If you have built up enough income or savings to live without working, and you want to spend that life in Greece, there is a residence permit designed precisely for you. It is called the Financially Independent Person (FIP) visa, and in 2026 it remains one of the simplest legal routes to settle in the country as a non-EU citizen.
This article explains what the FIP actually is, who it suits, and what you should know before deciding whether it is the right path for your move.
The basic idea
The FIP is a Greek residence permit for non-EU, non-EEA, and non-Swiss nationals who can support themselves financially without taking a job in Greece. Pensions, dividends, rental income from abroad, investment returns, royalties, trust distributions, or substantial savings: all of these qualify, as long as they are stable and documented.
The permit was reshaped under Law 5038/2023, and the process unfolds in two distinct stages that applicants often confuse. The first is the national Type D visa, issued by the Greek consulate in your country of residence and valid for one year. This is what gets you legally into Greece. Once you arrive, you must file a separate application with the competent Decentralized Administration (Αποκεντρωμένη Διοίκηση) of your area for the residence permit itself, which is granted for three years and renewable for another three at a time, as long as you continue to meet the conditions. The two procedures are governed by different authorities, require different files, and follow different timelines. Treating them as a single step is one of the most common reasons applicants find themselves out of status shortly after arriving.
What you cannot do under this permit is work in Greece, neither as an employee nor as a freelancer with Greek clients. Your income has to stay foreign-sourced. That is the trade-off, and it is also the point of the program: Greece is offering residence to people who bring their own money in, not people who compete for local jobs.
Who it actually fits
The FIP suits three kinds of people in particular.
Retirees, by far the most common applicant. A foreign pension, especially from the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, or Germany, fits the program neatly.
People with passive investment income, such as dividends, rental income from property abroad, distributions from a trust or holding company, or royalties from intellectual property.
People with substantial savings who simply want to live in Greece for a few years without working, drawing down their reserves.
If, on the other hand, you are actively working remotely for a foreign employer or foreign clients, the FIP is probably not your visa. The Digital Nomad Visa is built for that profile and is a better fit. The line between the two is essentially active income (Digital Nomad) versus passive income or accumulated wealth (FIP).
What you need to show financially
The threshold is €3,500 per month in stable income from abroad, or roughly €126,000 in a Greek bank account covering the full three-year period upfront. If you bring family with you, the requirement rises by 20% for a spouse and 15% per child.
The figure must be supported by documents that clearly establish where the money comes from and that it will keep coming: pension award letters, multiple months of bank statements, dividend records, lease agreements for foreign property. Greek consulates take this seriously, and applications fail more often on weak documentation than on insufficient income.
What life on the FIP looks like
The FIP requires you to spend at least 183 days a year in Greece. This is not a casual residence permit; it is built around the assumption that you actually live here.
Cross that 183-day threshold and you become a Greek tax resident, with worldwide income potentially taxable in Greece. For many retirees, this is where the program becomes genuinely attractive: Greece offers a flat 7% tax rate on foreign pension income for up to fifteen years to retirees who transfer their tax residence to the country. Combined with a cost of living well below Western European norms, the math works strongly in favour of relocation for a lot of people. Other foreign income is taxed under the standard Greek scale, but again, double-taxation treaties with most relevant countries prevent paying twice on the same euro.
Beyond tax, daily life under the FIP is unremarkable in the best sense. You can rent or buy property, open bank accounts, enrol children in school, access private healthcare, travel freely across the 29 Schengen countries, and slowly build a life. After five years of legal residence under the permit, you can apply for long-term residence; after seven, with A2-level Greek and genuine integration, citizenship by naturalisation opens up.
What to weigh before applying
Two questions tend to determine whether the FIP is the right tool.
The first is whether you actually want to live in Greece, or whether you want a residency option you can hold lightly while spending most of your time elsewhere. The 183-day rule means the FIP is a bad fit for the second case; in that scenario, the Golden Visa, which has no minimum stay requirement, is the right instrument.
The second is the shape of your income. Pensions and clear passive income produce smooth applications. Income that is harder to characterise (irregular freelance earnings, crypto, unverified business distributions) will struggle in front of a Greek consul, and may push you toward a different visa category or require a tailored documentation strategy.
How D-Law Greece can help
We handle FIP files end to end: an honest assessment of whether this is the right visa for your situation, the documentation strategy, coordination with the Greek consulate in your country, the conversion to the residence card once you arrive, the 7% pension-tax application where it applies, and renewals. We work in English, with fixed fees and clear timelines.
If you are weighing a move to Greece, the cleanest first step is a thirty-minute consultation. We will tell you whether the FIP is the right fit, and if not, which of the other Greek residency routes (Digital Nomad Visa, Golden Visa, citizenship by descent) actually serves your situation better.
This article is intended as a general overview. Greek immigration practice is consulate-specific and changes occasionally; please confirm details with qualified counsel before making decisions. For tailored advice, contact D-Law Greece at dlawgreece.gr.