Public Relations and Communications Expert | Citizenship and Residency – Immigration
Twenty from the 28 member states of the European Union have launched their residency by investment programs or Golden Visa schemes for third-country nationals. All of them have advantages and of course disadvantages, the most important common benefit of all schemes is the visa-free traveling in the EU. But some programs are performing better than the others. Interesting that all these solutions were created for the same wealthy clients from China, the Middle East or Russia. It is really difficult to decide which program is the best because there are huge differences between these in prices, processing times, red tape, etc. But I tried to compare the options. Please comment if you don’t agree with my opinion, or if you find another program more successful or usable then my choices. I don’t mention here the citizenship programs or the residency programs with tax advantages for the citizens of other EU member states (as the new Malta Residency Rules, etc).
UPDATE: I published this post 2 years ago and a lot of things changed since. However, I updated the numbers (in 2016) There is NOW 20 residency by investment programs, schemes, and solution of the 28 EU member states. Here is a list of ALL residency by investment programs: The 69 residency by investment programs
1. Hungarian Residency Bonds Program
This program is considered as the fastest and cheapest residency by investment solution in the EU. The applicant has to buy the residency bonds from an official agent for the face value of EUR 300,000. After five years the Hungarian government pays the whole amount back. The entire process takes only a couple of weeks, and the applicant receives his/her permanent residence permit at once. Since the program has been launched in 2013, Hungary granted 3,649 residence permits to applicants of the Residency Bond Program. There are no additional official costs for the family members of the applicant. The official agents’ fees are app. EUR 60,000 for the main applicant. This program will be suspended from the 31st of March 2017!
2. Malta Global Residency Program
This program builds on the success of the former Maltese programs. The main benefit is the residents don’t have to pay tax on foreign sourced income not remitted to Malta. The island nation has over 60 double tax treaties. The tax rate for foreign source income remitted to Malta is flat 15%, for local personal, business or investment income the tax rate is 35%. There is an annual minimum tax (per family) of EUR 15,000. The applicant also has to buy or rent a property in Malta. This can be as cheap as EUR 220,000 on the island of Gozo, or an annual rental of EUR 8,750 also in Gozo. The residents can not stay more than 183 days in any other ONE state to be able to maintain their resident status. Under the new “Malta Residence and Visa Programme Regulations”, the applicants must invest EUR 250,000 in governmental bonds for 5 years and contribute EUR 30,000 to obtain the Maltese residence permit.
3. Latvia Real Estate Investment option
Applicants can buy a real estate in Latvia, and they will obtain a temporary residence permit in Latvia, valid for five years. The value of the real estate must be at least EUR 250,000, and there is a 5% state fee also. It takes about 3 to 5 months to receive the residence permit. The permanent residence permit can be obtained only after five years of holding the temporary residence permit.
4. Portuguese Golden Visa
Portugal’s Golden Visa program was launched in October 2012, since then the residency scheme generated almost 1 billion euros for the budget. The most attractive investment option for the Golden Visa is purchasing a property with a minimum value of EUR 500,000. The other possibilities are investing at least EUR 1 million or creating minimum ten permanent jobs. This scheme is very popular not only among the Chinese applicants but there are a lot of new residents from South America (mainly Brazil) and Africa (Angola).
5. Greece’s Golden Visa
As the Greek real-estate market arrived at its bottom, the government lowered the land transaction tax and created the Golden Visa program. By participating in the Greek Golden Visa program, non-EU citizens buying a property worth 250.000 euros or more, can obtain a five-year residency. The permit can be changed to permanent residency permit after the five-year period of residence. The most popular part of Greece for the real estate investment is Rhodes, where the luxury sector’s prices are still 10-20% lower than the pre-crisis levels.
+Bonus: Lithuania Company Ownership Solution
Three investors can form a company and employ three persons to receive the Lithuanian residence permit. The app. cost of the company forming and the taxes for the first year: EUR 20,000.
About the Author:
Bence Zakonyi is a Journalism/PR/Marketing professional of Immigration, International Company Forming and Offshore Banking/Investment. Author of the book: “Buying Second Passport and Business Citizenship”. In 2000 he was the “Best Television Reporter of the Year” in Hungary. In the last couple of years, he was the editor in chief of more market-leading news portals about private banking in Central Eastern Europe and South America.