Greece Will Pay You €5,000 a Year to Live on This Tiny Island
Plenty of Greek islands struggle to keep people through the winter, but few face the challenge of Kastellorizo, a tiny island at the far eastern edge of the country where fewer than 600 people live year-round. Greece now plans to pay them, and new arrivals, to stay. A law approved by Parliament on Friday, November 13, sets up a yearly payment of €5,000 per household, plus €1,000 for every minor child, for people who make the island their permanent home.
The measure is Article 25 of Law 5355/2026, the large tax and benefits package that carries the measures Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced at the Thessaloniki International Fair in September. The article passed with 239 votes in favor, 10 against and 35 present, and the law was published in the Government Gazette the same day.
Where Is Kastellorizo?
Kastellorizo, officially called Megisti, is the easternmost inhabited Greek island and part of the Dodecanese. It sits about 2 kilometers off the Turkish coastal town of Kas, roughly 125 kilometers east of Rhodes and about 570 kilometers southeast of Athens. The only town on the island wraps around a horseshoe harbor lined with brightly painted mansions, and the island became famous abroad through the 1991 Oscar-winning Italian film Mediterraneo.
Its population has shrunk dramatically over the past century. About 9,000 people lived there in the early 1900s, but by the 1981 census only 222 were left. The 2021 census counted 594 residents. Many families emigrated to Australia, especially Perth and Sydney, where their descendants still call themselves Kazzies.
How Much Money and Who Gets It
The payment is set at €5,000 a year for each eligible household, rising by €1,000 for each minor dependent child. A couple with two young children, for example, would receive €7,000 a year. The money is tax-free, cannot be seized by creditors or the state, and does not count as income when the government checks eligibility for other welfare benefits.
It is open to two groups: people who already live permanently on the island, and households that move their main residence there. The applicant must be an adult Greek citizen who is a tax resident of Greece and whose individual tax return shows Kastellorizo as the main residence for the previous year. Households can be single people, married couples or couples in a civil partnership, and single parents with children.
Permanent residents will receive the first payments in 2027. People who relocate will be paid from 2028 onward, after they have lived on the island for at least one full year.
What Newcomers Will Need to Prove
To qualify, households must show that the island is truly their home. That includes an official record showing that the adults' main residence is in the Municipality of Megisti, plus proof of housing there: a home bought on or after January 1, 2026, a lease of at least three years registered with the tax authority from that date, or a declared main home that the family owns or uses for free from a close relative. Families with children must also show that the children attend a school on the island.
Applications will be filed online with OPEKA, Greece's welfare benefits agency, and the municipality may carry out on-site checks. The penalties for cheating are steep. A false declaration brings a fine of twice the amount received, and landlords who sign fake or multiple leases face the same fine.
What It Means for Greeks Abroad
The law specifically covers people moving to Kastellorizo from other European Union countries, as well as from Greek municipalities that the government will name in a later decision. That makes the program a real option for Greek citizens living in Germany, Belgium, Cyprus or elsewhere in the EU, who will need to prove where they lived before the move.
The text as passed does not mention moves from outside the EU, which matters for the island's large community in Australia and for Greeks in the US and Canada. Until the detailed rules are issued, it is not clear how those applicants would be treated. Anyone hoping to apply must also hold Greek citizenship and become a Greek tax resident, so descendants of Greeks who have never registered can look into Greek citizenship by descent first.
What Happens Next
Before any money is paid, several ministries must sign a joint decision that sets the application process, the documents needed, the terms for applicants coming from other EU countries and the maximum number of households that can take part. No date has been announced. When he presented the incentive on the island in September, Mitsotakis also announced a separate €5,000 yearly pay bonus for public servants, police officers and military personnel posted there.
Interest is already strong. Within a week of that announcement, the municipality reported more than 100 calls from people in other parts of Greece, other EU countries and even Australia. Local officials have said they want slow, gentle growth, since housing is limited and the island has no natural source of drinking water.
Photo: Kastellorizo harbor and town, by Antonios Petropoulos, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
