Considering the Portugal Golden Visa – Seeking Advice & Insights

Residencies & citizenships Portugal Golden Visa 🇵🇹
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Hello everyone,

This is my first post here, and I’m glad to finally join the conversation. I’ve been reading through the forums over the past couple of weeks and truly appreciate the time and effort many of you put into sharing such valuable information—both the encouraging and more cautionary insights.

My wife and I are considering moving forward with the Portugal Golden Visa program. Over the past few weeks, we’ve gathered quite a bit of information about the process: banks, money transfers, investment funds, required documentation, legal services, and more. We’re currently at the stage of vetting lawyers and preparing our documents. We’ll also be visiting Lisbon in a few weeks to get a better feel for the country and meet with some professionals in person.

A bit about us: we’re both in our mid-50s, working full-time in the U.S., and have prior experience navigating immigration processes—so we’re familiar with the paperwork, timelines, and occasional frustrations that come with it.

Our long-term goal is to retire somewhere with a simpler, possibly more affordable lifestyle. We’ve traveled to Europe several times and always fall in love with it, which makes Portugal feel like a natural choice.

That said, I’ve come across several posts—both public and private—that express concerns about the Golden Visa process, especially around the lengthy timelines, potential changes to citizenship eligibility laws, and residency requirements. This has made us pause and question whether the effort and resources are worth it, or if the program ultimately delivers on its promises.

Also, aside from the standard Golden Visa application and legal fees, are there any hidden or unexpected costs we should be aware of?

We would genuinely appreciate any personal insights, experiences, or honest advice from those further along in the process. We’re prepared for a lengthy timeline, so a 10+ year processing time is not a deal-breaker for us.

Thank you in advance for your time and support.

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I understand your objective is to retire somewhere in Europe.
If you are ready to retire and move to Europe full time now, you don’t need a GV. There are better (i.e. faster/cheaper) visa options for this scenario even in Portugal.
If you are NOT ready to retire now, but want to secure a residence in Europe in advance, there are still better options out there than PT GV.
The ‘only’ point where PT GV makes sense is if you want citizenship.

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That option appears to be heading slowly towards the exit!

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Thanks Tommy,

I have approximately 10-12 years of work remaining before planning for retirement. My understanding is that living in Portugal or other EU countries, without restrictions, requires EU citizenship. Could you please elaborate on alternative residency options that are more affordable and faster to obtain than the Portugal Golden Visa (PT GV)?

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Portugal D7. France Long Stay Visa. Spain Non-Lucrative Visa.

Yes EU citizenship makes it easier in that you don’t need any visa. But there is no guarantee a GV will lead to EU citizenship. The current government is planning to change the law around that.

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Thanks for the response. Those options are valid if I want to move and live there now, not my case. Who knows what will happen to those options in 10 years.
Also, immigration laws always change, based on the need of the sponsored country (Portugal), however the changes rarely apply to retrospective applications.

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If you want a path to EU citizenship with minimal physical stay in-country (7 days p.a.) then PT GV is probably the only one left (besides Malta I believe).
But as others commented even this path is under threat now.

Alternatives exist in the form of temporary residence leading to permanent residence and/or citizenship, with the caveat they are in Europe but not in the EU.
On the plus side, the cost is negligible and timelines to obtain/renew are near instant (as opposed to PT GV).

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Once you have tasted living in Europe for real, I bet you’d be wanting to cut this timeline tenfold or so…

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If you have the funds and time available and want a great retirement location, adopt a flexible mindset and go for it - the worst or best outcomes rarely happen.

Once your GV application is accepted you’re very likely to be approved and renewed every 2/ 3 years even if the rules change. Consider that it’ll probably take much longer than expected ( 3 years before first approval for example).

Citizenship rules could change, but you don’t need PT citizenship to enjoy living in Portugal or travelling to the rest of EU) just keep renewing the GV (see above provided you have the funds available).

Invest in an open-ended fund so you can back-out anytime if circumstances change or you want to move to a different visa / country if GV isn’t working for you.

An unexpected cost could well be exchange rate differences (EUR /USD) if you cash-out your investment and return to the US - it won’t matter so much if you’re definitely moving since your cost base will be in EUR. There’s been a circa 10% up and down over the past 36 months and the future can’t be predicted only prepared for.

