Changes to the Portugal Golden Visa Program

February 22, 2023
Changes to the Portugal Golden Visa Program
The recent announcement that Portugal is ending its Golden Visa program has sent shockwaves through the offshore-residence world, following the termination of Ireland's program the previous week.

The recent announcement that Portugal is ending its Golden Visa program has sent shockwaves through the offshore-residence world, following the termination of Ireland's program the previous week. Both countries introduced the program in 2012 to attract foreign money into their real estate markets during the Great Financial Crisis. However, the success of the program in bringing in billions of euros of foreign investment has produced political pushback in recent years, leading to the end of the program. Portugal welcomed nearly 12,000 Golden Visa households to its shores between 2012 and last year, resulting in a significant impact on the Portuguese real estate market, with property values rising by over 75% since 2012. However, more than half of Portuguese earn less than €1,000 a month and are now priced out of the market.

One of the attractive features of the Golden Visa program was that it did not require the presence of the applicants in Portugal. This led to two property market distortions, with the "golden visa bid" becoming the floor price in many parts of Portugal, pushing up asking prices beyond what native Portuguese could afford, and long-term rentals becoming unaffordable for natives. Political pressure from within and outside the EU has also led to criticism of the program, with the perception that it was a back door for Chinese entry into the EU and vehicles for money laundering and other undesirable activities. As a result, Malta, Cyprus, Latvia, and Bulgaria have already scrapped their initiatives.

However, existing Golden Visas will be renewed as long as the recipient either lives in their Portuguese property or rents it long-term. Moreover, Portugal's D7 "digital nomad" visa, which allows foreigners to live in the country on foreign income, is set to become the main route to residence. Entrepreneurs starting businesses in the country can also avail of the D2 visa. Other EU-based residence-by-investment programs and ancestry-based programs in several countries are still available. Nonetheless, the trend is unmistakable, and if interested in an EU residence permit, especially with the ultimate goal of obtaining a European passport, the time to act is now.

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Alexandra Meyer
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