Although Portugal’s residency by investment (RIP) program, or Golden Visa, is one of the most sought after by wealthy foreigners, it is coming to an end, according to the country’s government.
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said this week that the country is contemplating abolishing its popular but much-criticized 10-year Golden Visa program because it appears to have served its purpose.
“There are systems that we are reevaluating and one of them is the golden visa that, probably, has already fulfilled the service it intended to perform and that at this moment is no longer justified to maintain,” the prime minister said. said. says the minister.
The government has recently introduced new, stricter requirements to control the entry of applications, adding to raise the minimum investment in housing to € 500,000 and restricting the spaces in the country where such investments are allowed. However, these measures are not enough.
“So far, the Portugal Golden Visa is a visa issued to third-country nationals who have made a significant investment in Portugal, such as acquiring real estate, capital investments or creating job opportunities,” reports SchengenVisaInfo. com.
“This is an accelerated procedure for offloading permanent residence and citizenship in an EU country. Through the Golden Visa, you can apply for Portuguese citizenship in as little as five years.
Portugal, as well as other European countries that continue to offer the “Residence Permit for Investment Activities” for other people from non-European countries, have been reprimanded by the European Commission, which has called for the end of national regimes that have been used for illicit activities, basically money laundering.
These systems require minimal or no physical presence in the country and provide a fast path to residency or citizenship from the pitfalls of foreign protection, legal migration, or naturalization through traditional channels.
Once granted, Golden Visa beneficiaries enjoy freedom of movement within the Schengen area.
Citizenship and residency through investment systems have been a prominent topic for some time now, with calls in development to ban such practices altogether. The pressure has been solved when countries announced the suspension of their passport systems and golden visas for Russian citizens.
“Although Portugal’s Golden Visa program has contributed particularly to the country’s economic sector, it has been criticized for its involvement in many illegal cases,” Schengenvisa reports.
In Portugal it has also been heavily censured for driving up housing prices and rents, especially in Lisbon, the capital, and in the country’s most popular neighborhoods.
Currently, after this year’s reforms aimed at redirecting investment from burning real estate markets from major cities to depopulated spaces, it is no longer imaginable under the Golden Visa program to buy in Lisbon, Porto, the Algarve and surrounding spaces on the coast.
According to figures from Portugal’s Immigration and Border Service (SEF), the number of Golden Visas more than doubled in September this year compared to the same time last year.
The number of Americans interested in Portugal’s Golden Visa program is about to surpass the number of programs submitted under the same program through wealthy Chinese citizens.
Portugal’s Aliens and Borders Service (SEF) revealed in July that investments in Portugal’s Golden Visa program exceeded €78 million, more than double the €36 million recorded in the same month of 2021.
In total, the program has attracted more than 6,500 million euros of foreign investment, mainly from China, Brazil, South Africa and the United States, with most of the cash allocated to the purchase of real estate.
The city of Porto in Portugal is reflected in the Douro River.
Along with the Golden Visa, several other visa regimes introduced through Portugal are being re-evaluated lately, according to Prime Minister Costa, who is also under pressure that Portugal needs to continue attracting foreign investors and cited as an example recently enacted virtual nomads. Visa that allows remote staff with the best monthly income to live and work in Portugal.
Portugal’s resolution appears to be a reaction to a new push through the European Parliament to reduce and multibillion-dollar EU citizenship and visa industries. It has long been considered a security risk.
The Civil Liberties Committee of the European Parliament “ethically, legally and economically reprehensible” programs.
“The bar for what counts as investment has been kept too low for too long,” complains a Parliament report. history.
More recently, since the war in Ukraine, the EU’s call has taken on a more pressing tone to suspend the sale of visas to Russians and Belarusians. possibly holders of EU visas or golden passports,” according to Reuters.
“Some Russian or Belarusian citizens who are subject to sanctions or particularly war in Ukraine would possibly have acquired EU citizenship or privileged access to the EU, in addition to traveling freely within the Schengen area, under those programs,” the European Commission said.
Also that governments find out if the sanctioned people had golden passports that they had issued.
Malta, Cyprus and Bulgaria, which also run Golden Visa programmes, have committed to ending it.