Leptos Estates company has experienced a surge in sales and inquiries for homes in Greece as well as Cyprus to purchasers from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), who are attempting to acquire residency in EU countries, thus travel to the bloc visa-free.
In order to make such plans a reality MENA citizens are heading to the Golden Visa Program conducted in both these territories, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
A large number of wealthy internationals consider the Golden Visa Program -which enables them to acquire residency if they invest financially and meet several conditions- a great opportunity, in spite of the criticism to which the program is often subject.
A report provided by Business shows that, according to Leptos Estates, in the last 12 months, the company has completed more than €7 million worth of sales to buyers from Middle Eastern countries.
The main reason why wealthy foreign investors chose the Golden Visa scheme of Greece and Cyprus is that both these countries offer the cheapest permanent residency scheme in Europe.
Co-President of Leptos Group of Companies, Pantelis Leptos, has said that both states offer a fantastic holiday home destination for foreign investors.
“We have seen a growing interest from the MENA region over the past 10-15 years and this is increasing with the quality of homes on offer, the opening of the Dubai Port in Limassol, and the expansion to the Residency Programme in Cyprus, and Golden Visa initiative in Greece,” Leptos pointed out, according to Business report.
Cyprus’ residency and citizenship programs have contributed significantly to the country’s economic sector, even though these schemes are often involved in illegal affairs.
While last month, the Ministry of Interior applied new changes to the Golden Visa Program, which were approved on April 21 this year, the country’s citizenship-by-investment scheme was abolished in 2020, after it permitted a large number of foreigners to acquire citizenship in this country, despite the fact that some of them were involved in illegal affairs.
As for the Hellenic Republic’s Golden Visa Program, a previous report of Ekathimerini revealed that €1.57 billion have been invested in this program in the past 12 months.
According to the figures of the Department of Immigration Policy, in the last 12 months, a total of 6,064 requests for new permits have been submitted, of them a total of 2,072 residence permits have been issued while over 3,900 are still pending.
The abolishment of Portugal’s Golden Visa Program as well as Ireland’s Residency by Investment scheme, led a large number of wealthy foreigners to head to Greece’s Golden Visa scheme.