Greece Digital Nomad Visa: Requirements, Income and How to Apply

The Greece digital nomad visa lets you live in Greece for up to a year while you work remotely for an employer or clients based outside Greece, as an employee, a freelancer or the owner of a company abroad. You need at least €3,500 a month after tax from that work, and you apply at a Greek consulate before you travel. Before the visa runs out, you can apply in Greece for a two-year residence permit, which you can renew.

At a glance

Minimum income	€3,500 a month, after tax
First permit	A national visa for up to 12 months, then a 2-year residence permit
Renewable?	Yes, the residence permit renews while you still qualify
Apply from inside Greece?	No, only at a consulate abroad since 6 February 2026
Leads to permanent residency?	Yes, after 5 years on the residence permit. The visa year doesn’t count
Leads to citizenship?	Yes, after 7 years if you’ve switched to EU long-term status by then, or 12 years if you stay on the digital nomad permit
Special tax regime	The 50% tax break doesn’t fit this visa
Freelancers and business owners?	Yes, with clients outside Greece and a company based outside Greece

What can and can’t you do on the Greece digital nomad visa?

You can:

• Live in Greece full-time
• Work remotely for employers or clients outside Greece, or through your own company based outside Greece
• Bring your spouse or registered partner and your children under 18
• Spend up to six months a year outside Greece without affecting your permit, though long absences can delay permanent residence
• Travel to other Schengen countries for up to 90 days in any 180
• Switch to another type of residence permit from inside Greece, once you hold the residence permit
• Apply for EU long-term resident status after five years on the residence permit

You can’t:

• Work for a Greek employer or Greek clients
• Run a business in Greece
• Let your partner take a job or run a business in Greece on this permit
• Use Greece’s 50% tax break
• Apply from inside Greece
• Count the visa year toward permanent residence

Who can apply for the Greece digital nomad visa?

You can apply if you’re a non-EU citizen and you work remotely, using digital tools, for employers or clients based outside Greece. The law covers three setups:

• Employees with a contract or proof of employment with an employer established outside Greece
• Freelancers with contracts from one or more clients established outside Greece
• Self-employed people in their own company, as long as the company is based outside Greece

Greek law calls everyone in these groups a “digital nomad”. The name doesn’t mean you’ll be moving from country to country. The visa and the permit are for living in Greece. Greek law says absences of up to six months a year don’t affect your permit.

Business owners can apply with details of their role in the company and the company’s name, registered office, field of activity and purpose. Applying as an employee of your own company isn’t ruled out, but get professional advice before you apply this way. Greece hasn’t said how it treats an applicant who owns their employer. In the UK and the US, a company is a separate legal entity from its owner, so being employed by a company you own is a normal setup, with or without being a director. It also has tax consequences in more than one country.

You can’t earn anything from Greece. Your employer or clients have to be outside Greece, and you sign a declaration that you won’t work for an employer based in Greece in any way. Once you have the residence permit, the law bars you and your family from any job or business activity in Greece.

What’s the minimum income for the Greece digital nomad visa?

You need at least €3,500 a month. If your income comes from a job or from client work, the law says that’s the figure after the tax you pay in the country where you do the work. When you apply, that means your take-home pay under your current country’s tax, so if you earn €3,500 before tax, you won’t meet it.

When you apply: a rough guideline for UK sole traders and US LLC owners. These are our own estimates of the profit you’d need to clear the threshold after your home country’s tax, using 2026 tax rates and the European Central Bank’s exchange rates for 23 October 2026 (€1 = £0.84 = $1.12). They’re a starting point for planning, not tax advice.

Household	UK sole trader: profit needed	US single-member LLC: profit needed
Single (€3,500 a month after tax)	About £43,000 a year (£3,600 a month)	About $60,000 a year ($5,000 a month)
Couple (€4,200 a month after tax)	About £53,000 a year (£4,450 a month)	About $70,000 a year ($5,800 a month)
Couple with one child (€4,725 a month after tax)	About £62,500 a year (£5,200 a month)	About $79,000 a year ($6,600 a month)

The UK figures include income tax and Class 4 National Insurance for 2026 to 2027, using the rates outside Scotland. The US figures include federal income tax and self-employment tax, assuming your LLC is taxed as a sole proprietorship (the IRS default for a one-owner LLC) and, for couples, that you file jointly. They include the standard deduction (in the UK, the personal allowance) and assume all the income is yours. They leave out state tax, which can add several percentage points, and deductions and credits such as the qualified business income deduction and the child tax credit, which would lower the figure. Exchange rates move, so leave a buffer.

