What is a Golden Visa?
In technical, this visa is a fast-track of Residence by Investment program that allows non-EU citizens to reside in a country in exchange for a five-year investment in the country. Meanwhile, the ‘golden’ term will be a chance for the holder itself to obtain country citizenship in the several next years if they fulfilled the qualifications.
Why Portugal Golden Visa?
The main aim of Portugal’s Golden Visa program is to attract foreigners to invest in the country to boost the national economy. At first in October 2012 it introduced, Portugal Golden Visa quickly fill the emptying coffers and relight the Portuguese real estate market after the 2008 economic crisis. It successfully attracted 7,500 investors and injected €4,851,321,701 into the Portuguese economy until today. It means almost five billion euros!
Before we jump further into the details of how the processes are, let’s see why Portugal’s Golden Visa is so attractive which you should consider getting one. The first is, Portugal has a top-tier passport. This means, by holding it you can travel visa-free to 188 countries. After five years, you will also be eligible to apply for Portuguese citizenship. However, you will not need to move entirely your stuff to the country. You just require to stay there for at least seven days per year.
On the other side, you will automatically have a right to access all public facilities (including healthcare and education) and work legally in Portugal as locals. You also have the right to live and work in any of the European countries since you are a resident of an EU country. So, you can live anywhere in the EU countries while waiting for your five years to get your citizenship naturally.
Another thing that also is your big benefit when
acquiring a Portugal Golden Visa, the minimum investment that you have to make
tends lower around the European countries. It only starts from €280,0000 in Portugal to be a Golden Visa holder. And don’t
worry, if you make an investment in real estate, Portugal is one of the most
secure and attractive among all the Golden Visa countries. However, if it is
not interesting to you, you can choose other investment options, such as
capital investment or business investment in the country.
Who is Eligible to Apply?
If you are a non-EU citizen, at least eighteen years old, and have no criminal records, then you have an opportunity to apply for one after completing the required minimum investment. In this case, the investment fund should be transferred from overseas into a Portuguese bank. You can choose one of the three investment types, either real estate, capital contribution, or business. Where the first is the most popular type of investment among the applicant.
In 2022, there will be changes to the requirements for Golden Visa Portugal. For example, real estate investment cannot be made in metropolitan and coastal areas (such as Lisbon, Porto, and Algarve) and the minimum investment for capital transfer and the fund subscription will be increased. Apart from all these the main eligibility, if you bring along your family members, you also need to fulfill the requirement for your dependents.
How to Apply?
The application for obtaining Golden Visa in Portugal is relatively straightforward. First and foremost what you need to do is to decide the investment type that you will move forward with. Then, you can gather all the required documents and get a NIF & open a Portuguese bank account. NIF (Número de Identificação Fiscal) is an individual Tax Indentification Numer used in Portugal. Also knows as the contribution number (“Número de contribuinte”).
Now, after you prepared all the previous things we mentioned before, you can pay up your investment fund to lock it in Portugal and submit the pre-application. The pre-application will be review by SEF (Portugal's Foreigners and Borders Services) and will be scheduled for a biometrics appointment to make your application official. Finally, after four months from the appointment, you will get your resident card in Portugal!
NG Global Citizens is focused on providing a
hassle-free and seamless service assisting you with a residency application. We
will hand-hold you through every step of the EU residency acquisition process
with due diligence and care, ensuring that your application is submitted
correctly and followed up to application approval.
With our professional team, we will help you to make it easier during the process of getting a Golden Visa in Portugal. Contact us for more details and we will be delighted to answer it for you!