All the best

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Only if I could retire now…

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Thanks Peter. Very helpful and informative.

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If you are moving from the US, what’s the likelihood that all popular southern European countries (France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece) cancel their passive income/retiree visas in the next 10-20 years? Look back 20 years. GV programs come and go for sure, but retiree visas are always there.

The biggest hidden cost of Portugal GV is the “transaction/friction costs” in my opinion. If citizenship cannot be counted on at the end of 7-8 years (assuming 5 years from application + 2-3 years for naturalisation application, neither of which is a sure thing if you start now), then one would expect the visa renewal itself to be easy and cheap.

With Portugal GV, you have to make at least 2 trips every 2 or 3 years (one trip to spend 14/21 days, another trip for the biometrics appointment), pay >EUR3k to the lawyers each renewal, and another EUR7k to AIMA each renewal (analysis fee + card fee for two people). And the most painful of all, is that obtaining a renewal appointment from AIMA is like winning the lottery—ask yourself whether you are zen enough to not get frustrated if you have to email AIMA everyday for 2 months begging for an appointment, still ending up unable to renew after the previous card has expired for >12 months.

Ask yourself this:

  1. Are you OK with not receiving your first GV card for 3.5 years?
  2. Are you OK with the difficult renewals every 2/3 years?
  1. What if this statement above was based on blind faith? What if it turns out not to be true in your case? Suppose you get in now, spend 3 years waiting for the first GV card. Meanwhile, the PT government changes its citizenship law, requiring 7 years of physical residency. Are you OK with the costs and hassle of renewing your GV until retirement? (Meanwhile, your investment will be tied up until you naturalise, since AIMA appointments to convert regular GV to GV PR are scarcer than regular GV renewal appointments.)
  2. If really worried about things going south fast in the US, why not just get a 10-year residency card somewhere else (Latin America, Thailand/Malaysia, etc.) that is faster and cheaper, even if the end game is still a passive income/retiree visa in Europe?
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Wanting to, and being able to (within various reasonable definitions of “able to”), are two very different things, however, as I can speak to myself. :slight_smile:

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Thanks, everyone, for sharing your thoughts. I agree—the process can definitely be stressful, and there’s always a bit of uncertainty that comes with it. But honestly, that’s just life—rarely perfect or predictable.

As for the recent turbulence in the U.S.—politically, socially, and economically—it’s not the first time we’ve faced tough moments, and it’s not reason the for me to pursue the Portugal Golden Visa. This country has been through a lot, and I believe we’ll find our way through this as well.

In the end, if you do your research and go in with realistic expectations about the timeline, the stress becomes much more manageable.

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This is always my advice.

If you are willing to throw away - as in, potentially lose entirely - several hundred thousand dollars and a fair bit of your time and effort on a “maybe”, then go for it. Otherwise, walk away.

I think the risks are higher than when I first issued such advice years ago, but the advice remains the same.

I speak this as someone who has had a permit in hand for several years now. I happen to have started with a decent understanding of the private equity space, a knack with understanding contract language, and 30 years of being in and out of Europe and thus having some understanding of the place.

I will continue with the process because I have my cards in hand and am well along, and have been awfully fortunate in previous choices. If I were to start now from cold, knowing what I know? It’s a toss-up at best, and probably 35/65 against. It’s not just the uncertainties of the process. Back when, there were only a few GV firms involved, and it was fairly obvious to me who the flim-flam funds and huckster firms were… and even then I count myself fortunate. Now, the space is so crowded that my head spins. I’d probably take three looks at it, decide I couldn’t possibly find a path through it in which I could have real confidence, and consider other options. But of course that’s also me looking back with several years of hard won knowledge, as attested to by this board; wide-eyed innocence got me involved back then despite the uncertainties, and it might still apply now.

You are talking about a 10-year horizon. That is a LONG, LONG, LONG time. Long enough for the world to change. Maybe having the residency permit, or the passport, will be useful - and maybe it won’t be worth the piece of paper it’s written on to you by then. Maybe the EU turns into the US and starts kicking people out, invalidating permits “cuz you’re undesirable”, whatever. Or maybe you won’t want to leave, or won’t be able to. Or EURUSD will be at 2.25. Then what?

