Digital Nomads and Golden Visa: new provisions for granting residence permits
Golden Visa - Invest Migration | September 2021
Digital Nomads and Golden Visa: new provisions for granting residence permits

Pursuant to articles 10 and 11 of the new legislation “Reformation of deportation procedures and return of third country citizens, attraction of investors and digital nomads, issues of residence permit and procedures of granting international protection along with other provisions within the scope of Ministry of Immigration and Asylum and Ministry of Citizen Protection”, regulations are introduced towards the resolution of issues regarding the procedure of transferring investment capitals to Greece, granting residence permits to investors who wish to change the sector of their investment, the ability to invest in more than one sectors along with regulations upon the attraction of digital nomads.

  • The terms and conditions of granting residence permit to third country citizens for investment activity (remittance principals, liquidation of investment and proceeding to a new investment, accomplishment of an investment in more than one of the distinguished investment categories etc.) 
  • Granting residence permit to third country citizens (self-employed, freelancers or salaried employees) is introduced, who work remotely using Communication technology (ICT) with employers or clients outside of Greece (Digital Nomads) for a time period up to twelve (12) months. The remaining conditions, the necessary documentation and the amount of entry visa fee (75 euro) are outlined, as well as the administrative fee for the main applicant – supplier and his family members (essentially 1,000 euro).

 

SUGGESTED PROVISIONS

Article 10

Residence permit for investment in securities or bank deposit – Amendment of case 5 and addition of cases 10 and 11 in article 16 L. 4251/2014

1. In case 5 par. C article 16 L. 4251/2014 (A’80), a new first section is added and case 5 is replaced as follows:

“5. The investment is conducted with foreign capitals, which are remitted to Greece from a third country citizen for investment purposes. The remittance principals can be the wife and/or blood relatives or relatives by affinity up to second (b’) grade. The entrance application in Greece and the documentation defined by the decision of second section of par. 12 article 136, are submitted to the competent Greek consular authority of the investor’s place of residence, within one year from the investment. The consular authority, within one (1) month from receiving the above, transmits them to the competent authority of the last section of case 4, for ascertaining the accomplishment and keeping of the investment. The above authority examines the submitted documentation and transmits to the consular authority, within one (1) month from receiving them, a relevant certificate in order to grant a national entrance clearance for “investment in securities or bank deposit”. 

2. In paragraph C article 16 L. 4251/2014, cases 10 and 11 are added as follows:

“10. A third country citizen, holder of a valid residence permit, pursuant to the present, for investment in one of the categories of cases 1, is entitled to liquidate the investment, in order to invest, within a deadline of two (2) months, in another category of the present or in immovable property according to par. B article 20. In this case, the third country citizen retains the already issued residence permit until the completion of the new investment procedures and issuance of the new residence permit. The above provisions apply to the family members of the applicant as well. A Joint Ministerial decision by the Minister of Development and Investment and the Minister of Immigration and Asylum outlines the procedure, the deadline of application submission for the investor and his family members, the necessary documentation, the monitoring of the compliance with terms and conditions according to the new investment as well as any other issue which may arise upon the application of the present.

11. The third country citizen is entitled to complete an investment to more than one of the categories mentioned in case 1 and proceed to up to three (3) different investments in total. In case the investment is conducted in more than one category, the minimum required amount of the total investment is set based on the category with the highest investment amount.”

 

Article 11

Digital Nomads – addition of case ie in par.1 article 18 L. 4251/2014

In par.1 article 18 L. 4251/2014 (A’80), the following case ie) is added:

“ie) Third country citizens who are self-employed, free-lancers or salaried employees, who work remotely using Communication technology (ICT) with employers or clients outside of Greece (Digital Nomads) for a time period up to twelve (12) months.

