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Greece: visas, tax & cost of living

Moving to Greece? Plain answers on the digital nomad visa, its €3,500/month income test, what actually triggers tax residency, and the real cost of living.

Greece: visas, tax & cost of living
Your passport

United KingdomGreece

Your move to Greece on a United Kingdom passport

  • VisitEasyVisa-free entry
  • NomadEasyNomad visa, likely eligible
  • RelocateFairly easyClear residence route

Visiting

Visa-free for up to 90 days. Travel on a passport valid for your whole stay, with a return or onward ticket and proof you can support yourself.

Passport validity: Issued less than 10 years before arrival and valid at least 3 months beyond planned departure from the Schengen area; at least one blank page (two pages for Schengen visa applicants).

Heads-up: EU Entry/Exit System (EES) biometric registration replaced passport stamps (phased from 12 October 2025, fully operational 10 April 2026). ETIAS pre-authorisation is expected in the last quarter of 2026, with a fee of about 20 euros, free for under-18s and over-70s, and not required for Indian citizens, who still need a Schengen visa.

At the border: Border may ask for proof of onward or return travel, evidence of sufficient funds (a credit card generally satisfies this), and, for Schengen visa applicants, accommodation proof and travel medical insurance covering at least 30,000 euros.

Working remotely

Digital Nomad Visa.

Income needed: €3,500/month net, fixed in the Immigration Code (Greece Digital Nomad Visa: a 12-month national visa, then a 2-year residence permit) (estimate)

Duration: 12 months

Fee: 75 EUR (estimate)

Who qualifies: Employees, freelancers or self-employed people who work through information and communication technologies for employers or clients established outside Greece. The Immigration Code fixes the bar at 3,500 euros a month, net meaning after the tax due in the country where the work is performed, rising by 20 percent for a spouse or partner and by 15 percent for each child. You sign a declaration that you will not provide work, services or a project in any way to an employer seated in Greece, and the two-year residence permit that follows the visa carries no right to employment or to economic activity of any kind in Greece, for you or for the family who come with you. Since February 2026 the only way in is a national visa from the Greek consulate for the country where you legally reside; the old option of applying from inside Greece after a visa-free or Schengen-visa entry was repealed. The consulate also asks for the standard supporting documents, a valid passport and health cover among them.

Tax and residency

Resident if you are in Greece more than 183 days, counted cumulatively across any 12-month period, and then from your first day of presence. Separately, and with no day count at all, you are resident if your permanent or main home, your habitual abode or your centre of vital interests is in Greece. The 50% break is a different door: it needs a Greek employer or a Greek business, and the nomad permit forbids both. (estimate)

The UK decides residence with its Statutory Residence Test (days in the UK plus your ties). As a non-resident you are usually taxed only on UK income; where one exists, a double-tax treaty with the destination decides who taxes what.

Double-tax treaty: yes, in force since 1953

Practical

Currency: EUR. Cost of living: low.

Healthcare: Anyone on the nomad or residence routes needs private health cover, and visitors are not covered by the Greek public system. Access to public healthcare follows from paying into the Greek system, which the nomad permit does not let you do, because it carries no right to work in Greece.

Healthcare agreement: A UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) gives access to state-provided medically necessary healthcare on broadly the same basis as locals.

Driving: An International Driving Permit is recommended alongside your national licence, though a UK licence is generally accepted for short visits.

Sources: Greece, Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Digital Nomad Visa · AADE, Independent Authority for Public Revenue: tax residence for natural persons under art. 4 of the Income Tax Code · Greek Immigration Code (Law 5038/2023) arts. 12, 68 and 163: digital nomads (title "Z.1") and the sufficient-resources permit (type "I.8"): Government Gazette A' 81/01.04.2023 · Greek Income Tax Code (Law 4172/2013) art. 5C, the 50% regime, added by Law 4758/2020 art. 40: Government Gazette A' 242/04.12.2020 · Law 4646/2019 arts. 1 and 2: the current wording of art. 4 (tax residence) and art. 5A (the non-dom flat tax): Government Gazette A' 201/12.12.2019 · Greek Income Tax Code (Law 4172/2013) as first enacted: Government Gazette A' 167/23.07.2013 · GOV.UK: tax on foreign income · HMRC: double-taxation treaties

Estimates, not advice. Confirm with the official sources before you act.

