How to Get Greece Citizenship in 2026: Naturalisation After 7 Years

Greek nationality for people without Greek ancestry is acquired by politografisi (naturalisation). The procedure is run by the Ministry of Interior's General Secretariat of Citizenship through its Regional Citizenship Directorates. The decision is published in the Government Gazette, and nationality is acquired only when you take the citizenship oath^[1].

Four facts frame everything else on this page:

• No investment shortcut. No law lets an investor buy citizenship or shorten the residence period. The Greece golden visa is a residence permit only.
• Seven years is the standard period for third-country nationals who hold a qualifying permit. The investor permit qualifies^[1].
• Real residence is tested, not just permit validity. Article 5A of the Code requires that the applicant has integrated into Greek economic and social life, "having made it the continuous centre of their vital activities"^[4]. Applicants must also file five years of Greek tax and social-security evidence^[1].
• An exam comes first. You must hold the Certificate of Adequate Knowledge for Naturalisation (PEGP) before you file. It tests B1 Greek plus history, geography, culture and institutions^[1][2].

For readers comparing countries, our overview of residence programmes with the fastest route to a passport puts Greece's seven years in context.

No. Many websites market "Greece citizenship by investment", but the phrase describes a two-stage plan, not a programme. You invest to obtain a five-year renewable investor residence permit under Article 100 of the Migration Code (Law 5038/2023, amended by Law 5100/2024)^[9]. Then, if you actually move to Greece, you apply to naturalise under the Citizenship Code years later, on the same terms as an employee, a retiree or a business owner. The investment buys no exemption from the exam, the income and tax checks or the waiting time.

Greece is unlikely to add a passport-for-cash route. The EU Court of Justice struck down Malta's programme in April 2025 (case C-181/23), and Cyprus closed its scheme in 2020. Our pages on the end of Malta's citizenship programme and Cyprus's closed passport scheme explain why. We found no Greek government proposal for citizenship by investment in 2025 or 2026. For the wider picture, see our analysis of whether any EU passport can still be bought and our explainer on how passport programmes differ from residence programmes.

The Code sets different periods of lawful residence immediately before the application, depending on your status and the type of permit you hold^[1]:

The official list of qualifying permits includes the long-term resident permit, the ten-year and indefinite permits, family permits of EU and Greek citizens, the second-generation permit, and expressly the investor residence permit and the property-owner permit^[1]. Golden visa holders therefore fall under the seven-year rule rather than the twelve-year rule.

What is less clear is how years with little presence in Greece are treated. The statute speaks of lawful residence, but the substantive test in Article 5A(d) asks whether Greece is the "continuous centre" of your life^[4]. Applicants also need tax clearance and social-security evidence for five of the seven years^[1]. A holder who spends most of each year abroad will struggle to produce that evidence. Practitioners agree that a golden visa held from abroad accrues little or no useful time^[17]. Some advisers cite absence limits of six months a year or ten months in total^[18]. Those figures come from the EU long-term residence rules, and we found no official text applying them to naturalisation, so treat them as a guide only.

Two other points are unconfirmed in official sources: whether the months spent waiting for a first card on a certificate of application count, and how the five-year renewal gap is treated. Get written advice from a Greek lawyer on your own file before relying on any start date. Keep your permit valid throughout: the Ministry's circulars require a valid residence title, or proof of a filed renewal, while the naturalisation file is pending^[1].

Under Articles 5 and 5A of the Code, as now applied by the Ministry of Interior, an applicant of non-Greek origin must^[1][4]:

• be 18 or older when filing;
• have the required years of lawful residence (above) and hold a valid qualifying permit;
• have no irrevocable conviction in the previous ten years for an intentional offence with a prison sentence of at least one year, and no irrevocable conviction at any time to at least six months for listed offences such as drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud or forgery, even if the sentence was suspended;
• not be subject to a deportation decision;
• hold the PEGP certificate, or an exemption based on Greek schooling or a Greek-language university degree;
• show economic integration: tax clearance, social-security records, an employment contract or business accounts (form E3), the property return (E9) and bank evidence, covering five years for a seven-year applicant;
• show social integration, for example family ties to Greek citizens, children in Greek schools, training, volunteering, leases and utility bills;
• raise no public-order or national-security concern.

The income test and the 2026 Council of State ruling

Ministerial Decision 29845/2021 sets out the evidence of integration. It introduced a minimum "adequate income" calculated from the statutory minimum wage over the relevant years^[4]. In a ruling reported in June 2026, the Council of State held that economic integration cannot be judged solely on reaching a minimum annual income: income is one piece of evidence and the assessment must be overall^[7]. For investors, the practical message is that passive foreign income alone is a weak file. Greek tax returns, Greek bank activity, local business or employment and a real household in Greece carry weight.

