| Country | Programme | Status | Lowest amount | Route types | Minimum stay | Permit | Permanent residence | Citizenship position | Last verified | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal | Residence permit for investment (ARI) | open | EUR 250,000 | fund, company, donation | 7 in the first year, 14 in each subsequent period | Temporary residence, 2 years, renewable while the investment is held | After 5 years | 10 (7 for EU and CPLP nationals) under Lei Orgânica 1/2026, counted from the grant of the permit | 1,2,3,4 | |
| Greece | Residence permit for investors (Golden Visa) | open | EUR 250,000 | property | None | 5 years, renewable while the property is held | Not a route to permanent residence | 7 years of residence with physical presence and language requirements; the Golden Visa alone does not lead there | 5 | |
| Italy | Investor Visa for Italy | open | EUR 250,000 | company, donation, bonds | None stated | 2-year visa and permit, renewable for 3 years while the investment is held | After 5 years | 10 years of residence | 6 | |
| Malta | Malta Permanent Residence Programme (MPRP) | open | EUR 99,000 plus rent or property | property | None | Permanent residence certificate; card renewed every 5 years | Permanent from the start | No direct route; naturalisation is discretionary after long residence | 7 | |
| Hungary | Guest Investor Programme | open | EUR 250,000 | fund, donation | None | 10 years, renewable once for 10 years | Not a route to permanent residence | Not a citizenship route | 8 | |
| Cyprus | Permanent residence permit by investment (Regulation 6(2)) | open | EUR 300,000 | property | One visit every 2 years | Permanent, provided the holder visits at least once every 2 years | Permanent from the start | Naturalisation after long residence with physical presence; not a fast route | 9 | |
| Latvia | Temporary residence permit for investors | changing | EUR 50,000 | property, company | None, but annual registration | 5 years, with annual registration | After 5 years | 10 years with language requirement | 10 | |
| Spain | Investor residence visa (Ley 14/2013) | closed | n/a | none | n/a | No new applications | n/a | n/a | 11 |
Malta: the figure is the mandatory cash outlay excluding the property, because every route carries the EUR 37,000 government contribution, EUR 60,000 administration fee and EUR 2,000 donation; the cheapest route on top of that is "Rent property plus contribution" at EUR 14,000 a year.
Download the dataset
Both files are generated from the same dataset as the table at build time. Facts are not copyrightable. Reuse with a link to the source column. Reuse terms are on themethodology page.
How to read the table
Each row is one programme, defined by the law that creates it rather than by its marketing name. "Golden visa" is used here as the search term readers use; the programme column gives the name the authority uses.
- Status is "open" when the authority accepts new applications under stable rules, "changing" when an amendment has been passed or announced but is not yet in force, and "closed" when no new applications are accepted.
- Lowest amount is the smallest minimum investment on any of the programme's routes, in euros, before government fees, professional costs and taxes. Malta is the exception: its cheapest route is a EUR 14,000 annual rent, so the cell shows the EUR 99,000 of fixed government payments that both Maltese routes carry. Total cost runs higher everywhere; Portugal's EUR 250,000, for instance, is a donation that is not returned. The country pages give every route and its conditions.
- Route types use a fixed vocabulary: fund, property, company, donation, bonds. Portugal's research route is classed as a donation because the capital is applied to research rather than held as an asset; Hungary's fund route is a fund even though the fund invests in property.
- Minimum stay is the physical presence needed to keep the permit, as stated by the authority. It is not the presence needed for permanent residence or naturalisation, which is always longer.
- Permit is the document issued and how it renews. Permanent residence gives the number of years of legal residence before a permanent status is available, "permanent from the start" where the programme itself grants it, or "none recorded" where the dataset records no separate step.
- Citizenship position is the residence period the nationality law requires and whether the programme alone leads there. No programme in the table grants citizenship by investment.
- Last verified is the date each row was last checked against its source.Source points to the numbered list at the foot of this page.
The two filters above the table dim rows that do not match a chosen route type or stay requirement. They are built from radio inputs and a stylesheet rule, so every row remains in the page and in the copy an answer engine reads.
Latest changes
The three most recent dated changes to the dataset. The change log holds all of them back to October 2023.
Latvia: President returns the investor-permit amendmentsLatvia row
The President of Latvia returned the Immigration Law amendments passed on 11 June 2026 to Parliament for review. The amendments, which would remove the property route from 1 January 2027, are not in force. The dataset keeps the Latvia row at status "changing".10
Latvia: Parliament passes amendments removing the property routeLatvia row
The Saeima approved amendments that would end temporary residence permits based on a property purchase from 1 January 2027. The company share-capital route was not affected by the vote.10
Portugal: naturalisation period rises to 10 yearsPortugal row
Lei Orgânica 1/2026 came into force. Naturalisation now requires 10 years of legal residence for most third-country nationals and 7 years for EU and CPLP nationals, counted from the grant of the residence permit rather than from the application date. Applications pending on 19 May 2026 continue under the previous 5-year rule. The residence permit for investment itself was not changed.4
Methodology in brief
Every figure comes from the responsible authority where that authority publishes a consolidated page or the law itself1,6,10. Where it does not, as for Greece, Malta, Hungary and Cyprus, the row rests on the authority's general page and on at least two published secondary statements that agree with each other5,7,8,9. Rows were last verified on 3 September 2026. Nothing is estimated: where a processing time, approval rate or fee is not published by the authority, the table leaves it out. The methodology page sets out the verification steps, the vocabulary and how to report an error.
Sources
- Autorização de Residência para Investimento, Art. 90.º-A. AIMA. Accessed 3 September 2026.
- Lei n.º 23/2007, de 4 de julho (legal regime of entry, stay, exit and removal of foreigners), consolidated. Diário da República. Accessed 3 September 2026.
- Lei n.º 56/2023, de 6 de outubro (Mais Habitação), amending the ARI regime. Diário da República. Accessed 3 September 2026.
- Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026, de 18 de maio, amending and republishing the Nationality Law (Lei n.º 37/81). Diário da República n.º 95/2026, Série I. Accessed 3 September 2026.
- Residence permits for investors. Hellenic Ministry of Migration and Asylum. Accessed 3 September 2026.
- Investor Visa for Italy, official programme site. Ministero delle Imprese e del Made in Italy. Accessed 3 September 2026.
- Malta Permanent Residence Programme. Residency Malta Agency. Accessed 3 September 2026.
- The latest updates to the Guest Investor Residency Programme. International Bar Association. Accessed 3 September 2026.
- Immigration permits under Regulation 6(2). Civil Registry and Migration Department, Cyprus. Accessed 3 September 2026.
- Residence permits, investors. Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, Latvia. Accessed 3 September 2026.
- Ley 14/2013, de 27 de septiembre, consolidated text; articles 63 to 67 left without content from 3 April 2025 by Ley Orgánica 1/2025, final provision 21. Boletín Oficial del Estado. Accessed 3 September 2026.