European Residence by Investment
We coordinate residence-permit applications for private clients through a single, well-chosen property investment.
A qualifying property can do more than hold capital. One decision becomes a euro-denominated asset, euro rental income, a hedge out of your home currency — and legal residence in Europe. Every step coordinated by us.
Choose your European destination.
Each route is a complete residence programme — the permit, the government application and the full process coordinated for you, with the qualifying investment arranged as one step within it. Open any for the process, timeline and a live cost calculator.
Compare the top three programmes.
Cyprus, Greece and Portugal — the three European routes we know best. The essentials at a glance; every figure is indicative and verified to 2026, with final positions confirmed by licensed counsel on engagement.
Cyprus Fastest permanent EU residence | Greece Schengen from day one | Portugal Long delays | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum investment | €300,000 + VAT (new-build) | €250,000 / €400,000 / €800,000 | €500,000 — regulated fund, not property |
| Residency granted | Permanent residency — Reg. 6.2 fast-track | Golden Visa — 5-yr renewable | Golden Visa (ARI) — 2-yr permit, renewable |
| Tax position | No inheritance tax · 60-day tax residency | Non-dom: flat €100,000/yr on foreign income | NHR closed to new entrants in 2024 · most holders are not Portuguese tax-resident |
| Family included | Spouse + children under 18; 18–25 tertiary students abroad on their own application | Spouse, children <21 at filing (autonomous permit 21–24), both sets of parents | Spouse/partner, dependent children and dependent parents of either spouse |
| Mobility | EU member · not in the Schengen Area (permit valid for Cyprus) | Full Schengen member · visa-free travel from day one | Full Schengen member · visa-free travel from day one |
| Minimum stay | Visit once every 2 years | No minimum stay | ~7 days a year (14 in the first two years, 21 in the next three) |
| Indicative timeline | ~2–3 months approval · 3–6 months to card | ~3–6 months | ~2–4+ years on current backlogs |
| Best for | EU footing, fast permanent residency, English-speaking | Schengen from day one, no-stay flexibility, fixed-tax option | A Schengen base with almost no presence requirement, for families who are not in a hurry |
- Minimum investment
- €300,000 + VAT (new-build)
- Residency granted
- Permanent residency — Reg. 6.2 fast-track
- Tax position
- No inheritance tax · 60-day tax residency
- Family included
- Spouse + children under 18; 18–25 tertiary students abroad on their own application
- Mobility
- EU member · not in the Schengen Area (permit valid for Cyprus)
- Minimum stay
- Visit once every 2 years
- Indicative timeline
- ~2–3 months approval · 3–6 months to card
- Best for
- EU footing, fast permanent residency, English-speaking
- Minimum investment
- €250,000 / €400,000 / €800,000
- Residency granted
- Golden Visa — 5-yr renewable
- Tax position
- Non-dom: flat €100,000/yr on foreign income
- Family included
- Spouse, children <21 at filing (autonomous permit 21–24), both sets of parents
- Mobility
- Full Schengen member · visa-free travel from day one
- Minimum stay
- No minimum stay
- Indicative timeline
- ~3–6 months
- Best for
- Schengen from day one, no-stay flexibility, fixed-tax option
- Minimum investment
- €500,000 — regulated fund, not property
- Residency granted
- Golden Visa (ARI) — 2-yr permit, renewable
- Tax position
- NHR closed to new entrants in 2024 · most holders are not Portuguese tax-resident
- Family included
- Spouse/partner, dependent children and dependent parents of either spouse
- Mobility
- Full Schengen member · visa-free travel from day one
- Minimum stay
- ~7 days a year (14 in the first two years, 21 in the next three)
- Indicative timeline
- ~2–4+ years on current backlogs
- Best for
- A Schengen base with almost no presence requirement, for families who are not in a hurry
One investment, working on every front.
A single, well-chosen position does far more than house your capital. Here is what a Cyprus, Greece or Portugal residence actually delivers.
A euro-denominated asset
A hard-currency store of value held in your name, diversifying you out of your home currency — with rental income where the route is a property rather than a fund.
Legal residence in Europe
A genuine EU foothold in Cyprus, Greece or Portugal — a residence permit held quietly from home and used if and when you choose.
