ΑΤΗΕΝS – Chinese investors who are eager to travel again despite the resurgence of COVID there are looking to a favored spot – Greece – to get Golden Visa residency permits and European Union passports, and also Portugal.

Greece had been a key destination for them before the pandemic struck in 2020 and Chinese companies also looking to Greece for investment opportunities as the countries tightened relations despite some concerns from the EU.

A report by Henley and Partners found that Portugal and Greece’s Golden Visa Program are the top two most preferred schemes for wealthy investors from China, said SchengenVisaInfo.com.

Both schemes permit wealthy foreign citizens to acquire residency in both these two European countries provided internationals meet a threshold for investment to be able to qualify, the site noted.

A lawyer at the Canadian law firm Sobirovs, Feruza Djamalova, told the Bloomberg financial news agency that interest in EU Golden Visas has picked up rapidly although there are concerns some weren’t being vetted for criminal activity.

“Now, our customers from China are eager to relocate and want to do it as quickly as possible,” Djamalova, said, a report from Money Review showing that some 10,800 wealthy Chinese in 2022 sought the valuable visas, the site added.

In October, 2022, a survey by property brokers, Tranio also considered Golden Visas of Greece and Portugal as Europe’s top programs although a previous report by Associates Times concluded that the schemes were open to money laundering.

Greece’s New Democracy government has raised the benchmark from 250,000 euros ($272,320) to 500,000 euros ($544,640.)

That was to prevent investors from buying up properties cheap and in multiple units which could be turned into short-term rental use that drives out residents from neighborhoods and jacks up rents.

Earlier figures from the Portuguese Immigration and Border Service (SEF) found that 654.2 million euros ($712.61 million) was realized that the Golden Visas there a 41.9 percent hike from 2021 and revealed that €654.2 million was brought to Portugal last year through the investments made to the country by the Golden Visa scheme.

More information is available online: https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/eu-golden-visas/greece-golden-visa/.