Greece has dropped the local-work requirement from its €10,000 relocation grant, and extended it to ten more regional units
Greece’s €10,000 per household relocation grant opened to applications at noon on 14 October 2026, and the terms have changed in the way that matters most to anyone earning their living remotely. Applicants no longer have to prove they work in the area they move to. The minister, Domna Michailidou, states it directly on the ministry’s own page: “Δεν ζητάμε πλέον να αποδείξει κάποιος ότι εργάζεται στον τόπο εγκατάστασης” – we no longer ask anyone to prove they work in the place of settlement. Owning or renting a home there is sufficient.
The scheme has also widened. Having started as a pilot in the Evros area, it now covers ten further regional units: Drama, Florina, Kilkis, Serres, Pella, Kastoria, Kozani, Grevena, Ioannina and Thesprotia.
The terms, as stated on the ministry’s page:
- €10,000 per household, with the first €5,000 paid up front on approval
- Permanent residence in the area for five years is required to keep the grant: “για να διατηρηθεί η ενίσχυση απαιτείται μόνιμη παραμονή στην περιοχή για πέντε χρόνια”
- Capped at approximately 1,000 households
Why this matters
Relocation grants across Europe have almost always carried a local-employment condition, and that condition is what has made them useless to the people most able to move. If you must prove a job in a depopulating region, the grant is only available to people who have solved the harder problem already. Removing it makes this the first substantial European relocation grant genuinely reachable by someone whose income arrives from elsewhere.
The five-year residence condition is the counterweight, and it is a serious one. This is not a scheme to try for a year. Greece is buying permanent residents, and a household taking the money is committing to half a decade in a regional unit that is losing population for reasons that will not change because they arrived.
What we could not confirm
Two things, and both matter before anyone applies.
The second instalment. The ministry’s page says the first €5,000 is paid up front but does not state what triggers the remaining €5,000. A companion release of 13 October has been reported as tying it to one year of proven residence. The two statements have not been reconciled by the ministry, so we are not publishing a timing for the second payment.
The application route. The ministry pages say only that applications go through gov.gr. A specific URL circulating in secondary reporting does not appear on any ministry page, and Remote Work Europe does not publish URLs it has not verified. Go to gov.gr and search from there.
What to watch
Whether the 1,000-household cap fills, and how fast. A grant with no local-work condition and €5,000 paid in advance is a materially more attractive proposition than its predecessor, and the cap is small.