Interest in Golden Visa Programs Increases for Greece, New Zealand, and Portugal
The Golden Visa program, which was introduced by several countries in the last two decades, has attracted a lot of attention in the last few years. The Golden Visa represents a long-term residency document that has the goal of attracting wealthy expats to invest.
With the world dealing with a wide range of political and economic uncertainties, more countries are trying to attract high-net-worth individuals. Therefore, they are changing their Golden Visa programs to accommodate people who are looking for a better place that offers them new opportunities.
Three of the countries that have a significant amount of interest in this scheme are New Zealand, Portugal, and Greece. But why are we seeing this sudden rise in popularity for Golden Visas?
What Does the Golden Visa Program Involve?
Golden Visas are long-term residency documents that give foreign expats a residence permit or citizenship so they can start investing huge sums of money in a country’s economy. This could come in different forms, such as donations, job creation, business development, or real estate investment.
By investing significant amounts of money, investors receive residency or even citizenship.
The reason why so many wealthy individuals seize this opportunity is simple: obtaining residency in one of these countries will bring tax benefits, better education, superior healthcare, and other advantages. The offer is especially convenient for people who come from countries that deal with political instability or economic uncertainties.
Now that the world is dealing with such instability, Golden Visas are getting more and more attention. Portugal, Greece, and New Zealand are only some of the countries that are working on improving their Golden Visa programs to better suit those interested.
Recent Golden Visa Developments
In many countries, the Golden Visa program has ended. For instance, Malta’s Golden Visa program was criticized by the EU recently after it was discovered to be selling citizenship instead of offering residency. Following this issue, Malta had to reconsider its scheme.
However, other countries still have excellent Golden Visa programs, and some even adjusted theirs recently.
For example, Greece requires a €250,000 real estate investment for the Golden Visa benefits. Recently, the government has increased the necessary investment in some locations, though.
Portugal remains one of the top destinations for Golden Visa applicants. Some time ago, the country made some adjustments regarding property investment restrictions in certain areas to prevent housing price inflation.
New Zealand has also revised its Golden Visa program, which is known as the “Active Investor Plus Visa”. The country added two categories, respectively, Growth and Balanced. For the Growth category, investors must spend $3 million, and the total residency requirement has been reduced to 21 days. Also, applicants no longer need to have English language proficiency.
Hope and Skepticism
It seems that developments are being made all across the world when it comes to Golden Visas. Still, while New Zealand offers more benefits to attract more wealthy individuals, Australia is one of the countries that maintain some scepticism.
Others, like Malta, had to revise their programs recently. It’s very likely to see some more changes in how countries attract global wealth in the next few years.