A serious European tax-residency option
Cyprus’s statutory non-dom regime, reached via the 60-day tax-residency rule: 0% on dividends, interest and securities gains.
Family coverage, structured properly
Spouse and children on one application; English-language and international schooling, and first-rate healthcare.
A second residence held in reserve
Pre-arranged residence in a safe, stable jurisdiction — secured calmly now, never negotiated under pressure later.
Optional pathways, where separately eligible
Tax-residence positions and other long-term options, each with its own conditions and none of them automatic.
Is this right for you?
This is for you if
- You want an option in place before you need it, not a move next year.
- You are content to hold capital in a property or fund for the life of the permit.
- You want one adviser accountable for the whole thing, not five in three countries.
- You can evidence source of wealth and source of funds clearly.
This is not for you if
- You want a European passport. None of these routes is citizenship.
- You need the right to work anywhere in the EU. These are residence permits, not work permits.
- You need certainty of approval, or of timing. Nobody can offer either.
Since 2009, in residence, citizenship and cross-border real estate.
Kestrel Private’s leadership has worked at the centre of government-facing residence and citizenship programmes since 2009 — for private clients across more than thirty countries, and alongside the sovereign programmes of the Caribbean, Cyprus and Malta. We bring that depth to a single, personal relationship.
Behind every engagement sits the infrastructure that makes it work: admitted counsel in each jurisdiction, regulated tax advisers and fiduciaries, and developer and banking relationships built over years rather than sourced for a transaction.
Since 2009
in residence & citizenship programmes
30+
client nationalities served
Caribbean · Cyprus · Malta
government programme experience
Cape Town · Limassol · Athens
head office and partner offices
Kestrel coordinates the engagement and is accountable to you for it. The regulated legal, tax and immigration work is carried by admitted local professionals we have worked alongside for years — instructed and supervised on your behalf, in each jurisdiction. Kestrel is an advisory and project-management firm, and does not itself provide regulated legal advice.
One relationship, four stages.
Assess and select
Your objectives first, budget second. Every credible route weighed against what your family actually wants — and we say so if none of them fits.
Secure the qualifying investment
Title, planning, developer and price examined on their own merits. The asset has to stand up even if the permit did not exist.
Prepare and submit
Your file assembled against the government’s own requirements and lodged through admitted local counsel. You give us your details once.
Deliver and support
Through to the card in your hand, then renewals, family additions and the questions that arrive two years later.
End-to-end implementation
One engagement from first assessment to filed application, with one person accountable for all of it.
Your residence permit or card
The document itself, delivered — not an application handed back to you to chase.
A euro-denominated asset
Property or fund, held in your name, together with any income it produces.
Aftercare, handled
Renewals, family additions and the questions that arrive two years later.
The programme you apply under is the one that exists on the day you file.
For residence applications, we generally plan on approximately two to three months to approval and three to six months from instruction to residence card.
Citizenship applications vary more widely. A straightforward application may receive approval within approximately three months, but six to nine months to passport issuance is a more prudent planning assumption.
Programme rules, government fees and processing times can change. We therefore reconfirm the applicable terms immediately before an application is filed.
Neither approval nor timing can be guaranteed.
If this is the position you want, we can start your file.
A first conversation, not a commitment. We establish who needs to be included, what you already hold and what you want the structure to achieve — then tell you honestly whether it is worth doing.
Not sure which one is yours?
The assessment starts with what your family wants — mobility, a base, schooling, a currency hedge, a succession plan — and only then asks what you are prepared to commit. It weighs every credible route, not only the ones we place most often, and it will tell you if the answer is to do nothing yet.
Start assessmentNo cost, no obligation, and no mailing list.
Europe not right for you?
For some families the objective is not Europe at all — it is proximity, lifestyle, a benign tax position and an island base within a short flight of home. Where that is the case, Mauritius is usually the better answer, and we say so.
- USD 375,000 · PDS / IRS / RES / Smart City
- Approximately 3–6 months after purchase
- No CGT, no inheritance tax · 20% to MUR 12m, 35% above
- No Schengen access and no European rights
Mauritius
Calodyne · Grand Baie · the north coast