Why move to Greece

You come for the islands and the sun. You stay because the maths works. Greece is one of the gentler corners of the eurozone, so your money goes further here than in most of Western Europe. Athens has a real, growing remote-work scene, and the islands are there for the quiet months.

Greece digital nomad visa

EU and EEA citizens move freely, no visa needed. Everyone else has a clear route, though it arrives in two steps: a national visa from a Greek consulate lasting up to 12 months, then a two-year residence permit you apply for before that visa runs out. The headline condition is income. The Immigration Code fixes it at €3,500 a month net, and net here means after the tax you owe in the country where the work is done. A partner adds 20 percent, each child 15 percent. Those figures are written into the law in euros, so they do not drift with the Greek minimum wage.

Two conditions decide more applications than the money does, and both are easy to miss. You sign a declaration that you will not do work of any kind for an employer based in Greece, and the residence permit that follows carries no right to take a job or run any economic activity in Greece, for you or for the family who come with you. This route is for income that arrives from outside the country, and only that. One more thing changed recently: since February 2026 you apply at a Greek consulate before you travel. Applying from inside Greece after a visa-free or Schengen-visa entry used to be possible and no longer is. If you just want to visit, the Schengen 90-in-180 rule applies, so watch your dates.

Tax residency and the 183 day rule

Two separate tests can make you a Greek tax resident, and failing either one is enough. The day count is the familiar one: more than 183 days in Greece, added up across any twelve-month period rather than a tidy calendar year. Cross it and you count as resident from your first day of presence, not from day 184. The second test has no day count at all. If your permanent or main home, your habitual abode or your centre of vital interests sits in Greece, that alone makes you resident. Either way, residency means Greek tax on your worldwide income.

Now the part that trips people up. You will hear about a 50 percent income-tax break, and it is real, but it is not available on this visa. The relief is built for people who move to Greece to fill a job with a Greek employer or with a Greek branch of a foreign company, or to start a business of their own in Greece. Your nomad permit forbids both, so no version of this route reaches the break. It also asks that you were not a Greek tax resident in five of the previous six years, that you move your tax residence from an EU or EEA country or one with a tax cooperation agreement with Greece, and that you commit to staying at least two years. There is a separate non-dom regime with a flat €100,000 a year, but it expects a €500,000 investment, so it is built for large fortunes, not most of us. For everyday remote work, assume normal Greek rates and budget accordingly.

Cost of living in Greece

Living in Greece as a foreigner is affordable by European standards. Rent and food are noticeably cheaper once you leave Athens, and even the capital undercuts most Western European cities. The euro is the currency, so no exchange surprises if you are coming from the eurozone.

Figures are estimates, so always check the official source linked below.

At a glance

Currency
EUR
Cost of living
Low
Digital-nomad visa
Yes

Frequently asked questions

Greece: is there a digital nomad visa?
Digital Nomad Visa. Employees, freelancers or self-employed people who work through information and communication technologies for employers or clients established outside Greece. The Immigration Code fixes the bar at 3,500 euros a month, net meaning after the tax due in the country where the work is performed, rising by 20 percent for a spouse or partner and by 15 percent for each child. You sign a declaration that you will not provide work, services or a project in any way to an employer seated in Greece, and the two-year residence permit that follows the visa carries no right to employment or to economic activity of any kind in Greece, for you or for the family who come with you. Since February 2026 the only way in is a national visa from the Greek consulate for the country where you legally reside; the old option of applying from inside Greece after a visa-free or Schengen-visa entry was repealed. The consulate also asks for the standard supporting documents, a valid passport and health cover among them.
Greece: when do you become a tax resident?
Resident if you are in Greece more than 183 days, counted cumulatively across any 12-month period, and then from your first day of presence. Separately, and with no day count at all, you are resident if your permanent or main home, your habitual abode or your centre of vital interests is in Greece. The 50% break is a different door: it needs a Greek employer or a Greek business, and the nomad permit forbids both.
Greece: what is the cost of living?
The cost of living is low and the local currency is the EUR. Treat any figures as estimates.
Greece: do you need health insurance?
Anyone on the nomad or residence routes needs private health cover, and visitors are not covered by the Greek public system. Access to public healthcare follows from paying into the Greek system, which the nomad permit does not let you do, because it carries no right to work in Greece.
Greece: can you drive on a foreign licence?
An International Driving Permit is recommended alongside your national licence, though a UK licence is generally accepted for short visits.

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