Portugal
- Advertised
- €500,000
- Everything else, first year
- €28,000
- Real, first year
- €528,000
- First permit
- 60 days by law, a year or more in practice
- Tax
- IFICI, 20% flat for 10 years
Where to move, and what it actually costs
Residency routes, tax regimes and property rules in five jurisdictions — compared on the same four questions, sourced, and dated. No brochures, no brokers.
Comparison
Residency by investment, 2026
One row per jurisdiction and the same four columns for all of them: the route, the entry threshold, the time to a first permit and the tax regime. Where a threshold varies by region or property type, that jurisdiction's own page says so and this table carries the lower bound. Cyprus is listed without figures — we do not publish what we have not checked against a primary source.
Portugal
€500,00060 days by law, a year or more in practiceGreece
€400,000Lawful residence on filing, card in monthsMalta
€375,000Not published; 6–12 months in practiceUAE
AED 2,000,0007–10 working days published, 2–4 weeks end to endCyprus
——
Full comparison
| Jurisdiction | Route | From | First permit | Tax regime |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portugal | Golden Visa (fund) | €500,000 | 60 days by law, a year or more in practice | IFICI, 20% flat for 10 years |
| Greece | Golden Visa (property) | €400,000 | Lawful residence on filing, card in months | Non-dom, €100,000 a year, separate €500,000 investment |
| Malta | Permanent residence programme | €375,000 | Not published; 6–12 months in practice | Remittance basis — but the permit gives no tax residence |
| UAE | Golden Visa (property) | AED 2,000,000 | 7–10 working days published, 2–4 weeks end to end | No personal income tax |
| Cyprus | — | — | — | — |
Two more columns: first permit and tax
Verified against primary sources on 23 August 2026 — statutes, ministry tariffs and official fee schedules. Figures are for ONE main applicant and cover entry and the first renewal; dependants are priced differently in every jurisdiction and are not included. Amounts in euro; the UAE threshold is AED 2,000,000 converted at 4.288 on the same date.
Method
How the comparison is built
Four questions, one method, applied the same way to five jurisdictions. We take no percentage of any transaction and sell no property, so no developer can buy a better place in the table. The figures come from statutes and official tariffs rather than agency brochures, and they are revised when a rule changes, not on a schedule.
Four questions, not forty
Route, threshold, time to a first permit, tax regime. They are the only four that change a decision; everything else is detail that belongs on the jurisdiction's own page.
Primary sources only
Government texts and official fee schedules, never agency brochures. Every page names its source and the date it was checked.
Re-checked when the rules move
Not on a calendar. Thresholds in this category change several times a year, and a table dated last spring is worse than no table.
No commission on a sale
We do not sell property, take no percentage of any transaction, and no developer can buy a better position in this table. The comparison is built the same way whether or not anybody pays us.
Jurisdictions
Five jurisdictions, five different bets
The same four questions for each of them. Which one fits depends less on the entry threshold than on what you are actually buying: time, a passport, or a tax position. Greece is the cheapest to enter and the more expensive to hold; the UAE is the fastest and offers no route to a European passport. Below is one card per jurisdiction, each leading to its own page.
Each outline is drawn to the size of its card, so Malta appears as large as Portugal: these are identifying marks, not a map. Boundaries are simplified for legibility and are not a statement about any border.
The real number
The threshold is not the price
Every comparison in this niche publishes the entry threshold. Almost nobody publishes what it costs to get through it: transfer taxes, legal and registration fees, government charges and the first renewal are not optional — everyone pays them, every time. Below, both figures stand side by side, jurisdiction by jurisdiction, and the third is what you will actually spend in the first year.
Portugal
Advertised €500,000Everything else €28,000
Real, first year€528,000
Greece
Advertised €400,000Everything else €35,000
Real, first year€435,000
Malta
Advertised €375,000Everything else €126,000
Real, first year€501,000
UAE
Advertised €466,000Everything else €31,000
Real, first year€497,000
Sources
All figures in euro, converted where a jurisdiction sets its threshold in another currency, and checked against primary sources. A jurisdiction appears here only once both of its figures have been verified.
