Greece suspends new residence permits for Russian investors

Greece has suspended issuance and renewal of residence permits to wealthy Russians investing in Greece “until further notice”, the migration ministry said on Monday.

“New requests will not be accepted and no applications for the category ‘business executives’ for citizens of the Russian Federation will be considered,” the ministry said in a statement.

It did not clarify whether previously issued visas will be affected.

Under its ‘golden visa’ scheme, Greece offers a renewable five-year resident’s permit in return for a 250,000 euro ($280,350) investment.

Speaking to state television, Migration Minister Notis Mitarachi said that nearly 2,500 residence permits have been issued to Russian citizens since the programme was launched in 2013 and that Greece has attracted more than 3 billion euros in investment since then.