Interview

Since Law 4873/2021, the oral interview is no longer routine. A three-member committee calls an applicant only if the documents leave doubt about economic or social integration. Failing to answer two notices, or not attending without good reason, leads to rejection^[1][4].

The Certificate of Adequate Knowledge for Naturalisation (Pistopoiitiko Eparkeias Gnoseon gia Politografisi, PEGP) was created by Law 4735/2020 and is a precondition for filing^[2]. Key points:

• Fee: €150 per attempt, paid by e-paravolo (code 2158); you apply online with TAXISnet credentials^[2].
• Sessions: written exams are held twice a year, in spring and November. The next session is on 15 November 2026^[1][3][6].
• Format: 100 points in total. The Greek language part (60 points) covers reading and writing, listening and speaking at B1 level. The knowledge part (40 points) covers geography, history, culture and political institutions, drawn from a published question bank^[4][5].
• Pass mark: 70% overall, with at least 40/60 in language and 20/40 in the knowledge section^[4][5].
• Who sits it orally: people over 62 (who may choose the written exam instead), those with a certified disability above 67% and those certified by a public health unit as unable to sit a written test take an oral exam^[2][4].
• Exemptions: nine years of Greek schooling (or six years of Greek secondary school), or a bachelor's, master's or doctorate taught in Greek at a Greek university^[1].

The exam is not a formality. AIDA reports pass rates of about 51% in April 2025 and 45% in November 2025^[6]. The exam is held only in Greece, so plan for the trip. For an English-speaking investor starting from zero, reaching B1 usually means several hundred hours of study over one to two years.

Because no investment buys citizenship, the "investment" step simply gives you the right to live in Greece. The routes and amounts below match our verified guide to Greek residency by investment, which covers each one in detail. The cheapest property option, €250,000, applies only to commercial buildings converted to homes or to listed buildings that you restore^[9].

If you mean to naturalise, the investment and your future home are linked. A property route lets you live in your own qualifying home, which is strong evidence of social integration. But the 120 m² single-property rule and the short-term rental ban limit flexibility. The deposit and fund routes leave you free to rent where you like, at the cost of low-yielding capital tied up for at least seven years. On 6 September 2026 the Prime Minister announced that the transfer tax on homes bought by non-EU buyers would rise from about 3% to 15%. Finance Ministry details given on 7–8 September set the start at 1 July 2027 and limit it to residential purchases by individuals who are not EU/EEA citizens. Companies, ethnic Greeks and holders of long-term resident status are exempt, and the treatment of the €250,000 conversion route is still open^[11][19]. The measure is not yet law; it is due to go into an omnibus bill for public consultation. It does show that after five years, long-term resident status may be worth more than a renewed investor card.

The main cost is the investment, which you keep and may recover when you sell after naturalising. The government fees for nationality itself are modest. The table assumes a single applicant using the €250,000 route and excludes living costs during the seven years.

The official naturalisation fee is €550, paid by e-paravolo (code 2159). It falls to €200 when you file again after a rejection and to €100 for EU citizens, refugees and stateless people^[1]. Investor permit fees are €2,000 for the main investor plus €16 for the card^[9], and €150 for each family member^[10]. Passports cost €80 for adults and are valid for ten years if issued after 1 September 2022^[13][14].

The cost that investors underestimate is the opportunity cost. Seven years of residence, plus two to four years of processing in practice, means €250,000–€800,000 of capital tied to Greece for a decade or more. Compare that with the ten-year wait for Portuguese naturalisation or the far higher price of Turkey's direct passport route.

This is the usual sequence for an investor who relocates to Greece. Several steps can overlap, but the exam must be passed before you file.

The Ministry's procedure page describes a process of about one year from filing to the oath deadline^[1]. Experience has been very different. A 2023 peer-reviewed study of Greek naturalisation cites the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, who put the average processing time at 1,494 days because of a backlog dating back to 2010^[8]. AIDA still reports "exceptionally long delays in practice", with files pending since 2019^[6]. Practitioners in 2026 still quote two to four years, depending on the regional directorate^[17][18]. Plan on the realistic column, not the official one.

