Greece Cuts Golden Visa Backlog by 10% in 3 Months

Greece is making rapid progress in reducing its Golden Visa backlog, cutting pending applications by 3,542 since the start of 2025.

The program, which began the year with more than 52,000 pending cases, now stands at 47,909 applications as of July.

Record Monthly Progress

In July 2025 alone, the backlog fell by 2,772 cases, the largest monthly decrease on record.

During the same period, the program received 511 new applications while approving 734, maintaining a processing surplus for the fourth consecutive month.

This marks a turning point for a program that had reached a peak backlog of 52,821 applications in April 2025.

Authorities have since shifted to more aggressive reforms, consistently approving more cases than they receive.

Application and Approval Trends

July’s 511 applications represented a 4% increase compared to June, breaking a three-month decline.

For the year to date, 5,044 applications have been approved against 5,011 received, enabling Greece not only to handle new submissions but also to steadily reduce older backlogs.

Processing Efficiency

Authorities are prioritizing older applications, steadily reducing the backlog.

Processing times, which stretched up to 18 months in 2024, have now shortened significantly, with some applications approved in less than 30 days.

By July 2025, Greece had processed around 42% of applications filed in 2024 and 15% of 2025 submissions.

Monthly approvals now consistently exceed 700 cases, keeping pace with new demand while gradually eroding the accumulated backlog.

Investor Nationalities

China remains the dominant source of Golden Visa investors, with 8,179 active visa holders (47% of the total).

Türkiye is the fastest-growing segment, adding 1,529 holders over the past year, bringing its total to 2,499.

In July alone, Turkish nationals accounted for 338 approvals, a 15.6% monthly increase, the strongest growth among all nationalities.

Pending Applications Breakdown

Of the 47,909 pending cases:

• 41,019 are initial residence applications (29,132 of these are family members)
• 6,890 are renewal applications, which have declined most sharply in recent months

Regional Investment Focus

Attica continues to dominate as the leading investment destination, with around 11,500 pending applications.

Central and Eastern Macedonia and Thrace follow with about 1,000, while the Peloponnese, Western Greece, and the Ionian Islands each hold just over 800 pending applications.

Outlook for 2025

Greece is on track to receive about 8,600 applications in 2025, below last year’s record 9,407 but still historically high.

The combination of moderated demand and sustained approval capacity above 700 per month suggests that by year-end, Greece will process more applications than it receives, continuing to erode the backlog.