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Agence France-Presse

Greece’s economy is receiving a boost from Chinese investors taking advantage of the country’s so-called Golden Visa scheme to live in Europe.
Chinese investor Jiang Rungong, who moved to Greece three years ago from Shanghai, said he and his family could not be happier in their new home on the Athens coast.
“We chose Greece because of its cultural heritage, its history, the democracy, the freedom. We really like its atmosphere,” Jiang said.
“Since we got the visa, we’ve travelled to many European countries. And every time we come back to Greece, the moment we set foot in the airport, we feel like it’s home.”
Got a ‘golden visa’? Better hurry up and use it
His 18-year-old son, Jiang Semniao, managed to learn Greek in just two years. He is attending a Greek public school and dreams of becoming a Greek citizen.
Under the arrangement, non-EU citizens are given a five-year residence permit in return for investing at least €250,000 (US$275,000) in real estate.
Greece is not the only European country to operate such a scheme. Other crisis-hit EU members such as Portugal, Cyprus and Spain have been offering similar incentives for years.
Following Greece’s decade-long recession, real estate prices remained at rock bottom for a long time, even if they have started to rise again recently. So far the programme seems to be working: the number of residence permits issued to non-EU citizens was up by 46 per cent last year.

And some 5,300 permits have been issued since the scheme’s launch in 2013, more than 3,400 to Chinese buyers, official data shows.
China and Greece have been building progressively closer trade and investment ties for more than a decade, ever since two main container terminals at the port of Piraeus were sold to Chinese shipping giant Cosco in 2008.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has just returned from a four-day visit to Shanghai, and Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Athens for a reciprocal three-day trip on Sunday.
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Experts say the Chinese no longer regard Greece merely as a foot in the door to the EU’s free-travel Schengen zone, but actually enjoy life in their new home.
“They like to stay in Athens and the suburbs, forming little Chinatowns. They are buying blocks of flats, where all the owners are Chinese,” said Anny Avgouli, migration policy manager for a law firm, Dedes, that has a special department for golden visas specifically for Chinese customers.
But for some, the long wait time can be off-putting. “When you tell a client that a year might be needed just to submit the request … it is like you are showing him the exit”, said Dedes law investment manager Dorina Cobzaru.
Applications are also being held up because they are processed in the same department that handles the asylum requests of tens of thousands of migrants. And already, a huge backlog has built up.
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To cut red tape and make investment easier, the newly elected conservative government approved a bill in late October that would allow would-be investors to get round China’s strict capital controls. This is done by using multiple bank terminal transactions to transfer the requisite sum of US$250,000.
Greek development minister Adonis Georgiadis, who recently visited China, said the Bank of Greece had concluded that “the use of bank terminals does not violate Greek or European law. If it is violating the Chinese law, this is a matter for China.”
Closer to home, however, Brussels is worried about such golden visa schemes.
In a report earlier this year, the European Commission singled out Cyprus, Bulgaria and Malta, complaining that wealthy candidates for residency or citizenship did not face adequate security and background checks. Nevertheless, Greece is desperately seeking to attract foreign investors and says it cannot afford to lose the valuable income.
Greece gives Cosco green light for partial Piraeus port upgrade
According to the Bank of Greece, the scheme appears to be stimulating the country’s previously sluggish housing market. The central bank estimates it attracted €469 million in Chinese capital in 2018 and as much as €443 million in the first half of this year alone, compared with only €77 million in 2017.
And Chinese investors have ploughed more than €1 billion in total into Greek property since the programme was launched, the data showed.
Real estate is just one aspect of the closer cooperation between Athens and Beijing since Greece’s economic crisis, which saw it lose around a quarter of its gross domestic product.
Cosco acquired Piraeus’ two main container terminals for 35 years. And in 2016, it also took over the Piraeus port authority – and the third remaining container terminal – until 2052.
Greece has also signed up to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a US$1 trillion global investment programme aiming to forward Chinese goods to markets further afield.


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Chinese investors take a shine to Greece’s ‘Golden Visa’ scheme

Experts say the Chinese no longer regard Greece merely as a foot in the door to the EU’s free-travel Schengen zone, but actually enjoy life in their new home. Photo: Shutterstock

A man walks past sits at a tram station decorated with Golden visa advertisements aiming Chinese clientele in central Athens on October 31, 2019 as the golden visa arrangement grants non-EU citizens a five-year residence permit in return for investing at least 250 000 euros ($275 000) in Greek real estate. - Greece is not the only European country to operate such a scheme. Other crisis-hit members such as Portugal, Cyprus and Spain have been offering similar incentives for years. Following Greece's decade-long recession, real estate prices remained at rock bottom for a long time, even if they have since started to rise again recently. So far the programme seems to be working: the number of residence permits issued to non-EU citizens was up by 46 percent last year. And some 5,300 permits have been issued since the scheme's launch in 2013, more than 3,400 to Chinese buyers, official data show. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP)

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Apartments for sale in central Madrid. Foreigners have bought 100,000 properties in Spain so far this year, an increase of 4 per cent. Photo: Reuters

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Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ was elected on a promise to transform Greece into a hub for foreign investment. Photo: Reuters

(190305) -- BEIJING, March 5, 2019 (Xinhua) -- Aerial photo taken on Feb. 15, 2019 shows the COSCO Shipping Pisces, one of the world's largest container ships with a capacity of 20,000 TEU, approaching Piraeus port, Greece. For many years, growth figure has been the most buzzed-about subject regarding the Chinese economy. Probably because of the "miracle" the Asian giant made with an average gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 9.5 percent in the past 40 years, far exceeding the 2.9-percent global economic growth in the same period. However, one should not make a fetish of the growth rate. Also, economic slowdown is not necessarily a siren, not to mention a drag on the global growth. China sets the 2019 GDP growth target at 6-6.5 percent, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said in his government work report on Tuesday at the opening of the second session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislative body. Though slowing down, China's economy still grew at a medium-hig

Chinese President Xi Jinping at right walks in with French President Emmanuel Macron at left and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, second from left as they arrive for the opening ceremony of the China International Import Expo in Shanghai on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2019. The sprawling import fair into its second year is meant to demonstrate China's willingness to open its domestic markets.(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

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Non-EU citizens receive five-year residency permit in return for investing US$275,000 in Greek real estate
Of the 5,300 residency permits issued since 2013, more than 3,400 went to Chinese



Greece and other European countries offering residency permits to Chinese investors to bolster local economies.


Chinese offshore investment

Property investment

European Union

Greece

Chinese investors take a shine to Greece’s ‘Golden Visa’ scheme

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Non-EU citizens receive five-year residency permit in return for investing US$275,000 in Greek real estate Of the 5,300 residency permits issued since 2013, more than 3,400 went to Chinese

Non-EU citizens receive five-year residency permit in return for investing US$275,000 in Greek real estate

Of the 5,300 residency permits issued since 2013, more than 3,400 went to Chinese