I get that people here are upset about the delays and constant threat of changes. I took all this as part of the risks when I started - that it could all go pear-shaped - and that I’ve come so far I take as 100% win. Even so, I am still disturbed at the pain so many are suffering, and I wonder how well I would do if it were to have hit me, or if I would be walking away. It’s hard to know these things, but it’s good to at least look inside yourself and think about it.

My advice would be to find a way to get a residence permit, any residence permit. There are several, and not all are so bad as all that. Forget about that path to citizenship; let it resolve itself. Consider a caribbean CBI or maybe an easier-to-get third-party like Panama for that. Take concrete steps like EU-based investments (since you are interested in Europe as a destination) or a swiss money manager to start hedging offshore risk. Buy offshore property that interests you. Spend the years looking for a place you want to be.

If you can afford PGV, ok, but don’t view it as certain or any panacea. The Portuguese immigration system is overloaded and broken, and there are no easy fixes, and all promises you’re hearing are worth the paper they’re written on.

(I know the swiss-money-manager is cliche - but there really is something to be said for it. It’s not about secrecy. It’s about having an offshore banking relationship with an individual - your named banker - that is secure and dependable, such that if SHTF, you have someone to call who has money to disburse to you without having to deal with KYC. It doesn’t have to be swiss, that’s just the standard easy-button. Yes you pay for the privilege - it’s not cheap - but it matters in subtle ways.

I warn you all. In the world that was, we all became used to “easy” and “online”, minimizing transaction costs and valuing simplicity. In the world that is coming, I think that’s going to start disappearing, relationships are going to start to matter again, and those relationships are never free… and you might end up regretting not having paid for them before you needed them. I hope I am wrong.)

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As a Boglehead, I’ve always assumed it’s a mistake to have most of your net worth in USD or EUR. You want a diverse collection of stocks and bonds.

I guess the question is whether holding international stocks and bonds in a US account is enough if the government might start seizing money. In which case you have to diversify where you assets are held as well.

Ironically one of the main reasons I considered GV in the first place (back in 2021) was that I figured an EU passport was a diversified investment compared to just assets.

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If you’re planning a move to Europe anyway, why not do that with some of your assets too… You can open an account with a local custodian in London, Luxembourg, or Zurich, and hold ETFs hedged in EUR, CHF, JPY, or USD, traded on non-U.S. situs exchanges. All major markets are accessible at costs comparable to U.S.-listed ETFs.

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The barrier of course is typically taxes and legal. Doing this kind of thing makes most people’s taxes a mess. At least relatively. It’s not undoable, but tedious. Setting aside FBAR crap, you are forced to hand-enter every trade since you get no 1099-B typically. Currency translation becomes an issue. Foreign taxes paid, foreign interest paid and earned, all adding more forms and complexity to your tax return. It’s perfectly doable but non-trivial and represents a speed bump for many.

Of course returns have been poor compared to the US markets; many Europeans invest in the US rather than Europe for that reason (and many are now getting painfully haircut what with the market down plus currency moves).

And there is little advice to be had on international investing. How many CFPs in the US know anything about foreign markets? To the extent, it’s typically “pick some ETFs or funds that are ‘international’” as part of the mix. The one I have started working with flat out says they know nothing about how to handle things like international hedges or the like. (I am mostly interested in having him build me bond ladders in the US; I understand it can be done with funds, but all things considered I’d rather own the bonds directly.) So now how do you, yourself, decide how to split your investments across multiple currencies and regions? Of course you can hire a wealth manager, but typically they do not work for free. :slight_smile:

I’m not saying it can’t be done or should not be or is or is not advisable, I am simply answering “why”.

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Past few years of others’ experience show that you’re likely to be treated unfairly by a faceless (and impossible to reach) bureaucracy that doesn’t give a damn about you. Besides all the time, money and uncertainty above, make sure you’re up for that kind of anguish.

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(Also if you’re a US citizen, don’t buy foreign ETFs; they’re likely to be PFICs and you can get burned on tax. Buy single stocks instead.)