argues that linking immigration status to a startup’s business performance and employment profile substantially amplifies risk for individuals seeking “secure and predictable residence rights.”

Suited to Risk-Tolerant Investors

Even so, Risvas notes that for investors with venture risk appetite and a strategic interest in Greece’s emerging innovation pipeline, the program offers a new entry point that combines residency privileges with equity exposure, an option some may prefer to the purely passive, higher-cost investment required to qualify for the Golden Visa.

The €250,000 entry point sits at the low end of European thresholds. Portugal’s Tech Visa requires €250,000 to €350,000, while Spain’s Entrepreneur Visa demands €500,000.

Risvas adds that for those seeking residence certainty and capital preservation, traditional property or fund-based routes will remain the steadier choice within Greece’s migration framework.

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