Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa: Requirements and How to Apply
Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa
Also called: Golden visa, residence by investment, entrepreneur visa, startup visa, EB-5 (United States), E-2 treaty investor
Residence granted in exchange for capital or for building a business. The category has changed more than any other since 2023: the European Union has pressed member states hard on investment residence, Portugal removed the real estate route, Spain abolished its programme entirely in April 2025, Ireland closed its programme, and Greece raised its thresholds sharply. Anything you read about golden visas written before 2024 should be treated as historical. What has grown instead is the entrepreneur and startup route, which asks for a business rather than a purchase.
Who needs this
- People with substantial capital who want residence without an income or presence requirement.
- Entrepreneurs building a business in the destination country.
- Americans seeking an EU base, though the closure of several programmes has narrowed the options considerably.
When this is the wrong category
You are looking for the cheapest route to residence. Passive income and digital nomad visas are dramatically cheaper for most people, and several of them lead to citizenship faster because they require you to actually live there.
What every application in this category needs
- A qualifying investment, held
- Real estate above a threshold, a fund subscription, a capital transfer, government bonds, or job creation. The investment usually has to be maintained for the whole period of residence, and selling it ends the status.
- Proof of the source of funds
- The most demanding part of these applications by a distance. Expect to document the origin of the money through tax returns, sale contracts, employment history and bank records going back years.
- Clean background and enhanced due diligence
- Police certificates from every country of residence, and in most programmes a commercial due diligence report commissioned by the government.
- A business plan, on entrepreneur routes
- Assessed on substance: market analysis, financial projections, job creation and often an endorsement from a designated body.
- 1 Confirm the programme still exists on the terms you read about This is not a joke. Several major programmes have closed or changed thresholds in the last three years and a great deal of promotional material has not been updated.
- 2 Engage local counsel and complete due diligence Source-of-funds documentation is assembled here and it is the longest stage.
- 3 Authenticate personal documents Police certificates, civil records and the power of attorney for local counsel.
- 4 Make and evidence the investment Usually into an escrow or a designated account, with the transfer routed so it can be traced from your name to the investment.
- 5 File and wait for the decision Government processing on these is often slow because of the due diligence involved.
- 6 Collect the residence card and maintain the investment Renewal depends on the investment still being in place.
Your action Documents and authentication Government processing
Timing, cost and what the status gives you
- How far ahead to start
- Four months to two years. Panama qualified investor is among the fastest at 30 to 90 days; European programmes routinely run past a year.
- What it costs
- The investment itself, plus government application fees that can reach five figures per family, legal fees, due diligence fees, and in property cases transfer taxes and notary costs that can add 8 to 12 percent to the purchase price.
- Validity and duration of stay
- Typically two to five years, renewable while the investment is held. The crucial and frequently misunderstood point is that most of these programmes have little or no physical presence requirement, which is exactly why they rarely lead to citizenship: citizenship requires actual residence that the visa does not require you to have.
- Work rights
- Varies. Some grant full work rights, others permit only management of your own investment.
- Family members
- Nearly all include a spouse and dependent children, and several include dependent parents, with additional government fees per person.
Where applications go wrong
- Relying on outdated information. Spain abolished its investor residence route with effect from 3 April 2025; Portugal removed real estate in October 2023; Greece raised thresholds to 800,000 euros in prime areas; Ireland closed its programme.
- Assuming residence by investment leads to citizenship. Usually it does not, because citizenship requires presence and these visas do not.
- Underestimating source-of-funds documentation. It is far more demanding than any other visa category.
- Buying property before confirming it qualifies. Greek rules now require a minimum 120 square metres and prohibit short-term rental of a qualifying property.
- Ignoring the transaction costs on a property purchase, which can be a tenth of the price again.
Common refusal grounds
- Source of funds not adequately evidenced.
- Adverse findings in due diligence.
- The investment does not meet the technical qualifying criteria.
- A business plan judged not viable, on entrepreneur routes.
Documents and authentication for this category
Investor files are document-heavy on both the personal and the corporate side. Personal: police certificates, birth and marriage certificates, and a power of attorney for local counsel, all apostilled. Corporate and financial: company formation documents, board resolutions, audited accounts and source-of-funds attestations, which are private documents requiring a notary acknowledgement before authentication. Because these files often involve several jurisdictions, the routing needs mapping out before anything is ordered.
- 1 Obtain a certified original From the issuing authority. Photocopies, scans and souvenir certificates cannot be authenticated.
- 2 Notarise, if it is a private document Letters, affidavits, powers of attorney and diploma copies need a notary acknowledgement first. Government-issued vital records do not.
