Immigration and Visa Options for Remote Workers, Founders and Investors in Greece

Greece offers several immigration pathways relevant to internationally mobile professionals, but they are not interchangeable. In 2026, a remote worker with foreign clients is looking at a very different legal framework from an investor buying Greek property or investing in a Greek startup.

The four core ReloTide routes are:

• the Digital Nomad Visa / digital-nomad residence route for qualifying remote work performed for employers or clients outside Greece;
• the Startup Visa / startup-investment residence permit (B.6) for a qualifying investment of at least €250,000 in an eligible startup;
• business-investor residence routes under the Migration Code for higher-capital productive, company or financial investments; and
• the Golden Visa (B.5) for qualifying real-estate investment and related property categories.

Verified 15 September 2026: Greece does not currently present a general, low-capital third-country “freelancer visa” equivalent to Portugal's D2 or Spain's ordinary self-employment authorization. A freelancer working remotely for foreign clients may fit the Digital Nomad framework; someone intending to operate in the Greek market needs to identify a different lawful residence basis before treating Greek sole-proprietor registration as an immigration route.

Greece immigration routes at a glance

| Route | Core 2026 threshold | Typical applicant | Initial immigration period | General work position | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Digital Nomad Visa | €3,500 monthly qualifying income | Remote employees, freelancers and self-employed persons working for foreign counterparties | National visa up to 12 months; qualifying residence permit can follow | Remote activity must remain within the route's foreign-employer/client framework | | Startup Visa | At least €250,000 | Investor in an eligible startup in the National Startup Registry | B.6 residence permit: 1 year | Investment residence; do not assume ordinary Greek employment access | | Business Investor Visa | Common qualifying company route: €500,000; other investment categories differ | Company owners, major shareholders and financial investors | Investor permits are generally 5 years, subject to the exact category | Rights are tied to the investment/corporate capacity; not a general open-work permit | | Golden Visa | €800k / €400k general property zones; €250k special property categories | Real-estate investors | B.5 permit: 5 years | No access to employment |

The Ministry of Migration and Asylum's current Migration Code is the legal starting point. Investment certifications and administrative procedures are also reflected in the official Mitos registry.

Greece digital nomad and remote-work option

Article 68 of the Migration Code provides the framework commonly called the Greece digital nomad visa. It is for third-country nationals who can perform their work remotely using information and communications technology for employers or clients outside Greece.

The principal applicant must demonstrate stable qualifying income of at least €3,500 per month. The benchmark increases by 20% for a spouse/partner and 15% for each child.

That means the statutory arithmetic starts at:

• principal applicant: €3,500/month;
• principal + spouse/partner: €4,200/month;
• each child adds €525/month.

A national visa can be issued for up to 12 months. Before it expires, an eligible applicant can move into the two-year digital-nomad residence-permit framework, subject to continued compliance.

Read the detailed Greece Digital Nomad Visa guide.

Freelancers and self-employed professionals

The Digital Nomad route can accommodate genuine freelancers and self-employed professionals when their qualifying commercial relationships are outside Greece and the remaining conditions are met.

That should not be confused with a blanket right to relocate to Greece and establish an unrestricted local freelance business. The current third-country residence architecture is route-specific. Greek tax or commercial registration by itself does not create immigration permission.

If the planned activity is a Greek startup investment or a substantial Greek company investment, compare the investor routes below instead.

Startup and founder options

Greece now has a specific startup-investment residence permit (B.6) under Article 100A of Law 5038/2023. It became part of the investment-residence framework from 2025 and is active in 2026.

The investor must contribute at least €250,000 to the capital of a company registered in the National Startup Registry, commonly associated with Elevate Greece. The acquired participation cannot exceed 33% of capital or voting rights.

The startup must also:

• create at least two new jobs within the first year after the investment; and
• maintain the required total employment level, including those jobs, for at least five years.

The B.6 permit is initially valid for one year and can be renewed for two years at a time while the investment and other conditions continue.

This route is better understood as an investment residence route into an eligible startup, not as a zero-capital founder visa merely requiring a business idea.

Read the Greece Startup Visa guide.

Business and productive-investment options

Articles 97–99 of the Migration Code contain several substantial business and financial-investment routes.

Examples include:

• participation of at least 33% in a Greek company with at least €500,000 personally contributed;
• certain unpaid board-member, legal-representative or manager positions in qualifying companies or branches where the relevant Greek operation meets a €4 million asset or latest-closed-period turnover test; and
• qualifying financial investments with category-specific minimums, including several €500,000 categories and a €350,000 qualifying alternative-investment-fund category.

This area is materially more complex than a generic “entrepreneur visa.” The correct legal route depends on the investment instrument, corporate role and source of funds.

Read the Greece Business Investor Visa guide.

Greece Golden Visa in 2026

Greece's Golden Visa remains active. The current property regime is tiered.

For ordinary qualifying real-estate acquisitions, the threshold is generally:

• €800,000 in Attica, the Regional Unit of Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini/Thira and specified islands with population above the statutory threshold; or
• €400,000 in the rest of Greece.

For those ordinary €800k/€400k acquisitions, the investment is generally confined to one property, and the main-space area requirement for a built property is at least 120 m².

