Wealthy foreign investors will be subject to different rules when planning to acquire residency in Portugal through the Golden Visa Scheme after the latter’s President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, confirmed that he approved the “More Housing” bill.
The law now will be addressed to the Parliament and the government for signatures before being published. The law will become effective within four to eight days.
Among the changes is abolishing real estate investment options through this program, which permitted international investments from €280,000 and more. However, the possibility of renewing authorisations is still eligible.
It means that acquiring residency in Portugal via the Residency by Investment scheme from now on is possible in the following ways:
- Creation of ten jobs or more
- Transfer of capital equal to or more than €500,000 applied to research activities by public or private scientific institutions
- Transfer of capital of €250,000 or more applied to investment or support for artistic production, recovery or maintenance of national cultural heritage through direct administration services, public institutes and public foundations, among others
- Transferring €500,000 or greater in capital intended for the acquisition of shares in collective investment organisms, also taking into account specific types of funds part of the Portuguese law
- A capital transfer exceeding €500,000 is intended for the incorporation of a commercial company with a registered office in the national territory together with the creation of five permanent jobs or for the reinforcement of the share of capital of a commercial company registered in the country.
The Golden Visa Program of Portugal allows internationals to acquire residency by financially contributing to this country. However, recently, Portugal has been dealing with the housing crisis, with the country’s authorities attempting to manage the situation.
Among the measures was the introduction of the “More Housing” bill, approved by the Parliament on July 19. Part of the law was also the termination of the possibility to acquire residency through real estate investment and the option to transfer €1.5 million or more into a Portuguese bank account.
But the bill was now approved by the President of Portugal, who had 20 days in order to make a decision in this regard. The rejection by President de Sousa meant that it needed to undergo changes in Parliament before it could be passed. However, recently, the bill was passed without any modifications.
The program is among the most famous ones in Europe when it comes to residency and citizenship schemes, in spite of the fact that it was often subject to criticism for being involved in illegal affairs. In August alone, more than €32.8 million were brought to the country through this scheme.
