Citizeo
Pathway

Greece Digital Nomad Visa

Greece Residency
Pathway overview

At a glance

This residence pathway is for remote workers who want to live in Greece while their work stays outside the country. It generally requires foreign-source work, reliable income, health coverage, and no ordinary local employment.

Type
Remote-work residence
Work setup
Remote workers whose job or clients stay abroad
Core requirements
Remote work, foreign income, insurance, and funds
Local work
No work or services for a Greek employer or client
Duration
Initial digital nomad visa is generally valid for 1 year.
Renewal / path
Can be followed by a residence permit if Greek conditions are met.

Summary

Greece's digital-nomad route is for a citizen of a country outside the EU, EEA, or Switzerland who can do their work remotely for an employer or clients outside Greece. It covers employees, freelancers, and people working through their own business. The work must be performed remotely using digital technology.

The first step is normally a national long-stay visa, called a type Z.1 visa in the Greek Immigration Code. It can be issued for up to 12 months. Before that visa expires, a person who still meets the conditions may apply in Greece for the specific residence permit described in Article 68 of the Code. That permit is issued under category I.8 and is valid for two years.

This is an immigration route, not a tax program. Becoming a Greek tax resident depends on the tax facts, and Greece's special tax regimes have their own requirements. Holding a digital-nomad visa does not itself create a 50% tax exemption.

Pathway fit check

Eligibility

The main requirements are:

A bank balance can be part of the proof of sufficient resources, but it does not replace the central remote-work requirement. Someone who does not work remotely should look at the separate sufficient-resources residence route instead.

Family members may apply for visas that end at the same time as the main applicant's visa. Under Article 68, the relevant family group includes a spouse or registered partner and qualifying unmarried children under 18, including certain adopted children and children for whom custody is established. The family-income increase must be met.

What This Route Allows

The route allows the main applicant to live in Greece while continuing the documented remote work for organizations or clients outside Greece. The initial visa can last up to 12 months. A timely application may then lead to the two-year I.8 residence permit if the requirements still apply.

Qualifying family members can receive their own linked visa or permit. The residence document also supports lawful residence in Greece and the short visits elsewhere in the Schengen area that are permitted under the general Schengen rules. It does not create an unlimited right to live or work in another Schengen country.

The permit may be useful as part of a longer period of lawful residence, but any later long-term-resident or citizenship application has separate residence, absence, language, integration, and other rules. Do not treat the digital-nomad approval as a promise of permanent residence or citizenship.

What This Route Is Not

This is not permission to take a Greek job, invoice Greek clients, or move an ordinary Greek-facing business activity into the country. Article 68 requires a commitment not to provide work or services to an employer established in Greece.

It is also not a work permit for accompanying family members. The Code says that the spouse, partner, and family members accompanying the digital nomad may not take employment or carry on an economic activity in Greece under this status.

The route is not an automatic tax holiday. Greece's Article 5C tax incentive applies to qualifying employment or individual business activity arising in Greece and has separate conditions. A digital nomad should obtain individual Greek and home-country tax advice about tax residence, social insurance, permanent-establishment risk, and any tax treaty.

Finally, ordinary visitor status is not a substitute for this route when the intended stay is longer than the visitor allowance. A Schengen short stay and a Greek national visa are different permissions.

Next Steps

  1. Confirm that every employer and client you will serve is outside Greece and that your work can be performed fully remotely.
  2. Calculate the required resources for the whole accompanying family: €3,500 for the main applicant, plus 20% for a spouse or partner and 15% for each child.
  3. Assemble contracts, employer letters, company-registration information, recent income evidence, and bank evidence that clearly supports both the work arrangement and the required amount.
  4. Find the Greek embassy or consulate responsible for your place of legal residence and request its current Z.1 digital-nomad checklist. Consular instructions control document form, legalization, translation, appointment, and fee requirements.
  5. Prepare the general visa documents, including the travel document, criminal-record and medical documents, and the required insurance.
  6. If applying with family, confirm that each person fits the legal family definition and collect civil-status and custody records where relevant.
  7. Apply for the national visa. If you plan to remain after it expires, start the I.8 residence-permit process early enough to file before the visa's expiry.
  8. Obtain separate tax advice before choosing a stay pattern or changing tax residence. Do not assume that a residence approval determines the tax result.
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