i. the entry visa is granted to the interested party, as long as the applicant submits, either in person, or via email, or via registered email to the competent consular authority, which is obligated to reply within ten (10) days from the relevant request by the interested party and to complete the procedure in “one-stop”, except for the general documentation as described in the ministerial decision of par. 16 article 136, the following documents:

a) solemn declaration with which he/she states his/her intention to reside in the country with the entry visa in order to work remotely and his/her commitment that he/she will not, in any way, provide work or services to an employer with registered seat in Greece

b) employment contract or works contract or proof of employment relationship with an employer, natural person or legal entity, with its registered seat outside of the Greek region, for an indefinite time, or for a definite time, with remaining employment time equal to the period of the national clearance, or

c) employment contracts or works contracts for indefinite time, or, in case of employment contract, for definite time period with remaining employment time equal to the period of the entry visa, in case the third country citizen is a freelancer with more than one employers with registered seat outside of the Greek region, or

d) information regarding the capacity of the applicant within the business, as well as particulars regarding the trade name, registered seat, occupation field, and business purpose of the entity in case the third country citizen is self-employed in his/her own business, with its registered seat outside of the Greek region,

e) proof of sufficient living resources, on a level of stable income, for covering living expenses during his/her stay in the country, without burdening the national system of social welfare. The amount of sufficient resources is set at three thousand five hundred (3,500) euro per month and is proven: i) from the employment or works contract or the proof of employment relationship, in case of dependent employment, services or works, or ii) bank account, according to case id’. In case the sufficient resources emerge from salaried services of dependent employment, service or work, the above minimum amount refers to net revenues following the deposit of necessary taxes in the country of employment.

The above amount is increased by twenty (20%) percent for the spouse or the civil partner and by fifteen (15%) percent for each child. The amount of sufficient resources may be adjusted pursuant to a joint ministerial decision as mentioned in article 136,

f) entry visa fee amounting to seventy-five (75) euro.

ii. the above third country citizens can be accompanied by their family members, who are granted, upon their application, an entry visa which expires on the same time with the provider’s. During their stay in Greece, the spouse or civil partner and the family members of the provider are not allowed to offer dependent work or exercise any kind of financial activity in the country. The following individuals are considered as family members: a) the spouse or civil partner, b) the unmarried joint children of the spouses or civil partners, up to eighteen (18) years old, including children who are legally adopted pursuant to a foreign judiciary decision which is lawfully enforceable or adjudicated as enforceable or a decision which has the force of res judicata in Greece and c) the remaining unmarried children under eighteen years old of the provider or the spouse or civil partner, as long as the custody has been legally assigned to the provider or the civil partner correspondently. 

iii. As long as the conditions of case i) apply, the third country citizen and his/her family members are granted a two-year residence permit, pursuant to an application submitted before the expiration of the entry visa, with the exception of article 6. This permit does not grant the right to exercise dependent work or independent financial activity of any kind in Greece, neither to the provider nor to the spouse or civil partner or family members of the applicant in case ii), and is entitled to renew it each two-years, as long as the conditions of case i) still apply. The application is submitted to the One-Stop-Shop of the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum.

iv. The provider’s application for residence permit of case iii) is accompanied by an administrative fee amounting to one thousand (1,000) euro, while the family members submit the administrative fee mentioned herein, as family members of the third country citizen.

v. In case the third country citizen, as well as his/her family members depart from the Greek region and the entrance visa expires, both the provider and his/her family members, are entitled to request and receive a new entrance visa for this purpose.

vii. By derogation of the above, the third country citizen, as well as his/her family members, who are qualified according to case i) and have entered the Greek region, either pursuant to a uniform visa or under special circumstances of visa exemption, are entitled, within this time period, to submit to the One-Stop-Shop of Ministry of Immigration and Asylum an application for residence permit of case iii). In this case, and without prejudice to article 6, along with the documentation described in case i), the applicants shall submit a leasing agreement or a purchase and sale contract for a residence in Greek region.

 

Source: https://www.taxheaven.gr/news/55732/pshfiakoi-nomades-kai-golden-visa-oi-nees-diataxeis-gia-th-xorhghsh-adeiwn-diamonhs

 

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