# Residence by Investment: Golden Visa Program Map > Active residence-by-investment programs: thresholds, formats (real estate, funds, business), what has closed and what replaces it. How to choose a program for the task. Author: Мария Плотникова — юрист, Family Office (https://wiki.private.law/authors/plotnikova) Last modified: 2026-07-10T18:00:00.000Z Canonical: https://wiki.private.law/en/golden-visas Topics: migration Jurisdictions: global Semantic tags: residence-permit Article type: hub --- # The Concept A golden visa is residency in exchange for a passive investment: buy an asset of a set size — receive the right to live in the country (more often, the right *not* to live there while keeping the status). It differs from citizenship by investment fundamentally: you get residence, not a passport; and from ordinary residence permits — in requiring no job, no business activity and no permanent presence. The class emerged in 2012: Portugal and other peripheral EU economies, emerging from the debt crisis, sought capital inflows and offered residency for property purchases. Within a decade the scheme spread to some fifty countries — from the Caribbean to the Gulf — peaking in the late 2010s. Then the pendulum swung back, under pressure from Brussels, money-laundering scrutiny and the housing question boiling over in the capitals. > 🍓 The class is shrinking: Spain closed its golden visa in April 2025, Portugal removed real estate, Ireland and the UK closed earlier. The survivors' logic: money into the economy (funds, business) rather than into residential property. # The Active Programs ### Europe > 🔗 **Related** > [Greece](https://wiki.private.law/en/greece-golden-visa) · [Portugal](https://wiki.private.law/en/portugal-golden-visa) · [Malta](https://wiki.private.law/en/global-residence-program) · [Andorra](https://wiki.private.law/en/andorra-residence-permit) · [Georgia: HNWI](https://wiki.private.law/en/georgia-territorial-tax) Greece — real estate at €400–800k thresholds (€800k in Athens, Thessaloniki and islands like Mykonos and Santorini); the €250k entry survives only for commercial-to-residential conversions, heritage restorations and startup investments; no residence requirement — Europe's most in-demand program (a record 8,879 approvals in 2025, +61% applications in Q1 2026). Portugal — €500k via investment funds (residential real estate excluded since 2023; the fund must be CMVM-regulated, hold at least 60% in Portuguese companies and carry no direct or indirect real-estate exposure); the citizenship path since 19 May 2026 is ten years (seven for EU/CPLP), counted from card issuance (Lei Orgânica 1/2026). Nearby without dedicated breakdowns: Italy (the investor visa: €250k into a startup / €500k into a company / €2m into government bonds, +43% in Q1 2026) and Hungary (guest investor: €250k into a fund, 10 years with no presence requirement). Malta's GRP gives resident status with a flat 15% on remitted income. Gibraltar's Category 2 caps tax for HNWIs. Andorra stands apart — passive residency with an investment from €600k (in practice closer to €1m with the AFA deposit). ### The Middle East and Asia > 🔗 **Related** > [UAE tax residency](/en/uae-company-bank-account) · [Singapore GIP](https://wiki.private.law/en/singapore-residence-permit) · [Malaysia MM2H](https://wiki.private.law/en/malaysia-mm2h) The UAE Golden Visa — 10 years for an investment from AED 2m in property, with no minimum presence and zero personal income tax; since February 2026 the threshold is measured by the property's full DLD registry value, so mortgaged and off-plan purchases qualify. Singapore's GIP — permanent residence from S$10m into business or funds, for operating entrepreneurs. Malaysia's MM2H — long-term residency via deposit, tiered after the reform. Hong Kong's CIES — HK$30m into portfolio assets. ### The Americas and the Islands > 🔗 **Related** > [Cayman Islands and the Bahamas](https://wiki.private.law/en/cayman-residence) · [Paraguay](https://wiki.private.law/en/paraguay-residence) · [Costa Rica](https://wiki.private.law/en/costa-rica-residence) The Cayman Islands and the Bahamas — residency through property in zero-tax jurisdictions; Bermuda follows the same logic. Paraguay and Costa Rica (inversionista) — low thresholds and territorial tax systems. # How to Choose > 🔗 **Related** > [Tax residency and the 183-day rule](https://wiki.private.law/en/tax-residency-basics) The task first, the program second. If the goal is a backup base without relocating, pick programs with no presence requirement (Greece, the UAE, the Caribbean). If the goal is citizenship, count the naturalisation clock and the actual-residence requirements. If the goal is taxes, a golden visa by itself solves nothing: look at the special tax regimes and the 183-day rule — a residence permit does not make you a tax resident automatically, and conversely, excess days in the country