The five-year option almost nobody factors in
When someone comes to me about a golden visa, they often already have a country in mind – somewhere they can picture themselves moving to. That is usually what starts the conversation, and it is a good place to start.
But the part that adds real value, and the part fewer people think about at the outset, is the freedom to choose a different country later in life. You commit to one place now, and in time your circumstances, or simply your preferences, may change. Being able to move on to another European country – without going back to the beginning – is worth a great deal.
Until recently there was a clear and well-known incentive here. Through Portugal, you could apply for a European passport after just five years, and with that passport you could live in any European country you liked. For someone who was not certain they would settle in Portugal for good, or who had not yet made a firm long-term plan, that was the real appeal. Five years in one country opened up the whole of Europe.
The recent changes have shifted that picture. Portugal has moved its citizenship timeline from five years to ten under Organic Law 1/2026, and the headlines have made the passport look further away than ever.
That said, it is worth keeping some perspective. Portugal remains the most popular destination for this kind of move, and for good reason – a low cost of living, around 300 days of sunshine a year, excellent access to healthcare and education, and all the other benefits the country is known for. The Golden Visa grants access to all of that, along with the freedom to genuinely enjoy living in Portugal. For most people, Portugal will still be the way forward.
But for those who are simply looking for a path to European freedom, and are not too concerned about which country they spend those first five years in, it helps to look briefly at each of the programs and work out which route into Europe makes the most sense for you.
The programs on the table
A quick word on where you can start, because each country is a slightly different way in.
Portugal remains the best known. The property route is long gone, so today’s investors typically come in through a qualifying investment fund (from €500,000) or a cultural donation (from €250,000). Its defining feature has always been flexibility – famously low physical stay requirements while you hold the visa.
Greece is the most accessible entry point in Western Europe, and it is still property-led. Thresholds now sit at three tiers – €250,000 for specific projects such as conversions and listed-building restorations, €400,000 across most of the country, and €800,000 in the prime spots like Athens, Thessaloniki, Mykonos and Santorini.
Italy offers an investor visa with four routes: €250,000 into an innovative startup, €500,000 into an Italian company, €2 million into government bonds, or a €1 million philanthropic donation. The permit comes with no minimum-stay obligation, which suits those who want optionality rather than immediate relocation.
Malta takes a different shape again. Its Permanent Residence Program grants residency more or less from the outset, in exchange for a combination of a government contribution (from €37,000), a property commitment (rent from €14,000 a year or purchase from €375,000), a small charitable donation, and proof of assets.
Four programs, four price points, four lifestyles. What they all share is the part that gets overlooked.
The bit nobody talks about
After five years of legal residence in any of these countries, you can apply for EU Long-Term Resident Status.
This is not the same as the national permanent residence each country offers, and it is not citizenship. It is a status created at European level, under the Long-Term Residence Directive, and recognised right across the bloc. You earn it through one member state, and then you carry it with you.
That distinction is the whole point. National permanent residence keeps you settled in the country you chose. EU Long-Term Resident Status is the one that lets you move on, if you want to.
What it actually gives you
Hold EU Long-Term Resident Status and you gain the right to apply to live and work in almost any other EU country, under a simplified process – without starting from scratch and without your new country running the usual labour-market tests on you. You keep visa-free travel throughout the Schengen Area. You get equal treatment with nationals across employment, education and a range of social entitlements. And you gain reinforced protection against being asked to leave.
In plain terms: qualify in Portugal, and in time you could base yourself in Spain, France, the Netherlands or most of the rest of the EU. You committed to one country, and five years later you can take your pick of the others. No passport required.
There are two honest points I would rather you hear from me than discover later.
First, this status rewards genuine residence. The five-year clock assumes you have actually been living in Europe, within the absence limits the rules allow – it is not designed for someone who has barely set foot in the country. If your plan involves minimal physical presence, the path needs careful structuring, and that is exactly the sort of thing worth talking through properly.
Second, the onward move is conditional, not automatic. You apply to your new country and meet its requirements; you do not simply turn up. And two countries – Ireland and Denmark – opted out of the directive altogether, so they sit outside this particular arrangement.
Those points aside, the headline holds: five years of real residence, and you can live almost anywhere in Europe, with or without a passport.
Long-Term Resident Status vs citizenship – the honest comparison
So if year five already hands you that freedom of movement, what does a passport add? A fair question, and the honest answer is: less than most people assume, but not nothing.
| At year five | Citizenship (passport) | EU Long-Term Resident Status |
|---|---|---|
| Live and work across the EU | Yes | Yes |
| Employment without a labour-market test | Yes | Yes, in most EU states |
| Visa-free Schengen travel | Yes | Yes |
| Base yourself outside your “home” country long-term | Yes | Yes, provided you stay within the EU |
| Relocate to Ireland or Denmark | Yes | No – both opted out of the directive |
| Vote in EU elections / work in EU institutions | Yes | No |
| Strong passport travel (around 190 countries) | Yes | No – your travel stays tied to your current passport |
| Pass nationality to children at birth | Yes | Limited |
The pattern is clear enough. If your goal is to live, work and move freely within Europe, Long-Term Resident Status gets you there at year five. Citizenship only pulls ahead in a narrower set of cases – if you want the strongest possible passport for global travel, the right to vote or work in EU institutions, the option to settle specifically in Ireland or Denmark, or the cleanest path to passing nationality to your children.
In summary
The aim of this article is simply to lay out the path – a timeline towards European access at year five, looked at from a slightly different angle to the one most people tend to focus on.
In the early stages, the country you choose to apply through will naturally come down to where you see yourself spending most of your time. That preference – the lifestyle, the location, how often you actually intend to be there – is usually what points to the right program and the country you apply from.
But here is the reassurance worth holding on to. Even if settling in that country for the long term is not your firm plan, you still have the option to relocate to other EU countries after the five-year mark. It is a point that, to my mind, deserved a great deal more attention in the past. It has always sat in the shadow of the passport – and yet for the vast majority of clients I work with, it is a genuinely viable route.
The real decision, then, is simply which country’s visa to apply through. There are pros and cons to each, and the right answer depends very much on your personal circumstances.
I hope this helps make sense of the different European routes. If you have any questions, or would like some personalised advice on which program fits you best, you are welcome to get in touch at jsprive.com/contact.