Schengen Visa

Perhaps one of the most sought after and immediate benefits of certain golden visa programmes in Europe is the granting of a Schengen visa.

The Schengen Visa represents a total of 26 European countries that have mutually decided to eliminate passport and immigration controls at their joint borders. Holders of a Schengen visa can travel freely throughout the Schengen visa zone.

Many investors see this as a key benefit. No need to continually be applying for a Schengen visa to visit Europe, as with the right programme this comes as part of the investor visa package.

But investors and their families need to check each programme carefully and in particular whether that country is part of the Schengen visa area.

For example, Cyprus offers residency through an investment of €300,000. But Cyprus is not part of the Schengen zone. Cyprus also offers citizenship through a €2.5 million investment in real estate. That grants citizenship of Cyprus and hence citizenship of the EU and hence an EU passport. A Schengen visa is no longer needed.

Investors and their families buying real estate to the value of €500,000 in Spain and Portugal will gain a Schengen visa. Likewise Hungary and Greece through their programmes.

The Schengen area countries are currently Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.