Once you live in Greece, you pay Greek tax, at rates up to 44%. Greek law says you must still meet the conditions when you apply for the residence permit, and the UK visa center says the same for renewals. Neither says which country’s tax applies once you live in Greece, so to be safe, plan for €3,500 a month after Greek tax by your first renewal.

Once you live in Greece: a rough guideline. These are our own estimates, using Greece’s 2026 income tax rates only. They’re a starting point for planning, not tax advice.

Household	To keep after Greek income tax	Rough income needed before tax
Single	€3,500 a month	About €58,000 a year (€4,800 a month)
Couple	€4,200 a month	About €73,000 a year (€6,050 a month)
Couple with one child	€4,725 a month	About €84,000 a year (€7,000 a month)

The estimates leave out social security contributions, tax credits, deductions, reduced rates for parents and any tax you still owe at home, so your own figure will be different. If you pay into Greece’s social security system, you’ll need more. Get advice from a tax professional who knows both Greece and your home country before you plan around these numbers.

The income has to come from your remote work. You prove it with your employment contract, client contracts or proof of employment, or with your bank statements. Your partner and children raise the minimum:

• Spouse or registered partner: add 20%, so €4,200 a month in total
• Each child: add 15%, or €525 a month

A couple with one child needs €4,725 a month after tax.

Not earning €3,500 a month after tax yet? The Portable Income Launchpad is a six-week program for experienced professionals turning their expertise into remote income that meets a visa threshold like this one.

What health insurance do you need for the Greece digital nomad visa?

You need two levels of coverage, one for each stage.

For the visa, the Greek embassy in the US and the UK visa center both ask for travel insurance that lasts at least as long as the visa and covers emergency medical care, emergency hospital care and repatriation for medical reasons. Other consulates set their own conditions, so check yours.

For the residence permit, Greek law asks for full health insurance covering everything Greek nationals are covered for, so emergency coverage on its own won’t meet it.

Before you apply, check that your insurer’s letter or certificate shows:

• Your name, and policy dates that cover the whole visa or permit period
• That the policy is valid in Greece
• That it covers emergency medical care, hospital stays and medical repatriation
• For the permit, that it gives full coverage rather than emergency coverage only

Can you bring your family?

Yes. Your spouse or registered partner and your unmarried children under 18 can come with you, including your partner’s children if they have custody. Each of them applies for their own visa, which ends on the same day as yours, and they can get the residence permit with you.

Your family can’t take a job or run any business in Greece. Each adult also pays their own fees, but children under 18 don’t pay the permit fee.

How long does the visa last, and can you renew it?

The visa lasts up to 12 months. Before it runs out, you apply for a two-year residence permit at the Aliens and Migration Directorate of the Decentralized Administration that covers where you live in Greece. If you leave Greece and let the visa expire, you can apply for a new visa from abroad.

Apply to renew the permit in the two months before it expires. Since February 2026, you can still apply up to three months after it expires, but you’ll pay a €100 fine for each month you’re late.

Plan on renewing every two years. The law sets the first digital nomad permit at two years, and the UK visa center says renewals are every two years too. The digital nomad permit is a two-year version of Greece’s permit for people with enough income to live on, which the law otherwise sets at three years, so you may get three years at renewal. Ask the directorate which term you’ll get when you renew.

Once you hold the residence permit, you can switch to another type of residence permit from inside Greece without going back to a consulate. Law 5275/2026 says anyone on a visa that leads to a residence permit has to get that permit first, so you can’t switch straight from the visa.

How are you taxed in Greece on this visa?

You become a Greek tax resident if your main home or the center of your life is in Greece, or once you spend more than 183 days there in any 12 months. In that case you’re resident from your first day. A year on the visa followed by a two-year permit takes you past 183 days. Greece then taxes your worldwide income, with rates on earnings from 9% on the first €10,000 to 44% on income above €60,000.

