Three of the names your wealth manager pitched you two years ago no longer exist. Spain ended its golden visa on 3 April 2025. The EU's top court struck down Malta's cash-for-passport scheme on 29 April 2025. The UK shut its Tier 1 Investor route in February 2022, and Ireland closed its Immigrant Investor Programme with one day's notice in February 2023.
So when a private banker in Mumbai or a relationship manager in Dubai slides a glossy deck across the table promising you an EU passport for a wire transfer, the first question is not how much. It is whether the programme is still legal next quarter.
This is the map as it actually stands in 2026. Which programmes survive, at what real cost, what they give you (residency is not citizenship), and which are genuinely useful for an Indian family's mobility and tax position versus which are expensive vanity. We have run cases through most of these. We will tell you where we steer founders away.
The graveyard: programmes that closed or got gutted
Start here, because half the chatter you hear is about dead programmes.
Spain repealed its investor visa via Organic Law 1/2025, published in the BOE on 3 January 2025 and effective 3 April 2025. The EUR 500,000 real-estate route is gone entirely. Pedro Sanchez framed it as housing policy. If anyone is still pitching you a Spanish golden visa, walk away.
Malta is the bigger story. On 29 April 2025 the European Court of Justice ruled that Malta's Exceptional Investor Naturalisation programme breached EU law, calling it the commercialisation of EU citizenship. Malta amended its Citizenship Act on 24 July 2025 and now offers only a discretionary path for exceptional contribution to science, the arts, or enterprise. The old write-a-cheque-get-a-passport model is finished. This matters beyond Malta: it signals the EU will not tolerate citizenship-by-investment, only residency-by-investment.
The United Kingdom closed the Tier 1 (Investor) route at 4pm on 17 February 2022, citing corruption and illicit wealth. The GBP 2 million route is not coming back. Ireland closed its IIP on 15 February 2023. Portugal did not close, but it removed all direct real-estate routes in 2023. The flagship is now a EUR 500,000 fund investment, not a Lisbon apartment.
The pattern is not random. EU political pressure plus local housing crises killed the passive-property model everywhere. What survives leans toward funds, business, and job creation.
What still works in Europe (and the honest catch on each)
Greece remains the most-used European residency-by-investment route for Indians, but it is no longer the EUR 250,000 bargain it was. Since 2024 it runs a zoned system: EUR 800,000 in Attica (Athens, Piraeus), Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini, and islands above 3,100 residents; EUR 400,000 in other regions; and EUR 250,000 only for heritage conversions and listed-building restorations. No minimum-stay requirement, five-year renewable residency. Useful, but price the zone correctly before you fall for a EUR 250k headline.
Portugal is now a fund play. EUR 500,000 into a CMVM-regulated venture-capital or private-equity fund, with cultural-donation and job-creation routes also live. The draw was never the residency itself; it was the historically low physical-presence requirement and the path toward citizenship. Note Portugal has tightened its citizenship timeline, so treat any ten-year-passport promise as a moving target, not a guarantee.
Italy is the quiet smart pick. Its investor visa starts at EUR 250,000 into an innovative Italian startup, EUR 500,000 into an Italian company, or EUR 2 million in government bonds. You invest only after approval, so there is no upfront-risk exposure, and there is no minimum stay to renew. For a founder who wants a Schengen base and an EU business footing rather than a passport, Italy is often the cleaner answer than Greece.
Hungary relaunched as the Guest Investor Programme. EUR 250,000 into a regulated real-estate fund (40% residential) buys a ten-year renewable permit, with permanent residency possible after three years. Newer, less battle-tested, but among the cheapest live EU routes in 2026.
The EU lesson of 2025: residency you can buy, citizenship you increasingly cannot. Plan around residency and treat any passport as a long, uncertain second step.
Outside Europe: UAE, the Caribbean, and the US
The UAE Golden Visa is the one we recommend most often to Indian families, and not because it is glamorous. AED 2 million (roughly INR 4.6 crore) in property gives a ten-year renewable residency. April 2026 rule changes let you reach the threshold with a mortgage provided you have paid at least AED 2 million in equity and hold a bank NOC, and you can combine properties. No tax on personal income, a one-hour flight from India, real schools and hospitals your family will actually use. For an Indian UHNW, the UAE is a genuine second base, not a certificate in a drawer.
Caribbean CBI (St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda) is the only real citizenship-by-investment left at accessible cost. Since the OECS floor of 1 July 2024, minimums sit around USD 200,000 to USD 250,000. These passports buy visa-free access to the Schengen Area and the UK, and Grenada uniquely opens the US E-2 treaty-investor route. But understand what you are buying: a travel document and a Plan B, not a place you will live. For mobility insurance, fine. As a lifestyle move, it is vanity.
US EB-5 is a different animal: a real green-card route, not a glossy brochure. USD 800,000 into a Targeted Employment Area project (USD 1,050,000 elsewhere), and the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022 created set-asides and priority processing for rural and TEA projects that have meaningfully cut waits for some Indian applicants. The catch is capital risk: your money funds a real project that can underperform or fail. EB-5 is for families genuinely committed to the US, not for parking money.
