Recently, Portugal made significant adjustments to its real estate immigration program, announcing that the Lisbon and Porto regions will no longer implement the property investment immigration scheme. This not only indicates a tightening of Portugal's immigration policies but also suggests that European countries will impose stricter restrictions on golden visas in the future. In such a severe situation, what other cost-effective immigration programs are available in Europe?
1. Greece
Since launching a favorable program for non-EU investors to obtain a five-year residence permit in 2014, Greece's "golden visa" program has generated approximately 2 billion euros for its real estate market, with investors spending at least 250,000 euros in Greece. Greece has undoubtedly become a dark horse in the investment immigration sector! Chinese buyers demonstrated a dominant position in 2019, with their purchasing share increasing compared to previous years: since the project began in 2014, 70% of the permits, totaling 4,371, were issued to Chinese citizens.
Application requirements for Greece's property investment immigration:
1. The main applicant must be at least 18 years old;
2. Purchase property in Greece worth over 250,000 euros (must be held long-term and cannot be sold)
As you can see, the application requirements for Greece are very simple; essentially, one just needs to spend 250,000 euros to buy property locally, with no requirements for language, education, management experience, or minimum assets, and the immigration monitoring is minimal.
2. Turkey
According to the latest amendment to the Turkish nationality law on September 18, 2018, the investment threshold for citizenship through property purchase was reduced from 1 million USD to 250,000 USD, making the Turkish passport increasingly popular in the immigration community.
Unlike Greece's property investment immigration, which grants permanent residency, Turkey offers a passport, which holds greater value! Since applicants only need to purchase property worth over 250,000 USD, they can obtain Turkish passports for themselves, their spouses, and children under 18, and the property only needs to be held for 3 years before it can be sold. Thus, the Turkish passport, as a passport from a major country, offers excellent value for money.
Application requirements for Turkey's property investment immigration:
1. The main applicant must be at least 18 years old, and the dependents include spouses and children under 18;
2. Investment amount starting from 250,000 USD.
The simplicity of these application requirements is comparable to those of Greece. Turkey is a country that spans two continents, Europe and Asia, with a strong industrial base, recognized as one of the emerging economies in the world and one of the fastest-growing countries globally.
3. Spain
On September 27, 2013, Spain enacted a new immigration law, opening broader doors for investment immigration projects; on July 29, 2015, Spain officially announced the supplementary law of the "New Entrepreneur Law," which further clarified policies including "immigration for three generations of a family," "children over 18 who are not financially independent can accompany," "a one-time issuance of a 5-year residence card," and "the right to work." This series of favorable and humane policies has sparked a wave of investment immigration to Spain.
Application requirements for Spain's property investment immigration:
1. The main applicant must be at least 18 years old;
2. Purchase local property worth at least 500,000 euros;
3. No criminal record
In recent years, Spain has attracted many high-net-worth individuals to invest in real estate and immigrate due to its various high welfare policies and unique advantages. According to the national population registration data released by the Spanish National Statistics Institute on June 25, 2019, Spain's population grew by 270,000 in 2018, with the most significant increase coming from immigration, making Chinese immigrants the sixth largest immigrant group in Spain.