Over the last few months I have not being paying attention to the new Golden Visa rules for Portugal as I will have an EU passport. With an EU passport it would take up to 7 years to gain citizenship if I wanted it and a change from 5 years. This is still not very long if you think about it but is still shorter than others applying without an EU passport and explain these later in the post. My plan is to eventually move there and open up a business of some kind so there would be employing locals involved.
If I did not have that option then yes I guess I would have to know what all the new rules really mean and how they affect ones visa application. For those that do not know a Golden Visa allowed you via a property purchase to apply for citizenship. This was considered too easy and kind of cheapened the real value of what citizenship of a country really means.
I do think every country should have a high entry level and not just allow anyone in so I actually welcome any changes. The open border policies we know do not work and even away from the chaos in Europe we see this causing massive disruptions in South Africa. The economy is not growing and instead of being a benefit of having more people the economy is collapsing as this is unsustainable. Most people travelling through the open SA borders are uneducated and are never going to set up new businesses with the sole purpose of improving their lives which is going to cost the tax payer a fortune. The difference here compared to Europe is the SA people will not let this happen like it has in Europe. We see local hospitals being blocked by crowds preventing foreigners any access.
The Portuguese Government has done away with the property visa which I do think was a clever move. If foreigners are buying up local property to obtain a visa then the knock on effect will raise property prices. This is a negative as local Portuguese citizens will be priced out of the property market thus resenting foreigners. One cannot blame them for feeling this was as this is a natural reaction.
The Golden Visa which allows non EU residents to apply for Portuguese citizenship used to be a 5 year process. The process has been voted on by the Portuguese Parliament to change from a 5 year process to a 10 year process. This has to be seen as good news as those that are serious about applying are not doing it for fun and this means something far more.
There is now two types of Golden Visa's available being a cultural donation visa and an investment visa which will now take 10 years to obtain. The cultural visa was introduced in 2015 and has raised €22 million costing applicants €250,000 each. A quick calculation tells you this was never popular with 88 people only in 10 years. The investment visa achieved €125.52 million in 2023, but costs a minimum of €500,000 with the only difference you get a return and is not a give away investment which the word donation implies in the cultural visa application.
Obviously up until recently the property purchase would have been the popular and easy choice because you bought the property and then moved in. Now you would invest €500,000 and still have to buy a property or rent a property.
Like I mentioned earlier the future plans are to one day settle in Portugal ,set up a business and be a part of the economy. This is not a small move and needs to be thought out carefully and I will definitely be taking advice from advisors on what is the best way to do this. 5 ,7 or 10 years makes no difference as it will take that long to grow a business anyway.