Find your route
Three questions instead of an hour-long consultation
We ask for no name, no address and nothing about what is in your account. Three questions — the budget ceiling, how soon you need a first permit, and what matters most to you — and the summary rebuilds here: the real first-year cost, the timings and the tax position. Its figures are the ones in the table above, from the same primary sources. Nothing is sent anywhere until you press the button yourself.
- Portugal€500,000
- Greece€400,000
- Malta€375,000
- UAE€466,000
- Cyprusnot verified
Answer the questions on the left and the summary assembles here: the real first-year cost, the time to a first permit, and the tax position.
Greece
- Advertised
- €400,000
- Everything else, first year
- €35,000
- Real, first year
- €435,000
- First permit
- Lawful residence on filing, card in months
- Tax
- Non-dom, €100,000 a year, separate €500,000 investment
Malta
- Advertised
- €375,000
- Everything else, first year
- €126,000
- Real, first year
- €501,000
- First permit
- Not published; 6–12 months in practice
- Tax
- Remittance basis — but the permit gives no tax residence
UAE
- Advertised
- €466,000
- Everything else, first year
- €31,000
- Real, first year
- €497,000
- First permit
- 7–10 working days published, 2–4 weeks end to end
- Tax
- No personal income tax
Cyprus
- Advertised
- not verified
- Everything else, first year
- not verified
- Real, first year
- not verified
- First permit
- —
- Tax
- —
This jurisdiction's page is still in fact-checking.
Common questions
Six questions usually answered evasively
These are the questions this niche usually answers evasively: what the threshold includes, who pays for renewals, whether we take a commission, and why one country is not in the table yet. The answers are short, checked against primary sources, and each carries the date it was verified. None of them is legal advice — rules change, and your case may not reduce to them.
- 01Can I get residency without buying property?
- Yes, in four of the five. Portugal removed property from its Golden Visa in 2023 altogether — what is left is funds and job creation. Greece, Cyprus and Malta allow alternative routes, but their thresholds are usually higher.
- 02Does the permit let me work anywhere in the EU?
- No. An investment residence permit lets you live in the issuing country and travel freely in Schengen, but it carries no right to work in other EU states. Working in the issuing country itself is usually allowed; the conditions differ.
- 03After how many years can I apply for citizenship?
- Malta about five years by naturalisation, Greece seven, Cyprus eight, Portugal seven for EU and Portuguese-speaking nationals and ten for everyone else — that last figure changed in May 2026 and used to be five. The UAE has no citizenship route here at all. Everywhere the clock counts years of actual legal residence, not years of holding the status, so a permit that requires a few days a year accrues nothing on its own.
- 04Do I have to live there to keep the status?
- To keep the permit, almost nowhere: a few days a year is usually enough. For citizenship, yes — actual residence is required, and this is where expectations diverge most often.
- 05Does buying property make me a tax resident?
- No. Tax residence is decided by days of presence and centre of vital interests, not by ownership. Buying a house and remaining a tax resident of your own country is an ordinary situation.
- 06What if the rules change after I apply?
- Applications are normally assessed under the rules in force on the filing date, but there is no guarantee: Portugal and Greece have both changed terms with a short transition. That is the main argument against a long gap between deciding and filing.
Answers are checked against primary sources and dated. None of them is legal advice — rules change, and your case may not reduce to them.
Enquiry
Do you know the country — or not yet?
The form sits at the foot of the page rather than in a pop-up, and that is deliberate: figures first, conversation after. Only one field is required — an address to reply to. The rest is there so we can hand you to a lawyer who works on cases like yours rather than to a call centre: the more specific the case, the shorter the first answer. An enquiry goes only to a partner working in the chosen jurisdiction, and only if the consent box is ticked.
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