You’ll often see this visa sold with Greece’s 50% income tax break for seven years (Article 5C of the Income Tax Code). It doesn’t fit this visa:

• Employees only qualify if they work for a Greek company or a Greek branch of a foreign company. This visa needs an employer outside Greece.
• Self-employed people only qualify if they move to Greece to run a business in Greece. The residence permit bars any business activity in Greece.

You may also see a flat 7% tax rate mentioned. That’s Article 5B, and it’s for pensioners with foreign pension income, not for digital nomads.

This is general information, not tax advice. Talk to a Greek accountant who works with your home country before you move, and ask about social security too.

Does the Greece digital nomad visa lead to permanent residency or citizenship?

Yes, though only your years on the residence permit count, not the year on the visa.

EU long-term resident status is open after 5 years of legal, unbroken residence in Greece. You need income of at least the annual pay of someone on the minimum wage, plus 10% if you support family members, full health insurance, and proof of Greek language, history and culture, such as a B1 Greek certificate. Absences don’t break the five years if each one is under six months and they add up to no more than ten months.

Plan on five years on the residence permit. The year on the visa doesn’t count, because Greek law classes a stay on a national visa as temporary residence and excludes temporary residence from the five years. Your permit years should count, since it’s a full residence permit, but no Greek authority has confirmed this for digital nomads, so check with the directorate that issues your permit.

Once you have it, you can work in Greece as an employee or as self-employed. It also gives you the right to apply to live in most other EU countries, though not Denmark or Ireland, on the conditions each one sets, such as proof of income and health insurance. You lose it if you spend 12 months in a row outside the EU, or more than six years outside Greece.

The 10-year residence permit is Greece’s national long-term option. You can apply after 10 years of continuous legal residence on a residence permit, so the visa year doesn’t count here either. You need the same language and integration proof, full health insurance and no absence of two years in a row. It gives you full access to the Greek job market.

Greek citizenship by naturalization needs 7 years of legal residence, but only if you hold a qualifying permit when you apply, such as EU long-term status or the 10-year permit. The digital nomad permit isn’t on the qualifying list, so on this route you’d switch to EU long-term status after five years and apply for citizenship once you reach seven. If you stay on the digital nomad permit, or any other permit that isn’t on the list, you need 12 years in a row. Talk to a Greek immigration lawyer about how these rules apply to your own situation before you plan around them. You also need to pass Greece’s written exam on the language, history, geography, culture and institutions, and show you’ve settled into Greek economic and social life.

How do you apply for the Greece digital nomad visa?

From your home country

You apply at the Greek consulate that covers where you live.

1. Check your consulate’s checklist. Consulates publish their own lists on top of the legal requirements. In the US, you apply in person at the Greek embassy or consulate that covers the state where you live. UK residents apply through the Greek Visa Center in London.
2. Get a criminal record certificate from the country where you live. The UK visa center accepts an ACRO certificate or an Enhanced DBS certificate issued in the last six months.
3. Get a medical certificate from a doctor showing you don’t have a disease that’s a risk to public health. The UK visa center has its own form for the doctor to fill in, sign and stamp.
4. Arrange travel insurance that meets your consulate’s conditions.
5. Gather the rest: the national visa form and a photo; your passport; a signed declaration that you’ll live in Greece to work remotely and won’t work for an employer based in Greece; your employment contract, client contracts or company details; and proof of income. Your passport needs to be valid for at least three months after you leave the Schengen area, have at least two blank pages and have been issued in the last ten years. Greek law sets these rules, and the Greek embassy in the US and the UK visa center both list them. Ask whether your consulate needs apostilles or certified translations.
6. Submit your application and attend your interview. The law lets you apply in person, by email or by registered mail, but Greek missions in the US and the UK both interview applicants in person.
7. Pay the fees. The visa fee is €75. In the UK, the visa center adds a €150 administrative fee and a €30 service fee for each application, so each family member pays the visa, administrative and service fees too.
8. Wait for a decision. The law gives the consulate 10 days to respond to your application.
9. Travel to Greece and apply for the residence permit before your visa expires. The permit fee is €1,000 for each adult, and you’ll need a Greek tax number (AFM).

