Despite increasing restrictions, countries such as Portugal, Spain, Greece, Hungary, New Zealand, and the Caribbean Islands still issue golden visas to funnel foreign investments into their economies.
While these nations all still provide residency in exchange for investment, other countries have either cancelled or restructured their programs due to concerns over corruption, security risks, and economic inequality that come with these schemes.
Portugal’s scheme, introduced in 2012, initially required non-EU nationals to invest at least €500,000 in property, purchase real estate worth at least €500,000, set up a business that creates jobs, or invest in a fund. Currently, real-estate investment is no longer a requirement, but other forms like funding scientific research or aiding in job creation are now available.
Greece, Spain, and Hungary which have continued to grant residency permits have revised some of its requirements.
Since September 2024, Greece has increased the investment limit on properties to €400,000 and aims to include investors that are willing to spend €250,000 on local startups. Hungary, which closed its program in 2017 due to corruption allegations, brought a revised version in 2024, changing it so residency is granted for a €250,000 investment in local funds or €500,000 in real estate.
In the Caribbean islands, the golden visa schemes have remained a significant source of national revenue. The Caribbean island nations such as Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Lucia, continues to offer citizenship-by-investment, with the minimum threshold set at $200,000 due to pressure from the EU and the US to introduce stricter controls. These passports grant visa-free travel to multiple countries, making them attractive to global investors.
New Zealand is approaching things differently, as the government announced in February 2025 that they plan to ease the golden visa requirements by eliminating language tests, expanding eligible investments, and changing the required length of residency to aid the economy after a recession in 2024.
Read also: 10 countries where work visa requirements are similar
Programmes that have been abolished or reformed
Many nations are still invoking a lot of interest with their golden visa schemes directed at high net worth investors, although there are changes due to tightening scrutiny and regulatory compliance.
While some countries still retain their investment based immigration programs, there are those that have completely cancelled them, or opted to impose stricter guidelines.
The European Commission has persistently highlighted that golden visa schemes are an open invitation to financial crimes and security concerns to the bloc and these sentiments have escalated with the ongoing war on Ukraine.
Commenting on the risks of the schemes for corruption, Jeppe Kofod, Peter Simon and Pervenche Berès of Socialists and Democrats group (S&D) stated:
“With the application of golden visa schemes, Europe has opened its doors to the possibly criminal and corrupt. Several member states are running a lucrative business of trading EU citizenship for money and investments.”
“The schemes on sale of citizenship and golden visas pose serious risks for massive money laundering, tax evasion, and unfair taxation, as well as for the infiltration of organised crime in the EU. … The new report from transparency international and global witness shows that scrutiny of applicants and their fortunes is highly inconsistent”.
“Moreover, the processes through which passports and residency permits are granted are opaque, thereby raising serious questions about the authenticity of the economic and the personal reasons given by applicants in order to secure EU passports and/or residency permits.”
“Golden visa schemes pose a great risk to the EU’s integrity and security and should therefore be banned. EU passports and visas are not and should not be a commodity!”
“EU member states must uphold the highest standards of transparency and rigorous vetting processes before granting nationality and residence to foreign nationals.”
Countries such as Greece and Malta, alongside the United Kingdom, Ireland and Netherlands, are in the process of scrapping or modifying their golden visa policies.
In April 2024, Spain announced scrapping its programme claiming it compromised affordable housing. Portugal, one of the leading issuers of golden visas, changed its program by eliminating real estate investment as a means of qualification. This marked a drastic change as property investments had comprised 90 percent of the program’s revenue which had resulted in billions of euros being drawn from Chinese and recently American investors.
Apart from Europe, Australia also modified the framework for its golden visa. In January 2024, Australia put a halt on accepting applications for the significant investor visa which had previously mandated a minimum investment of $5 million. This policy was part of a more comprehensive immigration reform that sought to give preference to skilled immigration as opposed to investment immigration.
The future of golden visas
While golden visas continue to provide an attractive route to residency for affluent individuals, their availability is narrowing as governments implement stricter controls. Rising concerns over financial crime, housing shortages, and national security are driving regulatory changes that limit access to these schemes.
Despite these restrictions, some nations, such as New Zealand, remain open to investment-driven immigration, seeing it as a means to bolster economic growth. However, the global trend suggests that golden visas are becoming more scrutinised, with many countries shifting towards policies that favour skilled migration over wealth-based residency.
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