Portugal’s golden visa programme is the most popular golden visa programme in Europe for property investment. The latest report released by SEF immigration office in Portugal shows, Portugal issued over 11,000 residence permits under the golden visa program from Oct 2012 to Jan 2017. About 4423 residence permits issued for main applicants and 7038 issued for family and dependents.
| Residence permits for pursuing investment activities (ARI) | 4423 |
| 2012 | 2 |
| 2013 | 494 |
| 2014 | 1526 |
| 2015 | 766 |
| 2016 | 1414 |
| 2017 | 221 |
| Residence permits to family members under family reunification | 7038 |
| 2012 | 2 |
| 2013 | 576 |
| 2014 | 2395 |
| 2015 | 1322 |
| 2016 | 2344 |
| 2017 | 401 |
| Total residence permits under golden visa scheme | 11461 |
Portugal golden visa scheme allows third country nationals to obtain a temporary residence permit to enter Portugal or freely move around schengen states. The minimum required investment is 500,000 euros in purchasing a property or capital transfer in business or 250,000 euros in arts or public projects. The most popular option is property investment in Portugal. The fees and other charges for golden visa can be found here published by Government.
Golden visa holders are entitled to:
• Living and working in Portugal, on condition that they stay in Portugal for a period of 7 or more days, in the first year, and 14 or more days, in the subsequent years;
• Visa exemption for travelling within the Schengen Area;
• Family reunification;
• Applying for Portuguese permanent residence (pursuant to the Aliens Act – Act number 23/2007 of 4 July with the current wording );
• Applying for Portuguese citizenship, by naturalization, provided all other requirements set out by the Nationality Act are fulfilled (Act number 37/81 of 3 October, with the current wording);
Total Investment
The total investment received is € 2.708.427.398,85 until Oct 2012 to Jan 2017 is
- € 266.189.285,37 by capital transfer
- € 2.442.238.113,48 by purchasing a real estate property
with the following breakdowns..
| Golden visa/ARI by acquiring real estate |
4171 |
| Golden visa/ARI transferring capital | 246 |
| Creating jobs 10 positions | 6 |
Top Nationalities
China and Brazil followed by Russians applying for golden visa in Portugal.
- China – 3154
- Brazil – 282
- Russia – 159
- South Africa – 148
- Lebanon – 80
Source: http://www.sef.pt/documentos/56/Mapa_ARI_EN_january17.pdf