- 3 County clerk, in some states A handful of states require the county clerk to certify the notary commission before the Secretary of State will act.
- 4 Authenticate at the right level State-issued documents go to the Secretary of State of the ISSUING state. Federal documents, including the FBI Identity History Summary, go to the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications.
- 5 Apostille or embassy legalisation Hague Convention destination: the apostille ends the chain. Non-member destination: the document then goes to that country embassy or consulate.
- 6 Certified translation Translate the document together with its apostille or legalisation certificate. Doing this first means paying twice.
- 7 File with the right consulate Jurisdiction is by your U.S. state of residence. Bring originals plus a full copy set.
The two expensive mistakes. Sending a federal document such as an FBI Identity History Summary to a Secretary of State, which cannot authenticate it. And translating before authentication, so the apostille certificate is not inside the translation and the whole set has to be paid for twice.
How it differs by country
- Portugal
- The golden visa continues but real estate was removed in October 2023. Qualifying routes are now investment funds, capital transfer, job creation and cultural or scientific contributions. It retains a very low presence requirement of seven days a year and still counts toward citizenship, which is unusual.
- Spain
- Abolished with effect from 3 April 2025. Existing holders were protected; no new applications are accepted. Any source presenting it as available is out of date.
- Greece
- Tiered since 2024: 800,000 euros in Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and larger islands; 400,000 euros elsewhere; 250,000 euros for commercial-to-residential conversions and listed building restorations. Minimum 120 square metres and no short-term rental.
- United States (inbound)
- EB-5 requires 800,000 dollars in a targeted employment area or 1,050,000 dollars elsewhere, creating ten jobs. E-2 treaty investor requires a substantial investment with no fixed minimum but is not a path to permanent residence.
- Panama
- Qualified investor permanent residency is among the fastest anywhere, from 300,000 dollars in real estate, decided in 30 to 90 days and filable by power of attorney without travelling.
This category, country by country
- Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for Colombia
- Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for Costa Rica
- Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for Dominican Republic
- Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for France
- Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for Greece
- Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for Hungary
- Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for Indonesia
- Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for New Zealand
- Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for Panama
- Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for Portugal
- Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for Saudi Arabia
- Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for Spain
- Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for Turkey
- Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for United Arab Emirates
- Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for United States (inbound)
- Investor, Golden and Entrepreneur Visa for Vietnam
Questions
Which European golden visas still exist?
Portugal, on non-property routes; Greece, at the higher thresholds; Malta, through its permanent residence programme; Hungary, through its guest investor programme; Latvia and a few others. Spain and Ireland have closed. Verify the current position with the government itself before making any commitment, because this list has changed every year since 2023.
Will it get me a passport?
Usually not, and this is the most oversold claim in the category. Citizenship almost everywhere requires years of actual physical residence, and the defining feature of these visas is that they do not require you to live there. Portugal is the notable exception, because its counting rules are unusually generous. Citizenship by investment, which is a different thing, exists only in a small number of Caribbean states and has come under significant international pressure.
What is source of funds and why is it so hard?
It is proving where your money came from, legitimately, in a documented chain. Expect to produce tax returns going back several years, contracts for business or property sales, employment and salary history, inheritance documents, and bank records tracing the money to the investment. It is the most demanding documentation exercise in immigration and it is where these applications actually stall.
Authoritative sources
Where this tool disagrees with one of these, the official source is right. Tell us and we will correct it.
- U.S. Department of State: Learn About Your Destination Entry, exit and visa requirements for U.S. citizens, country by country. The authoritative U.S. government starting point.
- U.S. Department of State: Records and Authentications Federal document authentication, including the Office of Authentications.
- HCCH: Apostille Convention status table The authoritative list of which countries are party to the Apostille Convention, and the entry-into-force date for each.
- Foreign embassies in the United States Directory of every foreign embassy in Washington, which is where legalisation happens for non-Convention destinations.
- U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide For U.S. citizen services abroad and notarials.
- Smart Traveler Enrollment Program Register your trip so the nearest embassy can reach you.
- CDC Travelers Health Vaccination and health entry requirements by destination.
- IATA Travel Centre The database airlines actually check at the boarding gate.
Verified Sep 7, 2026 Primary sources: travel.state.gov, www.hcch.net
Verified Sep 7, 2026
This resource is provided free by Federal Apostille as an educational tool. It is not legal or immigration advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by using it. Visa rules, fees, processing times and entry requirements change frequently and often without notice, and individual circumstances change the answer. Always confirm current requirements with the official government source and the specific embassy or consulate that has jurisdiction over your place of residence before you book travel or file an application. Every figure on this site carries the date we last verified it and a link to the primary source.
