BEIRUT,  (Xinhua) — Elias El Khoury, CEO at company Promoteam, reported an increasing demand by the Lebanese on residential properties in Greece, Portugal and other countries that offer investment opportunities in return for residency permits and citizenships. “Demand by the Lebanese on such kinds of investments has increased in the past year because of the complicated political and security situation in Lebanon,” Khoury told Xinhua, whose company organizes exhibitions for European companies to offer their services. Khoury added that Lebanese who invest in such programs are seeking to secure a safe place to live in the future. Khoury’s remarks came on the sidelines of an exhibition held by Promoteam with the participation of tens of real estate and consultancy companies from European countries. Dubbed “Citizenship by Investment Property Fair and Conference,” the exhibition aims at attracting high net worth clients from the Middle East and North Africa region looking for a second home. Khoury said that lots of people in the region are interested in such programs because they can use the purchased apartments for their vacation or get a return on their investment by offering their residential units for rental. “For instance, people who buy a residential apartment in Greece can easily offer it for rental to millions of tourists who visit the country every year,” Khoury said. People who visited the two-day exhibition, which kicked off on Thursday in Beirut, had the chance to gain a deep insight of the programs offered by different countries. Pedro Mendes de Almeida, consultant at So-Consulting in Portugal, said that the Portuguese program requires a minimum investment of 350,000 euros (393,000 U.S. dollars) to acquire the golden visa. After five years, the investor can apply for the Portuguese citizenship, the consultant added. “Investors do not have to live in Portugal but they just have to visit seven days per year,” he told Xinhua, adding that investors can also get a high yield ranging between 6.5 percent to 10 percent yearly if they offer their house for rental.

Nicolas Goro, Business Development Manager at Pafilia property developers, said that the minimum requirement for a permanent residency in Cyprus is an investment of 300,000 euros which enables investors to reside and work in Cyprus. However, he explained that the citizenship requires an investment of 2.15 million euros. Peter Tsounis, CEO at Dream Estates in Greece, said that Greece’s permanent residency is the easiest because it requires an investment of only 250,000 euros, allowing investors to get a golden visa for five years which can be renewed if the investors’ records are clean. “Also, investors can apply for the citizenship after seven years of ownership but they should learn a bit of Greek language and have information about the Greek culture and history in a bid to pass a test for this purpose,” he said. Almeida said that Lebanese have been asking a lot about the Portuguese program because it is attractive. Tsounis reported a good demand by the Lebanese who have the purchasing power to acquire residential units in Greece because it is close to Lebanon.