Portugal’s parliament has reapproved the end of the real estate by investment of the Golden Visa Program, part of the More Housing Bill, which allowed investments from €280,000 and more.
However, the opportunity to renew authorisations will not be affected.
In July, Portugal’s government approved new changes to this program, including the abolishment of new residence permits for investment in housing as well as the option to transfer at least €1.5 million into a Portuguese bank account.
But the bill needed the approval of the President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who had 20 days to decide regarding the issue.
Last month, the President rejected the proposal, meaning that it needed to go under amendments in Parliament before it could be passed, but the bill now passed without any changes.
However, requests for the granting as well as renewal of residence permits for investment activities continue to remain valid, taking into account those that are pending prior control procedures in municipal councils once the law becomes effective.
Besides, the granting or renewal of residence permits for family reunification has also been excluded from the adoption limitation.
According to the Portugal News report, the opposition parties introduced over 320 amendment proposals for voting in the plenary, but all of them were rejected by the socialist deputies as well as other parliamentary groups.
The Golden Visa scheme of Portugal allows foreign investors to acquire residency if they meet the needed conditions and invest financially in this country.
In spite of the new changes that the country attempts to include in this scheme, the country continues to issue a significant number of these kinds of visas. In August, a total of 64 golden visas were issued by Portuguese authorities, of them 42 were for the acquisition of real estate.
Last month, over €32.8 million were brought to Portugal through the Residency by Investment Scheme, known as the Golden Visa Program.
However, the figures were 12.5 per cent below those recorded during the same month in 2022. In addition, the scheme brought €493 million to Portugal, for a period from January until August this year, or 24 per cent more compared to the same period last year’s figures.
The More Housing Program was introduced previously by the government as part of efforts to tackle the housing crisis and help regulate the real estate market.
