Vanuatu passports and Greek residence: an entrepreneur moves to Attica

A family from Moscow and a school in Athens

This is a composite example: the story is built from typical family enquiries, and no real client is described; the names are invented. Dmitry is 41, Anna 39, their son Matvey 13. All three are Russian citizens. Dmitry sold his share in an education company and now advises several projects in Europe and the Emirates.

The family had discussed the move for two years. Anna is a dentist; she knew her degree would need recognition and had already started Greek classes. Their son chose the school himself, from a video tour.

The conversation came in waves. Anna twice said she was not going anywhere until she understood what she would be doing there, and twice returned to the subject herself. By autumn she had found two clinics in Athens with Russian doctors on staff and wrote to one of them about degree recognition. A detailed reply came the next day, and after it the move turned from a dream into a plan.

They picked Glyfada for the sea and the metro: the family had no plan to buy a car straight away. Attica sits in the expensive zone of the programme, so the threshold here is EUR 800,000, and Dmitry knew that before speaking to us.

They chose the district from maps and word of mouth: Glyfada is full of families from different countries, there are private schools, and it is twenty-five minutes from the promenade to the airport along the coast road. Anna set one condition: the food market had to be walkable, because she was not going to live in a suburb and drive for parsley.

He also knew the restriction for Russian citizens: since 2022 Greece has not accepted their Golden Visa applications. So his first question was not about Greece but about a second citizenship and the timing.

The first call lasted an hour. Dmitry spoke in figures: the share sale, the budget for a flat, school costs, and then the question of how much to pay us and when. The lawyer asked for a day to gather the timings in both countries and came to the second call with a year-long calendar.

Dmitry’s main question was not the budget but whether he could keep travelling while the application was under review.

Darya MelnikSenior Investment Programs Advisor

Vanuatu citizenship first, then the Attica purchase

The route had two stages. First Vanuatu citizenship for the whole family, then the purchase of a flat in Glyfada and a Greek residence application as Vanuatu citizens.

Everyone keeps their Russian citizenship: Russia allows a second one. A foreign citizenship is notified to the Interior Ministry within 60 days, or within 30 days of returning if it was acquired abroad.

The lawyer named the unwelcome figure straight away. Attica reviews applications more slowly than the regions: 12-24 months against 6-12 outside Attica. For the family that meant nearly two years living on the blue certificate rather than a card.

Thresholds and zones are set out in Golden Visa zones.

A family route and the question about the share sale

For a family of three the donation is USD 170,000 including the due diligence fee. The coconut oil fund costs 165,000 for a family of up to four, with 50,000 returned after five years, but it is paid at filing. Dmitry chose the fund: part of the money comes back, and after the share sale there was enough free cash for both stages.

Only the main applicant went through due diligence. The main question was predictable: a large sale of a share in an education company. The lawyer had the sale agreement, the valuation, account statements and the tax return for the year of the deal ready. The question closed on the first answer.

Matvey’s documents were quick: birth certificate, school letter, the other parent’s consent. All Russian documents were apostilled and translated into English by a certified translator.

The bank statements needed separate work. Part of the money from the share sale sat in a brokerage account, and the lawyer asked not just for a statement but for a broker’s letter describing the source of funds. Such a letter takes three or four days on request, and without it due diligence would have raised a question that could be closed in advance.

Approval came a month later, the family gave biometrics in Moscow, and the passports arrived two weeks after that. How the two programmes work is set out in donation or fund.

A flat for 820,000 and a shed on the roof

They looked for three bedrooms within walking distance of the school. They found it in a 2016 building: 142 square metres of main living space, a terrace, parking. The price was EUR 820,000, above the Attica threshold.

The first two flats fell away before any checks. One had 104 square metres of main living space and failed the 120 threshold at any price. In the other the owner wanted the deal recorded below the actual price, and the lawyer said at once that the programme counts the price in the contract, not a verbal arrangement.

The Greek lawyer checked title and encumbrances; the engineer compared the area against the cadastre and the building permit. Nothing was out of line inside the flat, but a utility structure that was not on the plan turned up on the roof.

The structure belonged not to the seller but to the building’s owners’ association. The lawyer requested a letter from the manager confirming that the shared roof does not form part of the flat and is not included in the sale. With that letter the property passed the checks.