Two important €250,000 special categories remain, including qualifying change-of-use property converted to residential use and qualifying listed-building restoration cases, each with its own conditions. The official Mitos procedure for change of use confirms that the 120 m² limit does not apply to that special €250,000 category.

The B.5 permit is valid for five years and can be renewed while the qualifying investment conditions remain. It does not provide a right to employment. Current rules also restrict short-term rental use of Golden Visa property.

Read the Greece Golden Visa guide.

A niche route for startup employees: Tech Visa

Greece has also added a Tech Visa concept for eligible third-country employees of companies in the National Startup Registry. It is an employee route rather than a founder/investor substitute, so ReloTide treats it as a niche mobility option rather than one of the four core standalone pages in this country release.

Applicants whose primary objective is employment by a Greek startup should compare that employee framework rather than forcing their profile into Digital Nomad or investor rules.

Family considerations

Family rules differ by route.

Digital Nomad family eligibility is built into the route and the income benchmark rises for accompanying family members. During the national-visa stage, accompanying family members do not receive a general right to dependent employment or economic activity merely from that visa.

Investor routes under the Migration Code have special family provisions and should not automatically be analyzed under the ordinary two-year family-reunification waiting logic. Depending on the exact investor category, qualifying family can include a spouse or civil partner, children and in some investor frameworks direct ascendants.

Always confirm the family-member definition and work rights against the exact residence category being filed.

Tax overview

An immigration permit and tax treatment are separate questions.

Greece's tax authority AADE administers Article 5C of the Income Tax Code. The regime can provide a 50% income-tax exemption for seven tax years on qualifying Greek-source employment and/or individual business income where the statutory conditions are met.

That is not an automatic “digital nomad tax break.” A digital nomad whose income comes from a foreign employer or foreign clients must separately analyze Greek tax residence, income sourcing, treaty rules, payroll/business registration and social-security exposure.

The same separation matters for investors: holding a Golden Visa or B.6 startup residence permit does not by itself determine personal or company tax treatment.

Long-term residence

The Greek Migration Code provides an EU long-term-resident framework after at least five years of legal and continuous residence, subject to conditions including sufficient resources and integration requirements. Absence rules affect whether the required continuity is preserved.

Do not treat the five-year point as automatic permanent residence. The applicant must satisfy the conditions and make the separate application.

Investor permits that can be renewed despite absence from Greece are particularly important to distinguish from long-term-resident eligibility, which is built around genuine legal and continuous residence.

Citizenship overview

Greek citizenship by naturalization is also separate from visa or residence-card validity.

The current Citizenship Code sets a general seven-year continuous lawful-residence rule for the principal naturalization framework, alongside reduced periods for defined categories. It also contains different treatment for applicants relying on other valid non-temporary residence titles.

A passive investor cannot safely infer “citizenship after seven years” merely because a Golden Visa has been held for seven calendar years. Actual residence history, the type of residence title and the other naturalization requirements matter.

Which Greece route may fit your profile?

Remote employee for a foreign company: start with the Digital Nomad Visa.

Freelancer serving foreign clients: the Digital Nomad route may fit if the foreign-client and income conditions are genuinely met.

Investor in an Elevate Greece startup: review the Startup Visa, especially the €250,000, 33%, two-job and five-year workforce conditions.

Major shareholder or productive/financial investor: review the Business Investor Visa.

Real-estate investor: review the Golden Visa, including the exact zone, property category and use restrictions before acquiring property.

Founder with a small budget and no €250,000 qualifying startup investment: do not assume Greece's “startup visa” is a low-cost founder route. Consider whether another immigration basis better matches the planned move.

Frequently asked questions

Does Greece have a digital nomad visa?

Yes. Greece has a statutory remote-work route for qualifying third-country nationals working remotely for foreign employers or clients. The principal income benchmark is currently €3,500 per month.

Can a freelancer use Greece's digital nomad route?

Potentially. The route can cover qualifying freelancers or self-employed professionals when the work is remote and the relevant employer/client relationships are outside Greece.

Does Greece have a general freelancer visa?

ReloTide did not identify a current general low-capital third-country freelancer/self-employment immigration route comparable to Portugal's D2 or Spain's ordinary self-employment authorization. Commercial registration and immigration permission must not be conflated.

How much is Greece's Startup Visa investment?

The Article 100A startup-investment residence route requires at least €250,000 in an eligible startup, with a maximum 33% capital/voting participation plus employment conditions.

What are the Greece Golden Visa property thresholds in 2026?

The ordinary property thresholds are generally €800,000 in specified high-demand areas and €400,000 elsewhere, while defined special categories can qualify from €250,000.

Can a Greece Golden Visa holder work?

The investor residence permit does not provide access to employment.

Is citizenship automatic after holding an investor visa for seven years?

No. Naturalization depends on the Citizenship Code's lawful-residence, residence-title and integration requirements. Holding an investment residence permit and preserving it through absence is not the same thing as proving the residence history required for citizenship.

Last verified: 15 September 2026. Immigration law, administrative procedures and indexed thresholds can change; re-check the linked Greek government sources before filing or investing.

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