you are also likely to have your wages suppressed or not to have as many opportunities as others because you can’t quit you job without being required to leave the country. Basically what I am trying to say very nicely is that you are very confused about the importance of US residency for your career/ income / business/ and, overall, live in the United States. 
I agree with everything you said and my main point was - given all the risks - what’s the best way to invest $500k dollars? I don’t disagree that EU citizenship is good, but at what cost? Investing smartly $500k early in your career can give you much better benefits long term if you are no losing sleep over global warming or Trump’s second presidency. Overall, America will be fine, take it to the bank 
C’mon. It’s obvious that ‘you’ was used as an impersonal pronoun.
2 Likes
Yes my apologies. I didn’t mean to be judgemental in any way or speak about YOU in particular. I didn’t realize how sensitive my words could be to others either. I only wanted to present another side of a coin for everyone’s consideration.
That said, on average, for most of people without US passport what I said is true and I state it based on my 20 years of experience working in corporate America and actually hiring hundreds of people with H1b visa statuses and without and knowing the process to some extend.
If you don’t plan to move outside of the states permanently(like we do) - US passport is extremely valuable for your business, your career and your personal live in the US. That’s, hopefully, indisputable.
Hope it add some clarity now
1 Like
I was wondering if you ever made any progress on this? The last really cogent response was about LDA tax representation fees in Portugal but the thread got seriously derailed before there was any clarity. I’m considering splitting funding between a solo 401k and a brokerage account but I’m nervous about issues down the road because half will be held by myself and half by a Portuguese LDA.
@TrapeziusMilkington
I was/am in a similar position all around with your description. I am in the US, I am probably a little ahead of you in age and have recently retired. That being said, pretty much all my assets fall under my retirement funds. So, how to use that to invest in foreign funds? Especially ones that qualify for the GV? And hopefully in a matter somewhat consistent with what I would do with those funds here. First, I learned the SDIRA’s are the “wild west” in the investing world. Secondly, without knowing the right questions, you won’t learn much! To invest in the private equity you will for certain need to establish a US LLC and then a Portuguese equivalent to the LLC, and the associated bank accounts. This all adds up not only in keeping track, managing and reporting for the costs to do so.
However, if you are looking at Optimize and similar, there is another way- at least I can say for certain there is with Optimize. Since the fund at Optimize is NOT PUBLICLY TRADED, I was able to make my investment directly from my SDIRA to Optimize with no LLC’s and no Portuguese bank. Optimize has some kind of banking status which allows them to generate the bank Declaration on the investment for the GV application. I don’t know that IMGA or the other similar funds have this ability or not. I am also not sure how this bank status by fund manager might affect the ability to invest directly from the SDIRA. This might be a question to ask IMGA or other such funds- can they issue the Declaration? The question to ask the SDIRA firms is, can I make an investment directly from the account into a Non Publicly Traded fund in Portugual?* If they can, it is very straightforward, you roll your retirement into the SDIRA you selected, then direct them to make the investment. Your name Must appear on the wire transfer, so while it says “company” is sending xx amount of $$ to Optimize, your full correct name as it is on your GV application must be referenced: For the Benefit of John Smith. In the case of Optimize, I was able to wire the funds in USD and they took care of the conversion to Euro and provided the USD amount that would need to be wired to ensure the correct minimum amount would be invested. The level of service I received at Optimize was absolutely outstanding. They were even in contact with the SDIRA firm to help make sure they understood how to word the wire transfer to include my name and provide the correct amount needed in USD. There was no charge to me from Optimize to perform the conversion to Euro.
So, IT IS POSSIBLE to make the investment WITHOUT the hassle and ongoing costs of LLC’s etc. BUT, you need to make sure of the status of the fund you are investing in, the status of the fund manager to act as a bank, and the SDIRA have the ability in make the investment in a Non-Publicly Traded Fund in Portugal. Also, since my attorneys completed the government payments to submit the applications, I have not had to open a Portuguese bank account, although you of course must have the TIN # issued to you.
Hope that this has been helpful and not too confusing. It was a long journey to figure this out and it surprising that I wasn’t able to find anyone who had done it, I am not usually on the cutting edge of anything! If you have any more questions I may help with please reach out.
My status: my application and my family’s application has been submitted this month.
1 Like
My application is still being prepared to submit. Rather than invest through a custodian-controlled SDIRA, I decided to pay more to create a checkbook-controlled SDIRA Trust (not LLC) and am planning to invest in a different fund.
My application is still being prepared to submit. You may consider creating a checkbook-controlled SDIRA Trust (not LLC) to invest in one fund, and then invest directly into the same or another fund personally.