According to leading investment advisory firm ‘Get Golden Visa’, 2022 is anticipated to
be a bumper year for fed-up families and individuals, who are living mainly in old world
democracies, to plan a ‘lifestyle escape route’ to a destination better suited to their
hopes for the future.
2021 has already been a busy year for the Golden Visa programs with many British
and North Americans in particular ‘waking up’ to the attractions of Portugal and
Greece, putting these safe and stable destinations on the map.
Business News: Says Murat Coskun, founder and Managing Partner, Get Golden Visa: “Greece and
Portugal have lots of spacious properties in natural surroundings with beautiful coastlines
and hillside locations. We are seeing a tidal wave of people wanting to reconnect with
nature and have space around them in which to live and work. A healthy and sustainable
lifestyle is on the 2022 agenda like never before. We think 2022 will be a year of the
golden visa frenzy, as people make a Plan B for how and where they want to live”.
Other ‘pull-factors’ for desirable locations in which to live include:
• Portugal:
Is one of the most highly vaccinated countries in Europe, and for people
who want to leave densely populated urban environments, this holds great
appeal.
Provides incentives and exemptions to capital gains earned on crypto
income, attracting many crypto-millionaires and billionaires to take
domicile in the sunny European country.
Despite the changes to the Portuguese Golden Visa program, it continues
to be increasingly attractive in 2022. The biggest winner will be the
investment funds with many investors opting in to the € 500,000 fund
investment to pursue Portuguese residency.
• Greece:
The Greek real estate market has started to gain traction after more than
a decade, allowing the relatively new government to bear the fruits of the
seeds they planted during the past two years. Freezing VAT on newly built
properties until 2025 was one of the actions taken.
The Greek income taxation code was amended, providing incentives for
high net-worth individuals. The non-dom tax regime dictates that the
investor will pay a fixed tax of €100,000 a year, regardless of the total
income earned abroad.
• Turkey:
With the fluctuations in the currency rate exchanges, Turkey is becoming
an ever-more attractive hub for international investors. Asset prices in its
most populated city, Istanbul, are becoming very competitive compared to
neighbouring countries of similar magnitude.
Fast Fact Statistics:
• Portugal:
The Portuguese Golden Visa program is the first among its European
competitors to have surpassed the 10,000-applicant threshold as of 2021.
The top nationalities showing interest in the Portugal Golden Visa are (in
descending order): China (5,001 applications), Brazil (1,038 applications),
Turkey (476 applications), South Africa (422 applications), and Russia
(409 applications) out of 10,170 applications in total (as of 30.11.2021).
More than 65% of all our applicants for Portugal Golden Visa in 2021
pted to invest in the fund scheme (Get Golden Visa)
We expect the fund scheme to dominate the Portuguese Golden Visa
program in 2022, possibly surpassing 80% of all applications’ chosen
investment method
• Greece:
The Greek Golden Visa program is right behind its Portuguese
counterpart with approximately 9,500 applications as of the end of 2021.
The top nationalities showing interest in the Greece Golden Visa are (in
descending order): China (6,324 applications), Turkey (599 applications),
Russia (557 applications), Lebanon (278 applications), and Egypt (243
applications) out of 9,322 applications in total (as of 30.10.2021).
• Chinese investors:
China traditionally dominated the investment migration industry. However,
since 2019, the number of Chinese investors has dropped in most of the
residency programs, including a 25% drop for the Portuguese Golden
Visa, and a 55% drop for the Greek Golden Visa.
§ Portugal Golden Visa had 394 applicants from China in 2019, which
then dropped to 296 in 2020, and to roughly 280 in 2021
§ Greece Golden Visa had 2,752 applicants from China in 2019,
which then dropped to 1,213 in 2020 and to roughly 475 in 2021
