A Vanuatu Passport and Greek Residence: How Checking a House in Volos Kept a Couple from the Wrong Purchase

A couple from Saint Petersburg and a house overlooking the bay

This is a composite example: the story is built from typical family enquiries, and no real client is described; the names are invented. Andrey is 56, Irina 54. Both are Russian citizens living in Saint Petersburg. Andrey runs a design bureau; Irina teaches at a university and retires in two years.

Greece began for the couple with a holiday five years ago. Since then they have returned every summer to Volos, a town at the foot of Mount Pelion, and this year they decided to buy a house there. The plan is simple: half the year in Greece, half in Saint Petersburg near their children.

In their first summer in Volos the couple rented a flat for a week and stayed a month. Andrey swam in the bay every morning, and Irina drove to Pelion’s mountain villages for honey and herbs. By the end of the month they knew the café owner and the fish market seller by name.

The house was found by an estate agent recommended by friends. Two storeys, white, with a veranda and a view of the bay. The price, EUR 400,000, sat exactly on the regional Golden Visa threshold.

The couple came to view the house in June. The owner made coffee on the veranda, and the talk of square metres somehow faded away: from the veranda you could watch fishing boats coming into the bay. That day the couple saw neither the plan nor the building permit - the agent said the paperwork was in order and he would show it later.

The couple fell in love with the house before they looked at its documents.

Darya MelnikSenior Investment Programs Advisor

Why Vanuatu comes first and Greece second

The lawyer began with the main restriction. Since 2022 Greece has not accepted Golden Visa applications from Russian and Belarusian citizens. So the couple’s path has two stages: first Vanuatu citizenship, then the Greek residence application as Vanuatu citizens.

The couple keep their Russian citizenship: Russia allows a second one. They will notify the Interior Ministry of their Vanuatu citizenship within 60 days.

The lawyer set out the calendar at once. Vanuatu passports take 3-4 months, then a Schengen visa, and only then the trip for the deal. Buying the house that summer, as the couple wanted, was not possible: the residence application is filed as Vanuatu citizens and with the property documents. Irina worried the house would be gone by then and, as it turned out later, she need not have.

The Greek stage requires one property worth at least EUR 400,000 with at least 120 square metres of main living space. Volos is outside Attica, Thessaloniki and the large islands, so the EUR 400,000 threshold applies rather than 800,000. How the thresholds work is covered in Golden Visa zones.

The donation for a couple and passports in one season

For a couple the donation costs USD 155,000 including the due diligence fee. The coconut oil fund costs 165,000, with 50,000 returned after five years. The couple chose the donation: it is paid after approval, and the house money had to stay free.

Income documents were gathered in a month: Andrey’s salary and dividends from the design bureau, Irina’s salary and the sale of a dacha near Saint Petersburg, whose proceeds the couple had set aside for the house. The Russian documents were apostilled and received certified English translations.

Due diligence asked one question: where did the money to buy the dacha in 2009 come from? The answer was in an old agreement and statements. A month later approval came, the couple gave biometrics in Saint Petersburg, and the passports arrived two weeks later. How the two programmes compare is covered in donation or fund.

The engineer found what the listing did not mention

While the passports were being processed, the lawyer suggested not losing time and checking the house. The seller was pressing for a deposit, but the lawyer asked the couple not to sign anything until a Greek lawyer and an engineer had reviewed the documents.

The Greek lawyer started with the cadastre. In Greece every property has a record in the national cadastre with its area and boundaries, plus a building permit with plans. If the actual house does not match these documents, it shows up at the first check.

The lawyer checked title and encumbrances: all clean. The engineer compared the house with its building permit and cadastral plans. According to the documents, main living space was 118 square metres. The 25-square-metre veranda the seller presented as part of the house had been glazed and insulated without a permit.

For the couple this meant two problems at once. The house failed the 120-square-metre rule, and it had an unpermitted structure that could become a reason for refusal. What such mistakes look like in practice is covered in Golden Visa mistakes.

The engineer arrived with a tape measure and the plans. The owner explained that his father had glazed the veranda years ago and that every neighbour in Volos does the same. In the documents that space did not exist, and for the Greek migration service it does not exist either.

The evening the couple gave up their dream house

The lawyer called the couple in the evening and told them everything as it was. Irina was silent for a long time: she already knew where her study would be in that house.

There were two options. Wait for the seller to legalise the veranda, with no guarantee it would then count as main living space. Or look for another house. The agent urged them to wait. The lawyer explained what the couple risked: if they bought before the issue was resolved, EUR 400,000 would be tied up in a property unsuitable for a Golden Visa.

