{"id":870722,"date":"2026-08-29T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=870722"},"modified":"2026-08-28T16:30:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T14:30:52","slug":"three-european-countries-where-south-africans-can-buy-residency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/870722\/three-european-countries-where-south-africans-can-buy-residency\/","title":{"rendered":"Three European countries where South Africans can buy residency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africans can buy access to Europe through residence-by-investment options in Greece, Cyprus and Portugal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The programmes differ significantly in terms of the qualifying investment, travel rights, and the ability to acquire property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the feedback from private-client advisory firm Kestrel Private, which examined five residence-by-investment scenarios in the three countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guide focused on investments where the capital remains tied to a foreign asset, while excluding citizenship-by-contribution schemes and other non-investment residency programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The firm said South Africans can use offshore capital for several purposes at once, including holding a euro-denominated asset, generating foreign income, securing European residency and gaining greater travel flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSouth Africa\u2019s offshore allowances function as annual strategic windows for building an offshore position,\u201d said Andrew Taylor, founder and managing partner of Kestrel Private.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile the limits define how much can be funded in a single year, they remain sufficient for most families considering these programmes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For South Africans investing in a country, the guide uses the 2026 foreign investment allowance of up to R10 million per eligible taxpayer per calendar year, subject to the South African Revenue Service\u2019s approval process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who already have money invested offshore do not necessarily need additional allowance capacity, as they can potentially reallocate part of their existing portfolio into a qualifying investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kestrel Private models the costs at an exchange rate of \u20ac1 to R19, including estimated taxes, VAT, government charges, professional fees and transaction costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taylor said the purpose of the approach is not simply to obtain residency, but to assess what the investment does for the applicant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Kestrel Private stressed that the final costs will depend on factors including family size, the specific property or fund, exchange rates, banking arrangements and professional fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also stressed that legal, tax and immigration work must be handled by appropriately qualified advisers in the relevant jurisdiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For South Africans primarily seeking a European property linked to residency, Greece and Cyprus therefore offer the clearest options among the three countries examined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Portugal remains available through qualifying funds, but its programme no longer allows applicants to obtain residency simply by purchasing real estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The figures are therefore planning estimates rather than fixed quotations. The three countries and what you need to acquire residency in Greece, Cyprus, and Portugal are listed below. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greece<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Greece offers three investment thresholds under the scenarios examined. A qualifying conversion or restoration property starts at \u20ac250,000, with the modelled total rising to about \u20ac280,000, or R5.32 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A standard regional property requires \u20ac400,000, with the modelled case reaching about \u20ac440,000, or R8.36 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In certain prime areas, including Attica, Thessaloniki and larger Greek islands, the threshold is \u20ac800,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kestrel Private models the total investment and associated costs at approximately \u20ac865,000, or R16.44 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Greek Golden Visa provides a renewable five-year residence permit and Schengen travel rights, while applicants are not required to live in Greece to maintain the residency. The programme can also cover eligible family members. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cyprus<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cyprus provides another option, although it differs from Greece because the country is not yet fully part of the Schengen Area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kestrel Private models a qualifying new-build property investment of \u20ac300,000 plus VAT, resulting in an estimated total of \u20ac375,000, or about R7.13 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cyprus programme provides permanent residence, with the guide stating that the permit can be retained provided the holder visits Cyprus at least once every two years. A spouse and children can also be included in a single application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Portugal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Portugal presents a substantially different proposition. Since reforms introduced in October 2023, property purchases no longer qualify for Portugal’s residence-by-investment programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The remaining investment route highlighted by Kestrel Private is an eligible investment fund, with a threshold of \u20ac500,000. The guide models this at approximately \u20ac540,000, or R10.26 million, including associated costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means the model exceeds a single R10 million annual offshore allowance by about R260,000, which could potentially be funded from capital already held offshore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africans can buy access to Europe through residence-by-investment options in Greece, Cyprus and Portugal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":787893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2093700460251082766","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2190133251807074","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18109848563023026","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[5593,4334,20796,853],"class_list":["post-870722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-cyprus","tag-greece","tag-portugal","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870722"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":870764,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870722\/revisions\/870764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}