Can you apply from inside Greece?

No. Until 6 February 2026, you could enter Greece as a visitor and apply for the residence permit without the visa. Law 5275/2026 ended that route, so you now need the consular visa first. The UK visa center’s page still describes the old route, so don’t rely on that part of it.

Why do applications get refused?

The main legal grounds are work for Greek clients or employers and income below the threshold. Greek law and the UK visa center’s checklist point to these reasons:

• Work for an employer or clients based in Greece, or plans to run a business there
• Income below €3,500 a month after tax, or below the higher figure for your family
• A missing medical certificate, or a criminal record certificate older than your consulate allows
• A criminal conviction with a prison sentence of a year or more, or other public order concerns
• Insurance that doesn’t meet your consulate’s conditions, or for the permit, coverage that isn’t full health insurance
• A passport without enough validity left, or issued more than ten years ago
• Arriving as a visitor and expecting to apply in Greece, which you can’t do any more

What guides and one applicant report

These points come from two guides updated in October 2026 and one applicant’s update on her renewal.

• Expect two sets of fees, a year apart. You pay the €75 visa fee before you travel and the €1,000 permit fee after you’ve moved. One relocation service quotes €1,016 for the permit.
• Get your Greek tax number early. You’ll need the AFM for the permit, and it’s one of the first things to sort out once you arrive.
• Budget on ordinary Greek tax. The 50% tax break doesn’t apply to digital nomads, because it needs a Greek employer or a business in Greece.
• Your renewal may move you to the standard permit. An applicant wrote in December 2024 that the Ministry of Migration was moving digital nomads like her onto the standard permit for people with enough income to live on at renewal, and that it now seemed to last three years.
• Check your own consulate’s list. The documents vary from one consulate to another.

Sources for this section: Nomad Desk (updated October 2026), My Greek Expat Journey (updated October 2026) and an applicant’s blog (December 2024 update).

Who this visa suits

Greece’s headline figure of €3,500 a month looks competitive, but it’s misleading. It’s net income: when you apply, it’s what’s left after the tax you pay at home, and once you live in Greece, the safe assumption is that you’ll need to keep it after Greek tax, at rates up to 44%. On that assumption, a single person needs around €58,000 a year before Greek tax to stay above it. That makes Greece much harder to qualify for than Portugal (€3,680 a month) or Spain (about €2,849 a month), which both set their thresholds as multiples of the minimum wage and count income before tax.

Many guides also sell this visa with Greece’s 50% tax break. You can’t use the two together, so budget for ordinary Greek tax.

The long-term route looks similar on paper: permanent residence after five years on the permit, and citizenship after seven at the earliest, which is faster than the 10 years Portugal and Spain ask of most applicants. In practice, the visa year doesn’t count toward permanent residence, so it’s closer to six years in Greece. Citizenship also needs B1 Greek, which is a real challenge for most English speakers, so start learning early if that’s your goal. On the plus side, Greece doesn’t ask you to give up your existing citizenship when you naturalize, though check your home country’s rules.

I’d consider this visa if you can comfortably clear the income threshold after Greek tax, and you want to live in Greece for its own sake. Before you commit, get professional tax advice from someone who knows both Greece and your home country.

What I’d check first: your take-home pay after your current tax, and what you’d keep after Greek tax, using the guideline tables above.

How does the Greece digital nomad visa compare with other countries?

Country	Minimum income (a month)	First permit	Apply from inside the country?	Leads to permanent residency?
Greece	€3,500, after tax	1-year visa, then a 2-year permit	No, since February 2026	Yes, after 5 years on the permit
Italy	About €2,066	1 year, renewable	No	Yes, after 5 years
Spain	About €2,849	Up to 3 years in Spain, or a 1-year visa then up to 3 years	Yes	Yes, after 5 years
Portugal	€3,680	4-month visa, then 2-year permit (renewals 3 years)	No	Yes, after 5 years

Greece’s figure is after tax, so compare it with your take-home pay. For the full side-by-side comparison, see our digital nomad visas page.

