Moving to Greece in 2026: visas, costs, and first steps

Greece offers four distinct paths worth knowing. Three are income- or investment-based; one is a birthright route for people with Greek ancestry. The full breakdown of every visa and residency route covers edge cases, but here's the shape of each.

The Digital Nomad and FIP visas share the same headline income bar — roughly €3,500 per month — but serve different profiles. The nomad visa is for people earning remotely from non-Greek sources and wants a 12-month foothold; it converts to a 2-year residence permit on arrival and comes with a 50% income-tax cut for 7 years if you shift your tax residency to Greece. The FIP visa targets retirees or people living off passive income: it runs 24 months, leads to PR and eventually citizenship, and offers a 7% flat tax on foreign income for 15 years. Both add 20% to the income threshold for a spouse and 15% per child.

The Golden Visa is Greece's investment route. Since 2024 it runs on a three-tier real-estate system: €250K applies only to commercial-to-residential conversions or restoration of listed buildings; €400K covers most of Greece; and €800K applies to Attica (Athens), Thessaloniki, Mykonos, and Santorini. Short-term or Airbnb rental of the property is banned, and there's no minimum-stay requirement. The permit runs 5 years and is renewable.

Citizenship by descent is a separate category entirely — no investment, no income bar, no residence requirement. If you can document an unbroken chain of municipal registration back to a Greek parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent, Greece allows a direct citizenship claim. The documentation is the hard part: Greek civil records can have gaps, and processing runs roughly 1–2 years or more for straightforward cases. Greece allows dual citizenship, so holding a US passport isn't disqualifying. The official registry authority is the Ministry of Interior (Ypes).

Greece sits in the moderate tier for the Eurozone. A single person budgets $1,700–2,600 per month in Athens for a comfortable life — groceries, dining out, transport, and a one-bedroom apartment. That one-bedroom runs $650–1,050 per month in the city. For broader comparisons across destinations, the cost-of-living tool lets you stack countries side by side.

Two things push that number up fast. Athens rents have climbed sharply, driven by short-term rental platforms and Golden Visa demand — the same dynamic that's tightened supply in Lisbon and Barcelona. And the islands cost dramatically more in summer: a place that's affordable in November can double or triple in July and August. If you're planning island life year-round, budget conservatively.

For context on how Greece stacks up against its neighbors, Portugal vs. Greece, Spain vs. Greece, and Italy vs. Greece break down the key differences.

Greece runs a public-private mix. The public system is rated good, but the path to accessing it as a new resident has a few gates to clear. The healthcare guide for expats covers the mechanics across countries; here's how Greece specifically works.

Once you're a resident, you get an AMKA — a social-security number — and enroll with EOPYY, the national health organization, to access public care on the same basis as Greek citizens. Employees get AMKA and EFKA (social insurance) coverage through work. If you're on the FIP or nomad visa, your permit requires you to maintain full private insurance, so public access without contributions is minimal until you're paying into the system.

Private insurance for an individual runs $50–120 per month. Most expats carry it regardless of public entitlement: public hospitals can be under-resourced with waiting lists, while private clinics in Athens and Thessaloniki offer good value and many English-speaking doctors. The official EOPYY guidance covers enrollment steps.

The Greece first-90-days playbook goes deep on each step. The short version: four things need to happen, and one of them unlocks everything else.

• AFM (tax number) first — issued by the local tax office (DOY) or online via the myAADE/gov.gr portal. Without it, no lease, no bank account, no utilities, no car purchase. Most arrivals obtain it through a lawyer or accountant with power of attorney, sometimes before they land.
• Residence permit application — filed with the Ministry of Migration & Asylum before your type-D national visa expires. Nomads file within the 12-month visa window. Filing gives you a 'blue certificate' (βεβαίωση) that keeps your residence legal while the card is processed, which commonly takes many months. Travel outside Greece on the blue certificate is restricted.
• Banking — Greek banks want the AFM, passport, proof of address, and often proof of income. The document list is heavy and varies by branch. Most new arrivals run on Wise or Revolut until the AFM and a signed lease are in hand.
• AMKA and healthcare enrollment — once the AFM is in place, you can get an AMKA and begin EOPYY enrollment. If your permit requires private insurance, keep it active throughout.
• Driver's license conversion — a US license converts to a Greek one without exams. File at the regional transport office with a medical check, typically within the roughly 6 months the US license remains valid to drive on.

The AFM-first sequencing is the single biggest trap. DOY offices run on queues and paper. Arrivals who show up without the tax number sorted find every other step stalled — lease negotiations, bank appointments, utility hookups. Delegating via power of attorney before you land is common and worth the cost.

If you have a Greek parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent, citizenship by descent is a separate track that bypasses income bars and investment thresholds entirely. There's no residency requirement and no language test for the descent route.

The catch is documentation. Greece requires an unbroken chain of registration in a Greek municipality (dimos) back to the ancestor — meaning birth, marriage, and civil records that may span multiple generations and several countries. For many Greek-Americans, gaps in those records are the real obstacle. Processing runs roughly 1–2 years or more even for clean cases. The official authority is the Ministry of Interior (Ypes), whose registry is at ypes.gr.

Greece is a strong fit for remote workers who can clear the income bar and want a long-term EU base with meaningful tax incentives. It's also compelling for retirees with passive income who want a path to citizenship without a large investment. The Golden Visa suits people whose strategy centers on real-estate ownership in Europe, though the tiered pricing since 2024 has raised the floor in the most popular cities.

The honest trade-offs: bureaucracy is real and slow, Athens rents are no longer cheap, and the islands are seasonal in cost. The tax incentives — both the nomad's 50% reduction and the FIP's flat rate — are genuinely attractive, but they require active setup, not automatic enrollment.

The free route finder lets you check your own numbers against Greece's published bars. Each program has specific documentation requirements, and the Greek government makes the final eligibility determination — not any third-party tool or guide.