What an EU Residence Permit Actually Costs in 2026 — Portugal, Greece, Malta, Hungary, Cyprus, and Latvia Compared

Most families I speak with believe an EU residence permit costs at least half a million euros. They are wrong by a factor of eight.

Here are the actual 2026 prices for the major regulated EU residence-by-investment programmes. Every number below is a programme minimum or an all-in cost, drawn from publicly available regulatory sources. None of these are quotes from advisors — they are statutory thresholds that any honest reader can verify with the issuing government.

The six programmes Middle East and South Asian families typically consider

What this comparison actually tells you

In other words, Latvia delivers the same end result — EU residence, Schengen access, a permanent-residence pathway — for between one-fourth and one-thirteenth the price of every other regulated EU programme currently open.

I do not write this to say Latvia is "better" than Portugal or Greece. They are different countries, with different lifestyles, different climates, different things to offer a family that is actually relocating. If your goal is to physically move your family to Lisbon or Athens, you should pay the higher price and go there. The Portuguese lifestyle is real. The Greek climate is real. The community is real.

But the buyers I most often speak with — Egyptian business owners, Saudi investors, Indian HNWIs, Pakistani families, Lebanese professionals — are not planning to physically relocate. They want the legal right to live and travel in the European Union, for their children's education, for diversification, for a long-term family Plan B. They want EU residence as an asset, not as a lifestyle change.

For that buyer, Latvia is the cheapest legitimate path that exists in 2026. That is a fact about the regulatory landscape, not a sales pitch.

Why the price gap is so wide

People who first see this comparison often assume there must be a catch. There isn't. The price gap reflects three structural factors, not three concealed disadvantages.

1. Latvia is a smaller country. Portugal, Greece, Spain, Italy, and Malta have built brand premiums on tourism and lifestyle. Latvia has not. So its programme is priced for its actual structural value as an EU residence permit, rather than for the lifestyle bundle attached to a sunny southern European location.
2. The Latvian programme is a direct legal mechanic, not a packaged product. Other countries' programmes involve real-estate investment, fund management, donations, and various intermediated fees. Latvia is simply a share-capital subscription into a qualifying Latvian company plus a flat state contribution. No fund manager extracting 1.5%. No real-estate agency clipping a commission. The cost is just the cost.
3. Most premium global advisory firms don't actively market Latvia. Henley, Arton, and the major Dubai-based firms make their margin on programmes that cost six figures. Spending marketing budget pushing a €63,000 programme would erode that margin. So Latvia stays under-marketed — and the price stays low. We are explicitly working against this dynamic.

None of these factors degrades the residence permit itself. A Latvian residence permit is a fully-recognised EU/Schengen residence card, identical in legal force to a Portuguese or Greek one. Schengen border officers do not distinguish between them.

How to actually verify these numbers

Every figure above is sourced from public regulatory information. If you want to verify any of them independently — which you should — here are the official sources:

• Latvia: Article 23 of the Latvian Immigration Law (Imigrācijas likums) at likumi.lv; programme administered by OCMA (Pilsonības un migrācijas lietu pārvalde) at pmlp.gov.lv
• Portugal: SEF / AIMA Golden Visa pages
• Greece: Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum, Golden Visa programme
• Malta: Residency Malta Agency
• Hungary: Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency
• Cyprus: Cyprus Civil Registry & Migration Department

What we do differently

The full fee table for our practice — every line item, every recipient, every refund status — is published on the homepage of this website. We do not hide pricing behind a free consultation, the way most of our peers do. We never have.

This piece itself is part of that commitment: I'd rather lose a sales opportunity by being honest about programme alternatives than win one by withholding information that the buyer deserves before deciding where to spend €60,000 or €600,000.

For the long version of the Latvia vs Portugal head-to-head, including when each programme actually makes sense for your family, see our dedicated Latvia vs Portugal Golden Visa comparison.