Plain English
A golden visa is a residency permit granted in exchange for a qualifying investment in a country — usually real estate, government bonds, or a productive business. The structural offer: deploy capital, receive residency rights, sometimes eventually qualify for citizenship.
How it actually works
Programs vary widely. Portugal’s used to require €500,000 in real estate; the real-estate path closed in 2023, replaced by qualifying fund investments. Greece, Spain, Malta, and others still offer real-estate-based pathways. Caribbean programs (St. Kitts, Dominica, Antigua) offer direct citizenship-by-investment for $100,000–$300,000 in donations or investments. The exact terms, holding periods, and benefits differ enormously.
What it means for you
For HNW members who value optionality — a second residency, a backup passport, or pathways to EU access — golden visas are one tool. The math depends on whether you would have made the underlying investment anyway and whether the residency benefits justify the structure.
We cover golden-visa selection as part of the multi-jurisdiction planning module: matching capital deployment to residency goals, evaluating program stability, and managing the cross-border compliance that follows.
Educational content only. Not investment, tax, or legal advice.