For the past decade, one of the most successful residency by investment programs offered around the world has to be Portugal’s Golden Visa. Thanks to this visa option, Portugal has qualified many foreign investors during the past years and has kept its spot as one of easiest countries to get a visa by residency. Event though that the visa can be applied through other routes, like the investments funds option, the vast majority of applicants, in fact thousands of applicants, were through the real estate investment route. It’s undeniable that it helped create a boom in the country’s real estate industry.
Because of it’s unimaginable success and the fact that the program was emulated all across the globe there are some details that need to be retooled in order for it to continue functioning the way it has been, so Portugal decided to make a couple of changes for the year 2022 and then in the end of 2023.
For some time before the announcement there were a number of rumors circulating regarding changes in Portugal’s Golden Visa program. On February 12, 2021 those rumors were made a reality when the updates to the laws were published.
The first change that stood out that made a lot of people looking for a second passport in Portugal groan was that there would be no more real estate investment in the cities of Lisbon, Porto, or anywhere along the coast.
Before the changes you could invest in real estate pretty much everywhere in the country and you would automatically qualify for the visa, this of course no longer applies. Your real estate investment must be pre-approved by an expert in the subject.
The restrictions on the purchase of property in the country is largely due to promoting other areas and cities around Portugal that are not as highly populated as the three that were previously mentioned.
Even though a restriction on where you can buy property has been imposed in parts of the country, the investment necessary to qualify for a second passport in Portugal will stay the same.
The amount of money needed to invest in real estate inside of the country did not go up, but there were other investment changes that will take place in 2022. The following changes were made;
- Investment in science or technology inside of the country was raised from €350,000 to €500,000
- Investment in the shared capital of a company in Portugal was raised from €350,000 to €500,000
- Capital transfer necessary for investment into the country was raised from €1,000,000 to €1,500,000
- Investment into a venture capital fund or a private equity was raised from €350,000 to €500,000
It should also be noted that besides the rise in the investment necessary to obtain a Golden Visa in Portugal, if you are investing in a business or desire to start your own business in Portugal then you must create at least 5 permanent jobs.
All of these changes go in effect on January 1, 2022 so if you currently have an open application for the Golden Visa Program in Portugal then the normal rules still apply to you. So you are still in time to apply without all these new rules.
These new rules might have changed the Golden Visa Program a little bit, but Portugal is still welcoming foreign investment with open arms. It is still one of the best citizenship by investment programs out there.