Considering a Golden Visa in Europe?
Top European Golden Visas, Compared:The 2026 Guide
Find out which routes fit your plans, what they really cost, and what to check before committing your capital.
Go beyond the advertised investment amounts with an insider comparison of Italy, Greece, Portugal, Hungary, Malta, and Cyprus. Understand the tradeoffs, narrow your options, and see when another route deserves a look first.
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$79$19
$79 after launch. Save $60 when you buy now.
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You know the countries. What are you actually choosing?
A future home in Europe. More freedom to choose where you live. The reassurance of having another option in place.
Those goals can lead you to the same Golden Visa search, but they don’t necessarily lead to the same decision. The advertised investment is only the beginning of the comparison.
How much capital would you commit, and on what terms? What would you pay in fees? How much time could you spend in the country? What would you need to do to maintain your status?
And would the route actually serve the purpose you have in mind?
The details that can change your shortlist
The lowest advertised investment may not mean the lowest overall cost.
Explore the guide’s two-layer cost framework to distinguish the capital commitment from the additional costs. See which figures belong in your comparison and which questions to put to a provider.
A place you’d love to live and a route you’d want to use are two decisions.
A country can appeal to you while the investment conditions, time commitments, or process give you reasons to look elsewhere. Compare the route alongside the life you want it to support.
An investor route may not be the first one to investigate.
The guide includes a citizenship-by-descent check before the programme comparisons. Understand why your background belongs in the research before you assume an investment is necessary.
Across six country chapters, you get the routes, costs, tax considerations, timelines, and a reasoned verdict on each, including the conditions that could change the answer.
Same interest in Europe. Different requirements.
Imagine two people considering the same programme.
One wants to move to Europe and make it their main home. The other wants an additional option while continuing to live and work elsewhere. Their plans call for different questions.
If you’re moving
You need to consider how the route supports the life you intend to lead, alongside the tax and practical questions a move raises.
If you’re staying where you are
Time-in-country requirements, renewal conditions, and the ongoing commitment may weigh more heavily.
The headline price hasn’t changed. What matters to each buyer has.
That’s why the guide starts with how to evaluate a programme, then applies that thinking to the options covered.
Start with what you want the residency to do
- Move to Europe
- Compare routes against your intended home, timing, and circumstances.
- Establish another option
- Understand the requirements and ongoing commitments to examine while you remain based elsewhere.
- Explore a longer-term citizenship goal
- Separate your immediate residency decision from the later conditions and questions that need checking.
- Choose between programmes already on your shortlist
- Put costs, investment conditions, timelines, and obligations into the same comparison.
- Decide whether to proceed at all
- Consider whether another route, more research, or waiting deserves priority.
Use the decision framework to focus your research, then read the country chapters that matter to you.
$79 after launch. Delivered instantly, in your browser and by email.
Written from inside the market
I’m Alessandro Palombo, an Italian lawyer by training with a PhD in public law. I co-founded Bitizenship and Bitizenship Capital, and my work includes residency and investment structures in Europe.
That work shapes the questions behind this guide: what the paperwork requires, how the costs add up, where the delays arise, and how a programme fits the purpose someone has in mind.
The guide brings that perspective to the comparison. It includes reasons to look more closely, reasons to hesitate, and circumstances where waiting may be the more sensible next step.
I also have commercial interests in this market, including investment structures discussed in the guide. Those interests are disclosed so you can read the analysis knowing where I stand. Business interests and disclosures
One comparison. A clearer next step.
Your purchase includes
Start with your goal. Compare the relevant routes. Prepare your next conversation with a clearer brief.
A few things you may be wondering
What does this add to programme websites and free articles?
It brings the options into one comparison, with a consistent decision framework and an operator’s perspective on costs, process, and tradeoffs. You can look across countries and identify what to investigate for your own plans.
Is it useful if I’m not ready to invest?
Yes. It is designed to be read before you decide. You can use it to narrow your research, prepare questions, or consider whether an investor route belongs in your plans at all.
I’ve already spoken to a provider. Will it still help?
Use it to revisit the assumptions behind your shortlist and identify questions you still need answered before proceeding.
Does it recommend an investment or confirm that I qualify?
This purchase is research and commentary. Individual legal, tax, financial, and immigration advice, eligibility assessments, and application services are separate.
When will I receive it, and why is it $19?
The guide opens in your browser the moment payment completes, and the access link arrives by email, with the PDF, the deck, and the replay on the same page. The launch price is $19; it becomes $79 when the launch ends. This is a one-time purchase.
What if I change my mind?
The guide is digital content delivered immediately, so by asking for instant access you waive the cooling-off period and the purchase is final. If it does not open, or is not as described, write within fourteen days and it will be put right, by fixing it or by refunding you. The full terms are in the terms of sale.
Know what deserves a place on your shortlist before your capital is committed.
Understand the options, see the tradeoffs, and approach your next conversation knowing what you need to ask.
Special launch price
$79$19
$79 after launch. Save $60 when you buy now.
Delivered instantly, in your browser and by email.
Research and commentary, not advice. Terms in the terms of sale; independence and financial interests on the legal page.