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Greek Golden Visa Backlog Nears 40,000 Amid Surging Demand from Americans, British · IMI Podcasts

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: The Greek Golden Visa program has seen unprecedented surges in demand in anticipation of new investment rules.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: While Greek authorities have expanded their processing capacity, it has not been enough to meet the sustained uptick in applications that began in late 2022, resulting in a backlog that continues to break records.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: By July, two months before the implementation of the new investment requirements, the total backlog, including both main applicants and family members at both the initial and renewal stages, had swollen to 39,312 applications, nearly doubling from 20,103 in June, 2023.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: The backlog, explains Alexander Varnavas of the eponymous law firm, chiefly consists of applications filed in 2023.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Quote, many individuals submitted their applications remotely during the COVID-19 years, 2020 to 2022, and visited Greece for the first time in the spring and summer of 2023 to provide their biometrics and finalize their applications.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: In July, Greece received 666 new golden visa applications from main applicants while approving 217.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: This continued influx of applications, consistently outpacing approvals by a wide margin, has been a trend apparent since late 2022, when it became clear Portugal's rival program would terminate its real estate option, causing many applicants to shift to Greece.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: This year's monthly approval volume has fluctuated between a high of 457 in March and a low of 217 in July.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: The average monthly application volume for the first seven months of 2024 stood at 332, a 10% decrease from the 2023 monthly average of 370.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: While the backlog of applications, initials, and renewals from main applicants has reached more than 12,000, the total backlog, which includes family members, had grown to nearly 40,000 by the end of July.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Varnavas explains that the ministry begins reviewing the applications only after the submission of biometrics, but prioritizes them based on the initial submission date.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: He clarifies that, quote, in the middle of 2023, they began reviewing applications submitted in the last three years, starting with the oldest ones submitted in 2020, end quote.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: The statistical release from the government also provides hints as to how long applicants for the program should expect to wait for approvals.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Nearly all investors, 92%, who applied in 2022, had seen their files processed by the end of July, while two-thirds of 2023 applicants still await a response.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Among files submitted this year, 6% have completed processing.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Varnavas points out that, for people who made investments during 2023, this situation was very unfortunate and unfair, as during the first two quarters of 2023, the processing time was around two months, and this was the initially expected processing time for them.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: The data reveal a consistently elevated level of applications throughout 2023 and 2024, logging monthly application volumes of 707 and 676 respectively.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: After the huge wave of biometric collection in 2023, the processing time for these new investors extended to 18 months or more, explains Varnavas.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: During this period, he says, the ministry's officers managed to cover nearly all applications from the 2020 to 2021 period, and are currently reviewing applications submitted in the second quarter of 2023.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: He also notes that the problem escalated significantly, as many officers departed from this special desk during the summer of 2023.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Chinese investors still dominate the cumulative nationality distribution among golden visa holders, boasting 9,130 active visas, of which 2,002 are renewals, as of July 2024.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: These are followed by Turks, with 1,246 active holders, Lebanese, 807, Russians, 684, Iranians, 624, and Egyptians, 529.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: UK and US investors have steadily made their way up through the nationality rankings.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Since they are relative newcomers to the program, British and Americans are underrepresented among golden visa holders on renewed permits, but are the fourth and seventh largest groups among those on initial permits with, respectively, 468 and 341 investors.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Indeed, the number of British golden visa holders has more than doubled in A the last year, a feat the Americans are on track to replicate shortly.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Regional disparities in application distribution are sharp.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Attica, the country's capital region and its top destination for golden visa investment, faces the most severe bottleneck, accounting for more than 9 in 10 pending main applicant cases.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Other regions, such as the Peloponnese and Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, also show substantial backlogs.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Despite the challenges, there are signs of improvement for new applicants.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Varnavas notes that after October 2023, when the ministry realized the massive volume of applications it would have to examine, gave guidelines to submit applications to other general migration departments.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Quote, so it is important to say that all new applicants of 2024 are served much faster, even in less than two months, end quote.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: However, he acknowledges that, quote, all 2023 applicants must suffer from this huge delay, waiting for the government to provide a solution, end quote.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: This episode first appeared as an article by Christian Henrik Nesheim on IMIDAily.com.
• 6:36
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