Many chinese investors think ‘Golden visa’ means ‘Citizenship’, however this is not true. Golden visas only give ‘immediate residency’ first not citizenship. Only citizenship-by-investment programs offer immediate citizenship with passport. These are called ‘Golden passports’.
Citizenship through ‘golden visa’ schemes requires you to be a resident first before applying for citizenship. It is very common that golden visa programs offer property investment as an option. Citizenship only after living over 5 years in many european countries. For example Portugal requires 6 years of living and Spain 10 years of living for citizenship and Greece requires 8 years for citizenship. Only after becoming a citizen, you are entitled to a passport.
When applying for golden visas, if the investor dont want to take up residency, ask for short term multiple entry ‘schengen’ visa with up to 180 day validity. This way you can visit the schengen countries anytime for short term. Again the problem with visas is once it expires you can only apply for renewal at the consulate/embassy in your country, not in Spain or Portugal.
If you decide to immigrate or want to live, you can ask for ‘D visa’ long term residence permit based on your golden visa, which has limited validity for 1 or 2 years. To extend the validity of your residence permit, you must come Spain or Portugal in person and the process takes approximately 2 months. You cannot visit schengen countries when your residence permit has expired or when is in renewal stage.
