For Sale: 3-Bedroom, Comes With EU Residency Permit

Non-Europeans seeking a fast-track route to EU residency now have a new option – buying cheap Southern European property. As of this year, Portugal is offering super-speedy residency applications to anyone who buys a property over €500,000. Cyprus is offering the same deal with a €300,000 threshold. Both these countries are being undercut by Greece, however, which is giving speedy residency to buyers of any property from just €250,000 and gave out its first property-tied residency to a Chinese man August 8.

European countries have long greased the wheels of visa agencies for high-rolling investors, of course. Britain, for example, speeds up applications for people buying property worth £1 million or more. The difference with these new schemes, specifically targeted at easing their countries out of crisis, is that they are accessible for a far larger chunk of less wealthy investors, who could buy little more than a small second home.