The engineer also checked the energy certificate and the parking papers: a space in an underground garage must be registered together with the flat, not held under a side agreement with neighbours. Here the parking space was recorded in the title, so no extra documents were needed.

The deposit followed the checks, and the agreement provided for its return if the results came back negative. What typically goes wrong at this stage is set out in Golden Visa mistakes.

Eighteen months on the blue certificate, trips on a visa

After filing the family received the blue certificate. It confirms lawful stay in Greece throughout the review: living there, taking a child to school, using doctors and banks are all fine on it.

What it does not give is Schengen travel. That was Dmitry’s main question: his trips to Germany and the Emirates had not gone anywhere.

The answer turned out to be simple. Entering Greece on a Vanuatu passport requires a Schengen visa, and Dmitry obtained a multiple-entry one. While it is valid, European trips run on it, and Vanuatu citizens enter the Emirates without a visa. The lawyer wrote the family a reminder: visa validity, the date to apply for the next one, days in Schengen.

The lawyer also warned about the 90 days in Schengen. Until the family hold residence cards, days in other Schengen countries count against the visa, while time in Greece itself on the blue certificate does not. To keep it straight, Dmitry started marking trips in his phone calendar and sending it to the lawyer before every new flight.

The reminder proved useful once at the airport. An airline agent in Athens asked for a document giving the right to enter Germany, and Dmitry showed the visa in his Vanuatu passport, with the blue certificate as proof of his stay in Greece. The matter took a minute.

School, clinic and a first winter by the sea

Matvey started at a private school taught in English with Greek as a second language. For enrolment the school asked for last year’s report card with a translation and a medical record with vaccinations.

Anna began having her dental degree recognised. That is a separate route with nothing to do with the programme: gathering education documents, translation, filing with the relevant authority and a language exam. The lawyer found the family a local adviser on degree recognition.

Tax numbers for all three were obtained before the move, under a power of attorney. A Greek bank account was opened and the utility payments moved onto it.

Among the everyday matters, the Greek social insurance number and registration with a family doctor took the most time. Appointments had to be booked ahead and documents were accepted only with translations. The lawyer sent an assistant who speaks Russian and Greek along with the family, and both visits were done in a day.

Dmitry is a tax resident wherever he spends more time, and in the first year that was Greece. The lawyer introduced him to a tax adviser in Athens in advance so that the annual return would hold no surprises.

The family summed up their first winter briefly: fifteen degrees in Glyfada in January, their son Matvey walks to school without a coat, and on Saturdays they take the metro into town to wander around Plaka.

Six months in, Dmitry noticed that working from Glyfada suited him better than Moscow: forty minutes to the airport, direct flights to Munich and Dubai, and less than two hours’ time difference from both his clients. He moved one project into a Greek company set up with a local accountant.

How it ended for the family

In this scenario the Vanuatu Commission approved the application, the flat has been bought, and the Greek application is filed and under review. The family expect their cards within the 12-24 month Attica window. In a real application decisions and timelines depend on the Vanuatu Commission and the Greek migration service.

With the cards the family can travel in Schengen for up to 90 days in any 180 and live in Greece with no minimum number of days. The programme has no minimum stay: cards are renewed while the flat is owned.

Letting the flat through short-term rental platforms is not allowed: the fine is EUR 50,000. The family live in it, so the question does not arise.

Every year the flat carries Greece’s property ownership tax, calculated on properties held on 1 January. The lawyer sends the calculation in advance.

In five years USD 50,000 comes back from the Vanuatu fund. The family plan to spend it on rebuilding the terrace.

Attica costs more and takes longer. The family chose it for the school and knew in advance what that choice cost them.

Darya MelnikSenior Investment Programs Advisor

Who this route suits

Families who specifically need Attica: schools, medicine, the airport, the metro. That is paid for both in money, through the EUR 800,000 threshold, and in time, through the 12-24 month review.

Russian citizens who cannot file for the Greek programme in their own right: second citizenship first, then the purchase and the filing.

Anyone whose travel does not stop: the blue certificate covers the stay in Greece, while trips run on the Schengen visa in the Vanuatu passport - and that visa’s expiry has to be watched.

Similar stories: checking a house in Volos and a daughter studying in Thessaloniki. Programme terms are on the Vanuatu citizenship page.

Composite example: the story is built from typical enquiries and no real clients are described. Figures as of September 2026. Decisions rest with the Vanuatu Citizenship Commission and the Greek migration service.