For families who want European residence without moving house. How many days each country asks, and what those days decide later.
The question we hear more than any other is a simple one. Can we hold European residence without uprooting the children, closing the business or selling the house? For three programmes the answer is yes. A minimum stay residency programme grants legal residence in return for an investment while asking for little or no time in the country, and Europe still runs three serious ones.
They are Portugal’s Golden Visa, Italy’s Investor Visa and Greece’s Golden Visa. Italy and Greece ask for no minimum stay at all, which surprises families who assume that residence always means relocation. The real differences arrive later, at renewal, at the point of applying for citizenship and in tax residence, and that is what this piece is about.
| The number of days is the easy part. What your days in the country decide later, about renewals, citizenship and tax, is the part that matters. |
How many days each asks for
Portugal asks for seven days in the first year, then fourteen across each following two year period, an average of a week a year. Italy asks for none (Investor Visa for Italy). Neither does Greece (Law 5100/2024).
Spain and the United Kingdom have both closed their programmes, so for families comparing by days, the serious choice is now between these three. Our guide to what remains open in Europe covers the closures. Each programme does involve some travel during the application itself, for biometrics or to collect the permit, but those trips are separate from the ongoing requirement compared here.
Portugal: a week a year, and it counts
Portugal’s qualifying route is a €500,000 subscription to a fund regulated by the CMVM, Portugal’s securities regulator, explained in our guide to CMVM regulated funds. The days need not be consecutive, and any day in the country counts: a week in Lisbon at half term, a long weekend in Porto, a family summer in the Algarve. Many families fit the whole requirement into a holiday they would have taken anyway.
The days are checked at renewal, so keep the evidence as you go: boarding passes, accommodation records and, often most useful of all, card payments made in Portugal. Our guide to proving your days covers exactly what to keep.
What sets Portugal apart is what those days build. Since 19 May 2026, holders become eligible to apply for citizenship after ten years of legal residence, or seven for EU and CPLP nationals, counted from the first permit, and those years keep accumulating while you live elsewhere. Our comparison of the citizenship timelines explains how the count works.
Italy: no days required
Italy’s Investor Visa carries no minimum stay. You secure a Nulla Osta, a pre-approval certificate, within 30 days of a complete application, invest within three months of arriving, and hold a permit that runs two years and renews for three, as long as the investment is maintained. Holders can come and go as they please.
Presence matters again later. Long term residence becomes available after five years of maintained investment, and citizenship requires ten years of legal residence with Italian at B1. Whether years spent mostly outside Italy count as legal residence for naturalisation is a question for an independent Italian lawyer, and one worth asking early rather than late.
Greece: no days required
Greece’s Golden Visa also has no minimum stay. It runs on property priced by location: €800,000 in Athens, Thessaloniki and the larger islands, €400,000 elsewhere, and €250,000 for commercial conversions and listed building restorations. The five year permit renews for as long as you keep the investment.
Citizenship is where the zero day rule stops helping. Greek naturalisation requires seven years of genuine, continuous residence, around 183 days a year in practice, plus Greek at B1. A permit held from abroad does not build that record.
The three side by side
| Portugal | Italy | Greece | |
| Days required | 7 in year one, then 14 per two years | None | None |
| What the days build | The citizenship count, from abroad | The permit only | The permit only |
| What renewal checks | Evidence of days spent | That the investment is maintained | That the investment is maintained |
| Citizenship | After 10 years (7 for EU and CPLP) | After 10 years lived in Italy | After 7 years lived in Greece |
| Language | Portuguese A2 | Italian B1 | Greek B1 |
What low presence decides later
Renewal is the first test. In Portugal, renewal checks the days you spent in the country, which is why tidy records matter. In Italy and Greece, renewal checks instead that the investment is still in place. Neither test is hard, but both reward organisation. Our guide to the Portugal renewal process walks through what each round involves.
Tax residence is the second, and it is entirely separate from holding a permit. The 183 day threshold many countries use is a starting point rather than the whole answer. Domicile, family circumstances and the tie-breaker rules in tax treaties, which decide which country treats you as resident when both could, all affect the result. We do not advise on tax. An independent adviser who knows both your home country and the destination is the right person, and the right time to involve them is before any capital moves.
Four questions to settle first
How many days can your family reliably spend in Europe each year, and in which school holidays? Is citizenship the long term aim, or is the permit itself the point? Where does your family already have tax exposure, and who advises on it? And which qualifying investment would you be comfortable holding for the life of the permit? Answer those four, and the choice between the three programmes usually makes itself.
Where to start
None of these programmes asks a family to move, which is precisely why they suit people who want a second residence while careers, schools and businesses stay where they are. Portugal pairs a small presence requirement with a citizenship clock that runs from abroad. Italy and Greece ask for no days at all, but presence matters again the moment citizenship becomes the goal. Decide what the residency is for, and the number of days follows.
If you are weighing these three, get in touch and we will talk through how Portugal and Italy compare for your family. Our founding team has guided more than 150 families through European residency. For transparency, Elite Golden Visa receives placement or introductory fees from some funds, alongside a separate client service fee.
Elite Golden Visa provides immigration consultancy services. We do not provide financial or legal advice. All legal services are delivered by independent, qualified immigration lawyers. All investment decisions should be made with independent financial advice.
This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice or an offer to invest. Any investment carries risk, including the potential loss of capital. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