will make you one even without a visa. > ⚠️ The investment is not a payment to the state, and it carries market risk: Portuguese funds are real private equity with LP mechanics, and Greek property is a market with cycles. Treat the golden visa as an investment with a visa bonus, not as a fee. # Regulation and the Cancellation Risk > 🔗 **Related** > [Routes to EU citizenship](https://wiki.private.law/en/eu-citizenship-routes) · [CRS](https://wiki.private.law/en/crs-overview) · [Exit taxes](https://wiki.private.law/en/exit-taxes-overview) Brussels presses along two lines. Citizenship for money was held incompatible with the nature of Union citizenship by the EU Court in April 2025 (Commission v Malta, C-181/23) — closing the EU's last CBI program. Residency was untouched by the ruling: golden visas remain a member-state competence. The political pressure is real nonetheless: Spain closed its program from April 2025; Portugal and Greece raised thresholds and narrowed property as the entry route. The second line is transparency. Source of funds is vetted under AML rules, and new-resident status falls within automatic exchange: CRS sees the account regardless of where the residence permit was issued. Residency is therefore planned together with tax residency and the exchange regime, not as their replacement; a genuine relocation adds the exit tax of the country of departure. > 💡 Issued statuses are usually preserved by grandfathering. The real risk lies elsewhere: the ability to renew and upgrade terms depends on the next government's politics — treat the golden visa as a planning horizon, not a one-off purchase. # Where It Is All Heading The trend runs from residential property to investments in the economy: funds, business, government bonds. New entrances appear too: in December 2025 the US launched the "Gold Card" — an accelerated green card for a contribution from $1m plus a $15k fee (announced as $5m), with a discussed "platinum" version at $5m and the right to spend up to 270 days a year without US tax on foreign income. Demand is modest so far: by spring 2026 only a handful of approvals. In parallel, the Gulf's fast zero-tax hubs and the Caribbean hold their ground, and the perpetual-traveler scenario is back in fashion among those who need the status without the move. > 🍓 A golden visa buys the right to a status. Taxes, inheritance and actual presence remain separate tasks with their own instruments — the program works as one layer of the plan, dovetailed with tax residency, a special regime and, if the goal is a passport, a naturalisation route. # Q&A ### How does a golden visa differ from citizenship by investment? A residence permit gives the right to live and (in the EU) move around Schengen, but not a passport. Citizenship by investment is a separate class of programs (the Caribbean, [Türkiye](https://wiki.private.law/en/turkey-citizenship-investment)) with different thresholds and risks: see the ["Second citizenship" hub](https://wiki.private.law/en/citizenship-by-investment). ### Can you hold a golden visa without becoming a tax resident? Yes — that is the standard configuration: the status is maintained with minimal presence (in Greece, zero), while tax residency stays in another country. It breaks when the actual [centre of life](https://wiki.private.law/en/tax-residency-basics) moves: formal day counts stop helping, and the treaty tie-breaker decides. ### Can the state cancel the program after I buy? Programs are cancelled regularly, but existing statuses are usually preserved (grandfathering): Spanish visas issued before April 2025 keep renewing. The risk is not losing the status, but the impossibility of upgrading terms — and the politics of the next government. --- ## FAQ ### How does a golden visa differ from citizenship by investment? A residence permit gives the right to live and (in the EU) move around Schengen, but not a passport. Citizenship by investment is a separate class of programs (the Caribbean, Türkiye) with different thresholds and risks: see the "Second citizenship" hub. ### Can you hold a golden visa without becoming a tax resident? Yes — that is the standard configuration: the status is maintained with minimal presence (in Greece, zero), while tax residency stays in another country. It breaks when the actual centre of life moves: formal day counts stop helping, and the treaty tie-breaker decides. ### Can the state cancel the program after I buy? Programs are cancelled regularly, but existing statuses are usually preserved (grandfathering): Spanish visas issued before April 2025 keep renewing. The risk is not losing the status, but the impossibility of upgrading terms — and the politics of the next government. --- ## Factual claims - The class emerged in 2012: Portugal and other peripheral EU economies, emerging from the debt crisis, sought capital inflows and offered residency for property purchases.