Could anyone get their Golden Visa Residency Card from Greece?
Posted by kittybackhome@reddit | expats | View on Reddit | 9 comments
Hi. We bought a property last year (June 2023). Gave fingerprints and biotmetric in August 2023. It’s been 11 months and still no news about the residency cards. Lawyer told that at the moment goverment is issued the applications in March 2023. It seems that it will take years. Does anyone experience the same?
kenley_henderson@reddit
As of fall 2024, Greece’s Golden Visa processing times have improved a lot. While it used to take over 18 months, it’s now around three months thanks to new measures like a dedicated office in Athens. Waiting 11 months seems longer than usual—ask your lawyer for an update.
Elegant-Ad-5309@reddit
Hi, any updates on the card? Have you received it since?
kittybackhome@reddit (OP)
Hi, still no update. It’s been 13 months. I read somewhere was saying it may take 18 MO.
InteractionProper253@reddit
Hi Op, could I message you privately? US citizen living in the U.K. at 27 looking to do the same thing. Would definitely appreciate the insight
forreddituse2@reddit
It's normal. It takes about 12-18 months of processing. It seems you had the fingerprint collected way too early. You actually can do it after the immigration department notifies you. I'm more curious how long it takes for your local land registry to register the contract?
kittybackhome@reddit (OP)
Hi! Thanks for your reply. We bought the property via real estate company which work with a lawyer for Golden Visa service. I don’t exactly remember the timeline but this schedule (buying the house and get appointment for the biometric after following weeks) was estimated and promised. Buying the house itself took around 8 weeks (even the paperworks are completed). Real estate agent told us that we were lucky because it was very quick. Then the lawyer applied for the appointment for the biometric (he was able to get appointment after 2,5 half- 3 months).
forreddituse2@reddit
Real estate company connected with golden visa service... Do a search on https://www.spitogatos.gr/en/ around your house location, you may find surprise.
kittybackhome@reddit (OP)
Oh yes, first we checked the market price on Spitogatos. That times Athens was in still 250K range but the available houses were not in good condition. So we skipped the Athens went for Piraeus (Bay of Zea) and bought a house from there which actually feels like home. Now the prices went high in Piraeus.
a_library_socialist@reddit
Balkan bureaucracy can be amazing - had 2+ years to deal with a citizenship matter in Croatia, and 1 of those was just waiting for one official to email another.
If you've got a lawyer, that's about what you can do.