Greece tackles effectively Two-Year Waitlists in Greater Athens by Decentralizing Golden Visa Processing.

Greece tackles effectively Two-Year Waitlists in Greater Athens by Decentralizing Golden Visa Processing.

Since the Greek golden Visa scheme began to reach Chinese investor migrants three years ago, the program has seen demand size soar to heights for which Country’s administrative infrastructure was, evidently, not combat-ready.

The law requiring golden visa investors submit files in the municipality where they’d bought the property had seen Greater Athens Metropolitan area appointments fully booked until 2021.
The handling of applications for no less than 80% of more than 4.600 properties obtained under the Golden visa’s auspices since 2013 had all fallen to three municipalities, Athens, Piraeus, and Pallini on the Attica peninsula, which jointly constitute the Greater Athens metropolitan area.

Unaccustomed to such towering levels of interest, found themselves crowded with residence permit applicants toward the end of last year and unable to cope with this situation the municipal authorities informed investors that no appointments would be available until 2021.

Greece’s Ministry of Migration Policy made the reasonable step to address with the situation and ease the pressure on the capital region’s bureaucracy. Last May a simple but effective change in policy was implemented, allowing investors to submit applications in any municipality, irrespective of where in the country they had made the corresponding investment.
The change had the immediate effect of directing excess caseload toward Patra, Messolonghi, Chios, Chania, Lamia, Larissa, and even Thessaloniki,
nearly 500km to the North.
Lawyers and RBI Practitioners now, can ask for an appointment on their clients most convenient date. The travel costs for all participants is the only negative,
adding to the cost of the whole procedure.

The Greek condition – and its succeeding resolution – mirrors that seen in Portugal not long ago; the country’s Borders and Immigration Service had accumulated a backlog of more than 6,000 cases because of a requirement to file applications in the municipality corresponding to the investment object’s location. To lessen the capacity issue, the SEF instated the very same policy amendment we’re now seeing in Greece. In Portugal, the solution proved effective; six months following decentralization, the SEF had virtually wiped out its backlog.

Greek Golden Visa gives Visa-Free access to all EU member states and the Schengen zone.

See all our news