Greece Digital Nomad Visa: Requirements, Income & How to Apply (2026)

The visa is open to non-EU/EEA/Swiss nationals who work remotely — salaried employees, freelancers, and owners of a business — as long as the employer or clients sit outside Greece. The hard line is local work: you cannot be employed by a Greek company or provide services to Greek-based clients on this status. That restriction is written into the declaration you sign, and breaking it undermines the permit.

There is no formal profession list or degree requirement; the gate is income and the source of that income. Greek nationals and EU citizens, who already have residence rights, do not use this route.

The threshold is €3,500 a month in net income — after tax, not gross — which trips up applicants who show a gross salary and fall short once deductions are counted. It is a fixed figure set in law rather than a moving peg. Family raises it: add 20% for a spouse or partner and 15% for each dependent child, so a couple needs about €4,200 a month and a family of three around €4,830.

Greek consulates want to see stability, not a one-off. Prove the income with an employment contract or freelance invoices plus several months of bank statements showing regular deposits. Business owners can use company registration and drawings, but the underlying earnings still have to clear €3,500 net.

You apply at the Greek consulate covering your country of residence — since February 2026 this is the only route, with no in-country filing. The national Type D visa costs €75, plus an administrative fee of roughly €150, and including family adds about €150 more. Processing runs anywhere from about ten days at fast consulates to one to three months. The visa itself is valid for 12 months and lets you live and work in Greece straight away.

If you want to stay beyond the first year, you apply inside Greece for the two-year digital-nomad residence permit before the visa expires. That permit renews every two years as long as you keep meeting the income, insurance, and remote-work conditions.

Tax turns on the 183-day line. Stay under six months and Greece does not tax your foreign-earned income; stay longer and you become a Greek tax resident, taxed on worldwide income. For people who do move their tax home here, Greece offers a special regime under Article 5C: a 50% exemption on qualifying Greek-source employment or business income for up to seven years. To qualify you generally must have been a non-Greek tax resident for most of the previous six years and commit to living in Greece for at least two. It is a 50% exemption, not a flat rate, and it needs a formal application — take Greek tax advice before relying on it.

Family is straightforward here. A spouse or partner and dependent children can be added, and they receive the same digital-nomad status you hold. The cost is a higher income bar rather than separate visas: 20% more for the spouse and 15% more per child, so plan the combined figure before you file. Budget roughly an extra €150 in fees to include family, and gather each person's documents — passport, insurance, and criminal-record certificate where required — alongside your own.

On money, Greece sits at the higher end of the Mediterranean pack. Its €3,500 net a month works out to about €42,000 a year, above Spain's roughly €34,000 and Italy's €24,789, and roughly level with Croatia's raised €3,622.50 a month. What Greece adds for that price is a clean two-year renewable permit and the 50% tax regime, which Croatia and Italy structure differently. If you want the Aegean specifically and can clear the net-income bar, it competes well; if the €3,500 net figure is a stretch, Spain or Portugal asks for less.

The single most common refusal reason is the net-versus-gross mistake: applicants read "€3,500" and show a gross salary that nets out below the line. Bring evidence that your take-home clears €3,500 with a margin. The next traps are documentary — a criminal-record certificate that is out of date or missing an apostille, or bank statements that show lumpy rather than steady income. Since February 2026 you must apply at a consulate, so anyone who planned to enter as a tourist and file in Athens needs to reroute. Fast consulates decide in around ten days, but assume one to three months and prepare the apostilled paperwork well ahead.