VisaGreece digital nomads must check the national-visa route after the 2026 reform
This follow-up explains the repeal of Greece’s provision allowing eligible digital nomads to apply after tourist entry, and the income, evidence and residence steps that remain relevant.
Official source date: 2026-02-06
Edited and checked by the VisaWand editorial team
The February law removed the tourist-entry application provision
Prospective digital nomads planning residence in Greece should obtain the appropriate national visa rather than rely on older guidance describing an application after ordinary tourist entry. Law 5275/2026, published on 6 February 2026, repeals paragraph 7 of Article 12 of the Migration Code. This is a follow-up to that reform, not a new October announcement.
The repealed provision had allowed eligible third-country nationals and their families who entered with a uniform visa or under visa exemption to apply for the relevant residence permission during their lawful visit. Its removal matters even where the traveller can enter Schengen for tourism without a visa. Visa-free admission for a short visit should not be treated as an unchanged route into digital-nomad residence.
The route concerns remote work for businesses outside Greece
Article 68 of the Migration Code provides the national digital-nomad visa for third-country employees, freelancers and self-employed people providing remote work using information technology for employers or clients outside Greece. It describes a national visa lasting up to twelve months and a declaration that the applicant will not provide work or services to a Greek-based employer.
The published framework lists a EUR75 national-visa fee. That charge should not be confused with a later residence-permit fee. The restriction on the location of the employer or client is substantive: someone intending to take an ordinary Greek job should identify the employment route rather than assume remote-work experience makes the digital-nomad category suitable. EU free-movement cases are a separate legal situation from this third-country visa category.
Prepare evidence of income, overseas work and accommodation
The Ministry’s implementation guidance identifies EUR3,500 monthly resources for digital nomads. The underlying Code increases the amount by 20 percent for a spouse or partner and 15 percent per child, and describes the salaried-income figure after relevant taxes. Applicants should calculate their own family requirement and provide the supporting records rather than assume the principal figure covers every accompanying person.
The published documentary decision requires evidence of the overseas business and an active employment or services relationship permitting remote work. A fixed-term arrangement must cover the relevant period. It also describes evidence for an applicant’s own foreign business. For the residence stage it lists accommodation through a lease, property ownership or permitted use, private insurance and the prescribed application payment. Use that decision to build the file, while reading its older entry-route wording against the later February repeal.
The visa and residence application are separate stages
Article 68 provides for an application for the relevant two-year residence permission before the national visa expires, where the conditions continue to be satisfied. An applicant should therefore plan both the consular visa stage and the subsequent residence request. A visa appointment or a long-term rental booking does not itself establish residence permission.
The Migration Ministry’s legal-migration applications page links the electronic services for initial and renewal residence applications. It also distinguishes booking an appointment to collect an issued permit and checking the case record. Use the application service for filing and the case information for progress; an appointment to collect a document is not the original residence application. Confirm the current category and submission instructions before uploading a file based on an outdated checklist.
Resolve the application location before relying on a tourist stay
The Foreign Ministry maintains a digital-nomad service page and a national-visa page directing users to the relevant application and general-document resources. Those are the official starting points for identifying the consular stage. The resources reviewed do not establish a general exemption preserving tourist-to-nomad conversion for every person already in Greece when the law changed.
For illustration, a remote employee still abroad should establish the national-visa route and income evidence before arranging a move. Someone already visiting should obtain case-specific direction about the applicable lawful route while the current stay remains valid, rather than assume that meeting the financial threshold restores the repealed procedure. The February change concerns how residence is accessed; it does not erase the overseas-work, evidence, family or filing-deadline requirements. This report cannot determine an individual pending application’s transitional treatment from the published provisions alone.
