Portugal’s golden visa scheme is one of the most popular and successful residency schemes in Europe requiring a property investment of €350,000 or capital transfer.
Spain, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Latvia have golden visa schemes running in Europe. Golden visas demand have also boosted property prices in Lisbon and other cities. EU/EEA nationals are not eligible to apply for golden visa scheme in Portugal. Non-EU persons investing in Golden visa scheme can receive Portuguese citizenship/passport after 6 years, provided all conditions are met.
The total investment received from 8th of October 2012 to the 31st january 2018 under Golden visa scheme has surpassed €3,5 billion euros, according to latest figures from SEF. Chinese investment alone between 2013 and 2017 reached 2.06 billion euros, Xinhua reported. Portugal’s Algarve region and Valletta, Malta were listed as surprising top 10 european destination cities to retire abroad by Forbes
The breakdown of the total investment of €3,510,435,683,13,
- €334.029.367,45 by capital transfer
- €3.176.406.315,68€ by purchasing a real estate property
- 5397 ARI by acquiring real estate
- 311 ARI by transferring capital
- 9 ARI by creating, at least,10 job positions
Residence permits
Total residence permits 5717
Residence permits for pursuing investment activities (ARI)
- 2012 – 2
- 2013 – 494
- 2014 – 1526
- 2015 – 766
- 2016 – 1414
- 2017 – 1351
- 2018 – 164
9559 Residence permits to family members (family reunication)
- 2013 – 576
- 2014 – 2395
- 2015 – 1322
- 2016 – 2344
- 2017 – 2678
- 2018 – 244
Main Nationalities
- China – 3645
- Brazil – 493
- South Africa – 228
- Russia – 200
- Turkey – 131
Source: SEF
