Moving to Greece from the USA: the paperwork and insurance guide

Americans move to Greece for a lot of reasons, and the route you qualify for shapes which paperwork comes first. Retirees and anyone living on savings or pensions typically look at the FIP visa route, built for financially independent applicants who are not working locally. Remote workers on a US salary usually look at the digital nomad visa instead. Both are national (type D) visas, and both carry the same starting requirement: travel medical insurance that meets a minimum threshold before the consulate will book your appointment.

• FIP route: financially independent, not employed in Greece
• Digital nomad visa: remote income earned outside Greece
• Family members joining an applicant follow the same insurance step

Whichever route applies, insurance comes before appointment scheduling, not after. See our retiree guide if pension income is your route in.

A common mistake when moving to Greece is sequencing the paperwork backward. Consulates ask for proof of insurance as part of the visa application, which means the policy has to exist before the appointment, not after. Buying insurance too early wastes money if plans shift, and buying it too late delays your appointment slot. The wording on the certificate matters too, since a policy that reads correctly for a US traveler does not automatically read correctly for a Greek consulate.

• Confirm your route (FIP or digital nomad) first
• Get the insurance certificate wording checked before you buy
• Book the consulate appointment once the certificate is ready
• Use our move checklist to track each step in order

See the certificate wording guide for what the document needs to say.

Every national (type D) visa application to Greece runs through the same insurance floor. The travel medical policy you submit needs a minimum cover level of €30,000, valid for the whole Schengen area and for the full duration of your stay, covering emergency care, hospitalisation, and repatriation. This is the visa-stage rule, and consulates check it against the wording on the certificate itself, not just the premium you paid. The written rule shown on this page reflects that exact minimum.

• Minimum cover: €30,000
• Geographic scope: the whole Schengen area, not Greece alone
• Duration: covers your full intended stay
• Included: emergency care, hospitalisation, and repatriation

Meeting the number is only step one. The certificate also has to say the right things in the right way, which is where otherwise-solid applications can stall.

The visa gets you into Greece. The residence permit is a separate step that happens after you arrive, at a local immigration office, and it works differently than the visa did. What a given office accepts is a case question, not a checkbox you can look up in advance. Offices vary, staff vary, and requirements shift in ways that a generic guide cannot promise to predict. We do not make claims about what any specific permit office will or will not accept, because that would be guessing on your behalf.

What we do instead: a person confirms the certificate for your office before you buy, so the policy you hold going into the permit appointment matches what that specific office is actually asking for. That single step is the difference between a smooth renewal and a frustrating trip back to the office with the wrong paperwork.

US Medicare does not cover routine treatment outside the United States, which means it will not carry you through a move to Greece. Once you are living abroad, you need a policy built for that reality, not a domestic plan stretched past its border. Essential plans on our 2026 rate card start from $392 a year for an adult at age 18, with a flat $308 rate for a child aged 0 to 17. Prices are per person per year on annual billing from the 2026 rate card, and your exact rate depends on age.

• Pre-existing conditions are not covered, including conditions you did not know about
• Cover is worldwide but excludes treatment in the United States
• This is not travel insurance, it is built for people living abroad

See health insurance for Americans in Greece for what a policy needs to include, or check what health insurance in Greece costs before you budget for cover.

The weeks after you land are for settling in, not scrambling for paperwork, if the insurance and visa steps happened in the right order beforehand. Keep your certificate and policy documents accessible, since the residence permit office may ask to see them again once you are settled locally. If your plans shift, whether that is renewing a permit, adding a family member, or reconsidering your route, the same sequencing rules apply: confirm what is needed before you commit to a policy.

• Keep your insurance certificate and visa paperwork together
• Revisit cover if your address, age band, or family situation changes
• Talk to a person before renewing or switching plans

Ready to see numbers for your own age and household? Start a quote request, run the numbers with our pricing page, or use check your requirement to confirm what your specific move needs before you buy.