The Portuguese government plans to make changes to the Golden Visa program in order to attract more wealthy foreign investors. At the same time, it emphasizes that the program will not be closed.
Portugal's Golden Visa program offers wealthy foreigners the opportunity to obtain a residence permit in exchange for financial investments in accordance with certain criteria.
In 2024, the country issued almost 5,000 "golden visas", which became a new record.However, many applications are still awaiting review.Earlier this month, Pedro Portugal Gaspar, president of Portugal's Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum, said his agency had resumed processing applications for the golden visa, but at a slow pace. The procedure is still not going as fast as the interested parties would like.
The Golden Visa program in Portugal is one of the most famous in Europe.The most popular option for this scheme was investing in real estate.However, due to the housing crisis facing the country, this option was canceled back in 2023.This means that investors can no longer purchase real estate in order to obtain a residence permit in Portugal. However, there are other options for participation.:
-
investments in cultural heritage sites in the amount of 200,000 or 250,000 euros, depending on the region.
- investments in Portuguese company shares starting from 500,000 euros
- investments in funds starting from 500,000 euros.
Source: SchengenNews
