Interest in Portugal’s Golden Visa Program remains high especially among nationals of Brazil and North America, in spite of the removal of real estate investment options from this scheme.
In addition, since the beginning of this year, effective consultations by those interested in the Golden Visa Program have increased four times compared to the same period last year, SchengenNews reports.
Announcing these estimations, Gustavo Caiuby, managing partner of Heed Capital, told Correio Brasiliense that the demand mainly comes from senior executives as well as families and retirees.
Many people want to understand what really happened with golden visas and how it is possible to still use them in Portugal.
New Changes to the Golden Visa Program
Portugal’s Residency by Investment Scheme, or Golden Visa Program, allows internationals to acquire residency in exchange for financial investment in this country. Foreign nationals are also required to meet specific conditions in order to benefit from this program.
However, the housing crisis with which the country has been dealing in recent years led the country’s authorities to apply new changes to this program.
In October 2023, the President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, approved the “More Housing” bill. Among the new changes approved by Portugal’s President was also the removal of real estate options.
The managing partner of Heed Capital said that the new changes caused confusion to foreign nationals interested in the Golden Visa scheme.
Caiuby mentioned that there are still four ways to acquire residency through the Residency by Investment scheme of Portugal.
According to him, the most sought-after option is to transfer at least €500.000 to multimarket investment funds that invest at least 60 per cent of their assets in shares and bonds of Portuguese companies or to fund venture capital aimed at equity participation in technology firms and startups.
These investment options have been preferred by our clients. There are more than 240, of 25 nationalities.
The Golden Visa Program of Portugal makes a significant contribution to the country’s economy.
From October 2012, when the program was first launched until July last year, a total of 12,497 visas of this kind were issued to internationals, with the main beneficiaries of this scheme being nationals of China(5,366), Brazil (1,221), the US (729), Turkey (584) and South Africa (534).
Following the abolishment of the real estate investment option from the Golden Visa scheme, significant interest was noted in the cultural production option and Golden Visa fund option.