FAQ

How much income do I need for the Greece digital nomad visa?

€3,500 a month after tax, plus 20% for a spouse or partner and 15% for each child. When you apply, that’s your take-home pay after the tax you pay where you work now.

Can I apply from inside Greece?

No. Since 6 February 2026, you have to get the visa from a Greek consulate before you travel. Once you’re in Greece on the visa, you apply there for the residence permit.

Can I work for Greek clients?

No. Your employer or clients have to be outside Greece, and the residence permit bars any job or business activity in Greece.

Can I get Greece’s 50% tax break?

Not on this visa. It needs a Greek employer, a Greek branch of a foreign company, or a business in Greece, and the visa rules out all three.

Can my partner work in Greece?

No. Family members on this visa and permit can’t take a job or run a business in Greece.

How long can I stay?

Up to 12 months on the visa, then two years on the residence permit, which you can renew while you still qualify.

Can a US citizen move to Greece permanently on this visa?

Yes, over time, if you keep qualifying. After five years on the residence permit, you can apply for EU long-term resident status. The year on the visa doesn’t count. You apply for the visa in person at the Greek embassy or consulate that covers your state, and you’re interviewed there.

If you don’t qualify: alternatives and similar visas

If your income comes from pensions, savings or investments rather than work, Greece’s financially independent persons permit is for that, though it doesn’t let you work in Greece either. Greece also has a residence permit for property investors.

To compare other digital nomad visas, see our digital nomad visas page, or start with:

• Spain’s digital nomad visa, which you can apply for from inside Spain
• Italy’s digital nomad visa, with a lower income threshold

Sources

• Law 5038/2023, Greece’s Immigration Code (consolidated text) (official law text, in Greek; articles 4, 8, 11, 12, 18, 68, 143, 144, 152, 163 and 171)
• Law 5275/2026, published 6 February 2026 (official law text, in Greek; articles 12, 13, 36, 37 and 38)
• Embassy of Greece in the USA: national visas (official; in-person application and interview, passport validity)
• Greek Visa Center, London: long-term national D visa, digital nomads (official visa center for the Greek Embassy in London)
• Greek Embassy in London: Greece welcomes digital nomads (official)
• National Register of Administrative Procedures: naturalization of foreign nationals (official, in Greek)
• GOV.UK: Income Tax rates and allowances and self-employed National Insurance rates (official, UK, 2026 to 2027)
• IRS: tax inflation adjustments for tax year 2026 and SSA: 2026 contribution and benefit base (official, US)
• European Central Bank: euro reference exchange rates (official; rates for 23 October 2026)
• Income Tax Code, Article 4: tax residence, Article 5C: the 50% exemption, Article 5B: 7% tax on foreign pensions and Article 15: tax rates (law text, in Greek)
• Greek Citizenship Code, Law 3284/2004 (English translation, Ministry of Interior) (official; original 2004 text, cited only for the absence of any requirement to give up your existing citizenship. Residence periods have changed since, see the mitos.gov.gr page)
• Ministry of Interior decision 21536/2026 on the naturalization exam (official, in Greek; language test at a level comparable to B1)
• Directive 2003/109/EC on long-term residents (official, EU)
• Nomad Desk: Greece digital nomad visa (specialist guide)
• My Greek Expat Journey: how to apply for a digital nomad visa in Greece (relocation service guide)
• My Lonesome Roads: how I got the Greece digital nomad visa (applicant’s blog)
• Bernitsas Law: overview of Law 5275/2026 (February 2026) (law firm; confirms the three-month late renewal window and that visa holders must get their residence permit before changing category)
• EY Greece: Law 5275/2026 alert (February 2026) (professional services firm; confirms the €100 fine for each month of late renewal)
• Lexidy: Greece digital nomad visa (September 2025) (law firm; three-year renewals, permanent residence after five years, citizenship after 12 years; written before the 2026 changes)
• Global Law Experts / Nexus Law Firm: Law 5275/2026 explained (law firm guide; long-term residence after five years of continuous legal residence)

Educational information, not legal, immigration or tax advice. Rules change, so check the official sources before you apply.