The comparison table
| Country | Route | Min investment (2026) | Residency or citizenship | Status 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | Real estate (former) | - | Was residency | Closed (3 Apr 2025) |
| Malta | Naturalisation (MEIN) | - | Was citizenship | Struck down by ECJ (Apr 2025) |
| UK | Tier 1 Investor | - | Was residency | Closed (Feb 2022) |
| Ireland | IIP | - | Was residency | Closed (Feb 2023) |
| Greece | Real estate (zoned) | EUR 250k / 400k / 800k | Residency | Open |
| Portugal | Regulated fund | EUR 500,000 | Residency (citizenship path) | Open (no real estate) |
| Italy | Startup / bonds | EUR 250k–2m | Residency | Open |
| Hungary | Real-estate fund | EUR 250,000 | Residency | Open |
| UAE | Property | AED 2m (~INR 4.6 cr) | 10-yr residency | Open |
| Caribbean (CBI) | Fund / donation | USD 200k–250k | Citizenship | Open |
| US (EB-5) | TEA project | USD 800k (USD 1.05m std) | Green card | Open |
The part your agent skips: RBI, LRS and FEMA
Here is the uncomfortable truth most golden-visa salesmen never raise. As a resident Indian, you cannot simply wire EUR 800,000 abroad to buy a Greek apartment.
Under the RBI's Liberalised Remittance Scheme, a resident individual may remit a maximum of USD 250,000 per financial year (1 April to 31 March) for permitted purposes including overseas property and investment. That is the legal ceiling per person. A EUR 500,000 Portuguese fund or an AED 2 million UAE property cannot be funded from one individual's single-year LRS quota.
The realities to plan around:
- Pool across family. Spouse and adult children each have their own USD 250,000 quota. A family of four has USD 1 million a year, legitimately. This is the standard, compliant way large investments get structured over one or two financial years.
- TCS bites. Foreign remittances for investment above INR 10 lakh in a year attract 20% Tax Collected at Source. It is creditable against your tax liability, not a permanent loss, but it is a real cash-flow hit you must fund upfront.
- Source of funds is everything. Every euro must be traceable to taxed, declared Indian income. Post the global crackdown, both Indian banks and foreign programmes scrutinise source of funds hard. Cash-rich but paper-thin documentation is where Indian applications die.
- Disclosure follows you home. Foreign assets and residency must be declared in your Indian tax return (Schedule FA). Non-disclosure under the Black Money Act carries penalties that dwarf any visa fee. A golden visa is not a way to hide money. Treat it as a fully disclosed asset.
This is why we tell most founders the threshold question is not which country, but whether your money can legally and cleanly leave India at the pace the programme demands.
So which actually make sense?
Strip away the brochures and there are three honest use-cases.
For a real second base near India: the UAE Golden Visa. Tax-efficient, family-usable, an hour away. The default we recommend.
For a Schengen footing and EU business optionality: Italy at EUR 250k or Greece if you price the zone right. Portugal's fund route if a long citizenship path genuinely matters to you and you accept the timeline risk.
For mobility insurance and a Plan B passport: Caribbean CBI, eyes open that it is a travel document, not a home. And EB-5 only if the US is a real family destination, not a parking lot for capital.
Everything else in 2026 is either closed, gutted, or vanity dressed as strategy.
How SaathiVisa thinks about this
We are not migration agents and we do not earn commissions from fund managers or developers, so our advice runs the other way: most people who ask us about golden visas do not need one. If your goal is travel freedom, a strong visa-application track record on your Indian passport usually serves you better and cheaper than a second residency. When a golden visa genuinely fits, the work that matters is the unglamorous part, structuring the LRS remittances across the family, documenting source of funds so it survives scrutiny on both sides, and getting the Indian disclosure right. That is the case we are happy to take on personally.
FAQ
Can I get an EU passport by investment in 2026?
Effectively no, not by direct purchase. Malta's citizenship-by-investment programme was struck down by the European Court of Justice in April 2025, and the EU has made clear it will not tolerate cash-for-citizenship. EU golden visas now offer residency only, with citizenship a long, uncertain second step that depends on residence, language, and integration. For an actual passport by investment, the Caribbean programmes remain the realistic route.
How does an Indian fund a EUR 500,000 golden visa under LRS?
Through the family. Each resident individual can remit up to USD 250,000 per financial year under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, so a couple or family pools their quotas, often across two financial years, to fund larger investments legally. Budget for 20% TCS on investment remittances above INR 10 lakh, and ensure every rupee is traceable to taxed, declared income. The investment and foreign residency must be disclosed in your Indian tax return.
Is the UAE Golden Visa better than a European one for an Indian family?
For most Indian families, yes. At AED 2 million in property it grants a ten-year renewable residency, with no personal income tax, a one-hour flight home, and schools and healthcare a family will actually use day to day. European golden visas make more sense when you specifically want Schengen residence rights or a long-term EU citizenship path. The UAE is a base you live in; many European routes end up as certificates you never use.