Greece has suspended issuance and renewal of residence permits to wealthy Russian citizens investing in Greece “until further notice,” the Migration & Asylum Ministry said on Monday. The suspension applies to both permit requests under consideration and new requests.
“New requests will not be accepted and no applications for the category ‘business executives’ for citizens of the Russian Federation will be considered,” the ministry said in a statement.
At the same time, according to a relevant announcement of the ministry, applications for residence permits of the category “business executives” for citizens of the Russian Federation will not be considered until further notice.
It is pointed out that Greece is waiting for relevant decisions of the European Union.
It did not clarify whether previously issued visas will be affected.
Under its “golden visa” scheme, Greece offers a renewable five-year resident’s permit in return for a 250,000 euro ($280,350) investment.
Speaking to state television, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis said that nearly 2,500 residence permits have been issued to Russian citizens since the program was launched in 2013 and that Greece has attracted more than 3 billion euros in investment since then.
The main areas of activity of Russian investors are the real estate market, the tourism industry and the acquisition of businesses
source: amna, Reuters