That same evening the agent wrote that two other buyers were interested and nobody would wait. The lawyer calmly replied that the couple understood. Buying a property unsuitable for the purpose just to beat other buyers made no sense.

In the morning Andrey wrote briefly: we are looking for another. They had not paid a deposit, so walking away cost them nothing.

The second house: less view, better documents

The second house was found three weeks later in a neighbouring district, fifteen minutes further from the sea. Stone-built, 146 square metres of main living space, a garden with olive trees. The price was EUR 410,000.

The asking price started at EUR 425,000. The Greek lawyer pointed out that an old shed on the plot had never been registered, and the owner agreed to remove it before the deal and drop the price to 410,000. The couple got the paperwork in order and a spot for a future gazebo.

This time the engineer and lawyer checked the house before the couple’s first video viewing. The documented area matched the actual one, and the building permit and all alterations were in order.

The couple first viewed the house by video. The agent walked through the rooms with a phone, and on the same call the engineer showed where the walls ran on the plan and where the meters were. The couple would have flown in for a personal viewing, but their Vanuatu passports did not yet have a Schengen visa, so the decision was made on the video and the documents.

Irina said the view was more modest, but lemons could be planted in the garden. The couple paid a deposit only after the agreement stated that the money would be returned if the checks were negative.

A notary purchase and filing in one trip

Entering Greece on a Vanuatu passport requires a Schengen visa. The couple obtained one in a month and flew to Volos for ten days.

Part of the preparation was done in advance, without a trip. Under a power of attorney the Greek lawyer obtained Greek tax numbers for the couple: without them one can neither buy a house nor open an account. That is why everything in Volos took ten days instead of a month.

During that trip they did everything that requires personal presence. They signed at the notary, opened a Greek bank account and paid the transfer tax. The lawyer filed the residence application through the online platform, and the couple gave biometrics.

Opening the bank account took half a day: the clerk copied the details from the Vanuatu passports by hand, because she was seeing such documents for the first time. The lawyer had sent the branch a letter explaining the programme in advance, with a copy of the notification to the Russian Interior Ministry, and the bank had no questions about the source of funds.

After filing the couple received a blue certificate. It confirms lawful stay in Greece during the review but does not allow Schengen travel. Outside Attica the review usually takes 6-12 months.

What the couple gets

In this scenario the Vanuatu Commission approved the application, and the Greek application has been filed. The couple expect their residence cards in 6-12 months. In a real application decisions and timelines depend on the Vanuatu Commission and the Greek migration service.

With the cards the couple can live in Greece with no minimum number of days and travel in Schengen for up to 90 days in any 180. Living in Greece permanently is not required for a Golden Visa, so the plan of half a year in Volos and half in Saint Petersburg fits the programme.

Renting the house through short-term rental platforms is not allowed: the fine is EUR 50,000. The couple do not plan to: in winter the house will stay closed, and a neighbour has promised to water the olive trees.

Every year the couple will pay Greece’s property ownership tax. It does not depend on whether they live in Greece and is calculated on properties held on 1 January. The lawyer asked the Greek lawyer to send the couple the calculation in advance so the payment is no surprise.

In the autumn the couple came to Volos again, this time with keys. Andrey arranged with a local builder to repair the roof before winter, and Irina planted four lemon trees in the garden. The Greek bank account was useful at once: water, electricity and waste collection are paid from it, and because the bills arrive in Greek, the lawyer sends the couple a short summary once a quarter.

The lawyer put together a year-ahead reminder for the couple: when to notify the Russian Interior Ministry of the Vanuatu citizenship, when the property tax calculation arrives, when the Schengen visa expires and what to do if the residence card comes earlier than expected. The couple printed it and keep it in the folder with the house documents.

According to the estate agent, the first house is still on the market. And the couple’s daughter has already bought tickets to visit Volos with the grandchildren in summer.

For a Golden Visa what matters most is not the view from the window but what the house documents say.

Darya MelnikSenior Investment Programs Advisor

Who this path suits

This story repeats for Russian citizens who want to live in Greece: first Vanuatu citizenship, then a Golden Visa as Vanuatu citizens.

If a property is already chosen, do not pay a deposit before a legal and technical check. Main living space is counted by documents, and unpermitted additions are not included.

Outside Attica, Thessaloniki and the large islands the threshold is EUR 400,000, and reviews usually move faster.

Similar stories: a retired couple: winter in Asia, summer in Greece and a family of four moving to Athens. Programme terms are on the Vanuatu citizenship page.

Composite example: this story is based on typical enquiries; no real clients are described. Figures as of September 2026. Decisions are made by the Vanuatu Citizenship Commission and the Greek migration service.