Naturalisation is personal. Family members on your investor permit do not become Greek automatically, with one exception:

• Minor children. Unmarried children under 18 who live continuously in Greece at the date of your oath acquire Greek citizenship with you^[1]. Children aged 18–21 who were on the golden visa as dependants need their own application, with their own residence, exam and integration evidence. Greek schooling often exempts them from the exam.
• Spouse. A spouse applies separately. Once you are Greek, a spouse who has a child with you qualifies for the three-year period that applies to spouses of Greek citizens^[1]. In practice they will usually have the years already, but they still need the PEGP and integration evidence.
• Parents. Parents included on the golden visa must meet the seven-year rule and the exam themselves. Those over 62 take the exam orally^[4].

Each adult pays the €550 application fee and €150 for every exam attempt^[1][2].

Investors with Greek roots should check descent first. A person whose parent was a Greek citizen may already be Greek by birth and only need to register. People of Greek origin (omogeneis) who are not citizens have separate naturalisation procedures with a €100 fee and different evidence rules^[1]. Marriage alone does not confer citizenship. It shortens the residence period to three years where the couple has a child, but the exam and integration tests still apply^[1].

Greece permits dual citizenship. A foreigner who naturalises is not required to give up their original nationality, and Greek citizens do not lose Greek nationality by acquiring another^[16]. Whether you can keep your current passport depends on your own country's law. Some countries, including several in Asia, end your nationality automatically when you naturalise elsewhere. Check this before you file. Our article on holding three or more nationalities covers the common combinations.

Military service

Greek men are liable for military service from the year they turn 19 until the end of the year they turn 45, and this applies to naturalised citizens too (Law 3421/2005)^[16]. The deferral for "permanent residents abroad" helps diaspora Greeks, not someone who has just spent seven years living in Greece. Men under 46 should take advice on their position before the oath. How the rules apply to men naturalised in their late 30s or 40s, including credit for service completed abroad, is something to confirm case by case.

A Greek passport is an EU passport. It gives you the right to live, work and study in all 27 EU states and in the EEA and Switzerland, to vote in Greek and European elections, and to receive consular protection from any EU state. In the July 2026 Henley Passport Index, Greece ranked joint 5th with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 185 destinations^[15]. Adult passports issued since 1 September 2022 are valid for ten years^[13].

There is no "passport for foreigners" as a separate product. You receive the same passport as any other Greek citizen, and only after naturalisation and the oath. For a ranking of the passports you can actually reach through investment, see our guide to the strongest passports available through investment.

Citizenship itself does not change your tax position. Greece taxes people on residence, not nationality. But the naturalisation route effectively requires you to become a Greek tax resident: more than 183 days a year in Greece or a centre of vital interests there means tax on your worldwide income. That makes the special regimes worth planning early^[12]:

• Article 5A non-dom regime: a flat €100,000 a year on all foreign-source income, plus €20,000 for each family member included, for up to 15 years. You must invest at least €500,000 in Greece and not have been Greek tax resident in 7 of the previous 8 years. A €500,000+ investor-permit investment can also meet this test.
• Article 5B pensioner regime: a flat 7% on foreign pension and other foreign income, for people not tax resident in 5 of the previous 6 years.
• Article 5C relocation incentive: a 50% exemption on Greek employment or business income for seven years.

Greece has no annual wealth tax. Property tax (ENFIA) and inheritance and gift tax on Greek assets still apply. Filing Greek returns every year is also central to your naturalisation file, so treat compliance as part of the citizenship plan, not a separate chore.

It suits families who genuinely want to live in Greece: retirees using the 7% regime, entrepreneurs, remote earners willing to become Greek tax residents, and parents whose children will go to Greek schools and so avoid the exam. For them, the investor permit is a comfortable bridge to an EU passport in about a decade.

Look elsewhere if you want a passport without relocating, if you cannot commit to learning Greek, or if you need a second citizenship within a few years. Caribbean programmes such as St Kitts and Nevis citizenship by investment grant a passport in months, though a much weaker one. If you only want an EU residence card and Schengen travel, the Greek investor residence permit on its own may be enough.

• Portuguese naturalisation: now ten years for most nationals (seven for EU and Portuguese-speaking countries), with very low stay requirements on the investor permit.
• Spanish citizenship after the golden visa closed: ten years for most nationalities, two for Ibero-Americans.
• Cyprus permanent residence: €300,000 in new property, with a naturalisation route for long-term residents.
• Italy's investor visa: a two-year renewable permit from €250,000, leading to a ten-year naturalisation route.
• Malta's permanent residence programme: permanent status from the start, now that citizenship by investment is gone.
• Turkish citizenship by investment: a passport in months from $400,000, outside the EU.

Our European residency programme comparison sets the entry costs side by side, and the citizenship hub lists every passport route by budget.