European ones specifically and I know countries are different so MMMV.
Let’s say a country offers a golden visa for buying 300000€ of property. Can that property be bought on a mortgage or do I need to show up with 300000 euros and pay the full amount before getting the visa?
Each country is different. As you said. Which one(s) are you asking about? “Europe” is over 30 countries depending on how generously you want to count.
44 actually! And indeed, every country has its own rules so I’m afraid you do need to be specific.
Greece. Portugal however I believe they got rid of that way to get a GV. Italy. Etc. I was thinking there was a general rule applicable to most if not all European GVs.
My problem is even with Google fu I cannot find these answers for individual countries.
This type of “golden visa” is a way to prop up the local real estate market, and for these purposes it doesn’t make a difference if you have that cash in equity or find someone willing to loan it to you. So typically, a mortgage-funded property will qualify. But of course you should check the legislation of the particular country before buying.
. . . and there are lots of golden visa programmes which exist for purposes other than propping up the real estate market. So there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Pretty much every country that offers investor visas offers them on different terms; there is no substitute for identifying countries that you are interested in and then investigating whether they offer investor visas and, if so, on what terms.
A lot of investor visa programmes are not interested in securing investment in residential real estate, and don’t count it as investment that will qualify you for the program. The Italian programme, for instance, requires your investment to be in Italian government securities, or in shares in an Italian business, or in “projects of public interest” (culture, education, ecology, arts and heritage, etc).
Handy hint: don’t include the term “golden visa” in your search terms. The term is regarded as somewhat pejorative, and any material put online to promote or publicies the terms of investor visa programmes may not use it.
Note also that some programmes offer a residence permit while others offer citizenship, or a path to citizenship, and the latter programmes may not be characterised as “visa programmes” but rather as “citizenship programmes”.
Sure. But here we are talking about a country that explicitly allows real estate investment as a qualifying investment. Of course that doesn’t answer the OP’a question conclusively; but it’s at least an indicator that this country is more interested in the real estate sector than the countries you refer to that require different sorts of investment.
Sorry, I should have been clearer. Although my post was framed as a reply to yours, it wasn;t intended as a response to you but rather as an additional comment, pointing out that what you are (rightly) saying may be of limited relevance to programmes operated by some of the countries that the OP might consider. The OP’s question (will mortgage finance qualify me for an investor visa programme?) doesn’t even arise unless the investor visa programme covers investment in residential property. Many (most?) do not.
Since there was a mention of Greece, this is what the Greek government says:
It’s not directly relevant to the OP’s question but still worth mentioning: In the case of European countries, golden visa programs often don’t target an audience intending to live in the country that issues the visa. If the country is a member of the Schengen area, it can issue visas that are valid for the entire area, so you can get a golden visa from, say, Malta for the purposes of living elsewhere in Europe. This is a contentious issue because politicians in other countries tend to accuse countries with such programs of, essentially, free riding at the expense of other Schengen countries. It’s a subdued debate held in diplomatic terms, but it’s there.
If (or is that “When”?) a few million Americans show up with e.g. Maltese residency papers, I suspect the debate will be less subdued and less diplomatically stated.
I’m not sure this is true, I don’t think visas issued by one EU country are valid in another. Do you have a cite?
Looks like you have to be resident for five years in the original granting member state before you’re entitled to live long term in another. Otherwise, for other states in the Schengen area, your golden visa would still only count as the standard Schengen tourist visa - 90 days max.
For tourist visas, see here. For longer-term residence permits, see @PatrickLondon’s post - but note that a residence permit in one Schengen state will still allow you to travel to any other Schengen state for 90 days at a time even during the first years when it doesn’t grant you permanent residence in another.
Not quite on point but I had an inspiration yesterday.
I was yakking with a Brazilian woman who’s a US resident alien or maybe even a naturalized US citizen. Been here for years, goes home to Brazil for a month or so every year. She’s single and looking for a permanent relationship with a guy. Not as a scam, just as a legit way of life.
Anyhow we were gingerly discussing the trumply unpleasantness about non natural US citizens and various proposed minority pogroms and she said she might choose to leave the USA ahead of being thrown or hounded out. To which I joked “Take me with you, please!”. But how/why would Brazil let me in long term? To which she jokingly answered “Let’s get married.”
Which was a lightbulb moment for me. There are a lot of single Latin Americans here in Miami who have citizenship someplace else. Each one of which can act as a mini lifeboat taking one American out of our impending dystopia should it come to that.
Of course folks from poorer countries wanting to marry North Americans or Europeans as a route to living in a rich country are old news. And again I’m not talking about scam / sham marriages, but rather the real long-term thing. But it was funny / scary / eye-opening to see myself wearing the opposite shoe on the opposite foot so to speak. Her offer was worth at least a few seconds’ consideration.
Coming back to this thread …
It occurs to me that a marriage license is probably cheaper than a golden visa. If the OP or anyone else is serious about long-term emigration, that’s a route to consider. Don’t try to marry for the papers. Just hang out with people of the appropriate citizenship(s) until you find one you really like. Then marry for affection as we all do.
And if I’m not mistaken, as a bonus Brazil will not extradite you if you are married to a national.
Considering that there is a Mrs. Cad, that would only allow me to emigrate to Utah.
IIRC when I was young, the joke was that people fleeing extradition options went to Brazil. I think that was related to the fact that some “Great Train Robbery” perps hid out there.
I vaguely recall some old movie where the crook with a duffel bag full of money arrives in Brazilian customs and is asked what’s in the bag. “Money” he unzips it to show it full of bills, the customs guy says “enjoy your stay in Brazil!” and waves him on. The cop following him gets detained because he has a jar of instant coffee in his luggage. “Look what this idiot is bringing into Brazil!”
It is also the case that many European countries will allow a retirement visa (or retirement residency; not all use the visa for this) where you can stay indefinitely if you show you have the resources to provide yourself with a minimum monthly allowance, and you maintain a health insurance policy. For instance, in Greece you need 3500 Euros/month.
I don’t believe there’s a minimum age for this, you just have to have the resources.
The obvious 64,000-Euro question - what do health insurance policy costs for seniors look like?
I recall at one point (still?) New Zealand did not allow (non-golden) immigrants over 55 because they would become a burden on the (free) health care system.
Thought I might share this here: The European Court of Justice has ruled that Malta’s investment-based citizenship scheme violates EU law.