The Elevate Greece Tech Visa: Deciphering the 1.6x National Gross Average Salary Rule
Greece is positioning itself as the Mediterranean alternative to Dublin and London. With Law 5275/2026 in force from February 6, the new Tech Visa relies on a strict mathematical formula — 1.6x the national average gross salary. Here is exactly how that math breaks down, and the one critical number the article's framing often gets wrong. While Indian engineers focus on UK and Irish pathways, a distinct tech ecosystem has been building in Southern Europe. Over 800 companies are registered on Elevate Greece — the government's official national startup registry — and foreign direct investment in the Greek tech sector has grown steadily since 2022. To match that momentum, Law 5275/2026, which took effect on February 6, 2026, introduced two new immigration pathways — the Tech Visa (Residence Category Z.13A) and the Talent Visa (Z.15) — alongside a major restructuring of Greece's EU Blue Card rules. This is not a minor update. Fragomen describes it as a significant immigration o...