Ambassador of Greece H.E. Konstantinos Piperigos, called on citizens and residents in Kuwait to consider investing in his booming country and to take advantage of the ‘Golden Visa’ program in Greece.
He noted that the minimum amount of investment has been raised for Wealthy Foreign Nationals intending to invest in Greece and obtain residency through the Golden Visa Program, pointing out that these new changes mean that effective 1 August foreign investors would have to invest a total of 500,000 euros instead of the previous amount of 250,000 euros in most parts of Athens, Mykonos, Santorini and Thessaloniki.
In an exclusive interview to local Arabic daily Al Jarida, Ambassador Piperigos said: “I have been sharing the great benefits of investing in real estate and other business in my country with our Kuwaiti friends and now that we have five direct flights per week to Athens and Mykonos it will greatly help in facilitating investments and tourism.
The Greek ambassador added that in his meeting with the CEO of Kuwait Airways, Maen Razzouqi, the CEO assured him that the airline will also promote winter trips to Greece from the month of September making Greece a year round destination.
Elaborating on this, the ambassador said “I think it is a unique opportunity for our Kuwaiti friends, investors and non-investors, given that Greece is one of the closest European countries to Kuwait and they can visit Greece in just four hours because of the direct flights.
The decision to implement these changes was announced earlier this year by the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, initially to come into effect from 1 May, the decision was postponed by three months to be implemented now from 1 August.
“In order to increase the affordability of real estate for Greeks, we are now increasing the minimum investment required to issue a golden visa from 250,000 euros to 500,000 euros in some parts of Greece” the Prime Minister had stated.
And local media reports confirmed that new amendments will be applied to the central and southern sector in Athens, in the Attica region, the islands of Mykonos and Santorini, and the municipality of Thessaloniki.
Authorities in the Hellenic Republic have seen a rise in the number of applications for the golden visa scheme this year after the country’s authorities announced an increase in the minimum investment required for this program and Portugal’s decision to suspend the program
It is worth noting that foreigners can obtain residency in Greece through the residency-by-investment program, provided that they contribute financially to this country and that they meet certain conditions.
According to figures provided by Greece’s Ministry of Immigration and Asylum, the program boosted the country’s economy by about €1 billion in the first five months of this year.