Phoenix 24
Golden visas survive, though under growing pressure.
Brussels, March 2026.
Europe has not fully shut the door on so called golden visas, but the map is clearly shrinking. While several countries have tightened or dismantled their residency by investment schemes in recent years, a smaller group still allows foreign investors to obtain legal residence in exchange for capital. What has changed is not only the number of available routes, but the political climate surrounding them.
The countries that still maintain some form of golden visa are increasingly doing so under stricter scrutiny. The model remains attractive because it offers investors mobility, access to European markets and, in some cases, a pathway toward long term residence or citizenship. But it is no longer promoted with the same ease as before. Housing pressures, security concerns and criticism over transparency have turned these programs into politically sensitive instruments.
Greece remains one of the most visible cases, especially for investors seeking a relatively direct route through real estate or capital placement. Cyprus also continues to be mentioned among the destinations where residency remains accessible through investment, although its framework has faced intense attention over regulation and oversight. Hungary has reentered the conversation as a country willing to use this mechanism again, reflecting how parts of Central Europe still see investor migration as a useful economic lever.
What matters is the broader pattern beneath these programs. Golden visas are no longer seen only as tools for attracting foreign money. They are now entangled with debates over national sovereignty, urban affordability, tax fairness and the social meaning of residency itself. In other words, buying access to Europe has become harder not simply because of paperwork, but because the legitimacy of the model is under pressure.
This is why the issue resonates beyond migration policy. Residency by investment reveals a deeper tension inside Europe: the desire to attract global capital while also responding to voters who increasingly reject the idea that legal entry and privileged mobility can be purchased by the wealthy with relative ease. That contradiction has not disappeared. It has only become more visible.
So the golden visa still exists in parts of Europe, but no longer as an open invitation. It now functions more like a selective gate, shaped as much by political caution as by financial opportunity.
Phoenix24: claridad en la zona gris. / Phoenix24: clarity in the grey zone.