A total of 352 residence permits were granted to internationals in the first nine months of last year through the Golden Visa Fund Investment Option, corresponding to 30 per cent of the total, based on the data from the Foreigners and Borders Services (SEF).
The figures show that wealthy foreigners’ interest in acquiring residency in Portugal through this option has marked an increase for a period between January and September last year.
The surge is expected to continue following the country’s decision to abolish the real estate investment option from the Golden Visa Program in October last year.
Based on the law under Portugal’s Article 90A Residence for Investment purposes, the investment funds include the following:
The Golden Visa Fund is the capital transfer of €500,000 or higher in order to acquire units of investment funds or venture capital funds dedicated to capitalising companies, capital injected under the Portuguese legislation, whose maturity, at the moment of investment, is at least of five years, at least 60 per cent of investment is realised in commercial companies with head office in national territory.
According to ECO, in the first nine months of last year, investment funds or venture capital funds that invest in Portuguese companies received more than €125 million under this scheme, or 45 per cent higher than those registered in 2022.
The same source revealed that for every ten investment residence permits (ARI) granted, three had their origin through the acquisition of participation units of investment funds in national shares.
Venture capital funds have positioned themselves, in terms of advertising and commercial offerings, in a very appealing way and gained significant traction at the time of the investor’s decision, together with a trend towards diversification.
Director of IMGA Ações Portugal, Mário Freitas, has expressed his belief that these funds should continue to be an alternative to obtaining golden visas if the climate of stability and economic growth in Portugal continues.
The changes recently introduced to the ARI program have created very positive perspectives for the potential growth of the open-end securities fund segment.
Earlier this month, it was also revealed that ending the real estate option from the Golden Visa Program has also led a more significant number of internationals to choose the cultural production option.
Portugal’s Golden Visa scheme, which allows internationals to acquire residency if they make an investment in this country and meet the needed conditions, was subject to new changes introduced in October last year as part of efforts to manage the housing crisis.
Among the changes approved by Portugal’s President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, through the “More Housing” bill was also the abolishment of the real estate investment option.
