Cost Calculation for Obtaining Portuguese Passport for Yourself or Your Child

Residencies & citizenships Portugal Golden Visa 🇵🇹
1

:dart: Option A: Obtaining Portuguese Passport for Yourself and Your Child

Golden Visa Route:

  1. Cost incurred (all amounts in euros):
  2. Obtain NIF tax number through a person on fiverr - 100
  3. Open a bank account - 0
  4. Complete fund KYC process
  5. Transfer 500,000 euros to a personal account in Portugal
  6. Transfer funds to the fund company
  7. Prepare all documents for immigration approval
  8. Immigration approval, landing in Portugal, and fingerprinting - 774*2
  9. Additional immigration approval - 774*2
  10. After approval, pay the initial card production fee for the Golden Residence Card - 7730*2
    Subtotal: Total expenditure up to this point - 17,104

Time cost and risk:
If there are no expedited approvals or queue jumping after the new regulations, it could take a considerable amount of time to obtain the first residence card. Based on forum posts, the entire process seems to have four stages, and most individuals take around 2 years to obtain the card.
11. The first card is valid for 2 years, requiring a stay of 14 days or more // considered as travel cost, not included
12. Renewal fees for subsequent cards - application fee 774 * 2
13. Card production fees for renewals, obtaining a new card with a validity of 3 years - 3866 * 2
Subtotal: Renewal costs - 9280 euros
14. According to some forum posts, another card renewal may be necessary, leading to additional costs - 774 * 2 + 3866 * 2
Subtotal: Additional renewal costs - 9280 euros
15. The cost of obtaining the passport is unknown.

Total estimated expenditure up to this point: 35,664 euros
Exclusions:

  1. Various translation and notarization costs
  2. Costs related to A2 language learning and exams
  3. Legal fees: Reports suggest legal fees range from 6000 to 15000 euros due to Portuguese bureaucracy.

Timeline:
Approximately 2 years for card approval, 5 years of holding, and another 2 years for the next application = 9 years.

Requirements for materials provided by the immigration office include notarized and translated documents.

There are 4 or 5 open-ended funds that meet the criteria, with 2 of them being established for over 20 years, investing in top financial, energy, and utility companies in Portugal.

Fund return rate and holding costs:
Average return rate over the past 5 years is 5.5%
Management fees around 2%, resulting in a net return of 3.5%
Non-residents are exempt from personal income tax, but an annual declaration is estimated to cost 310 euros/year.

500,000 * 3.5% = 17,500 euros/year
5 years = 87,500 projected income
7 years = 122,500, including withdrawal after approval queue
9 years = 157,500, after obtaining passport and withdrawal
Risk: Financial crisis in Portugal, prolonged decline in the PSI20 index, or Euro exchange rate risk.

:dart: Option 2: Have a Child and Obtain a Passport for Your Child

According to available information, obtaining any legal Portuguese visa seems possible.
There is some conflicting information regarding:

  1. Holding a valid visa for 1 year
  2. Actual residence for 1 year

The details are not yet clear, but regardless, if this is the goal, it seems possible to obtain any visa at a low cost, perhaps spending only a few thousand. This also eliminates the need to endure a lengthy 2-year approval process, and with actual residence, it could take 3 years.

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I am not sure if there are significant deviations in the information I have compiled, and I welcome corrections.

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Expected returns:9 years = 157,500
Minimum cost:35,664
Including attorney’s fees: 15,000
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Returns after expenses:106836
Annualized rate of return：（106836/9）/500000=2.37%

I have never made a estate investment before and I had trouble calculating my costs during my previous buy-to-let immigration period. But after updating the fund investment regulations, I think things have become easier.
// I think real estate is difficult to estimate market value and incurs a lot of red tape and holding costs.

So I’m going to use the open fund approach to figure out the deal.

3

If birthright citizenship for your child is what you want, it’s hard to beat the simplicity of USA or Canada.

4

You’re right, that’s a good option. Several of my friends have had children in the US.
But I see a lot of Americans on this forum wanting to give up their U.S. passports, which could be for tax considerations?
I haven’t started comparing in detail whether it’s better for a child to be born in Canada or Portugal.

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There is a cost of obtaining the Portuguese Nationality:

  1. Government Fees of €250
  2. Lawyers Fees, [€800 to €4500 depends upon the law firm] as the applications are made by the attorneys and there are no interviews or Nationality Tests involved. Only thing is to prove an A2 - Language qualification.

Once you do qualify for a Nationality you have to apply for Citizenship Card (Cartão de Cidadão) , that costs you €18 for a Normal Processing - 15 days, €53 for an extremely urgent next day delivery in Lisbon and then obtaining a passport is nothing but a cakewalk and it costs just €65.

Portugal do not have a birth right citizenship for a baby, unless one of the parent has resided for atleast an year before the birth, irrespective of the visa status shall suffice the requirements.

6

Thank you very much for your reply.
I did see a case before where she gave birth to a child to gain citizenship while holding a D7 visa for the first year.

Then according to the fastest schedule, can get pregnant and look for medical care six months after applying for the visa.

7

Getting pregnant intentionally for visa / citizenship purposes is kinda gross.

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That’s one possible reading, but probably they want to have a baby anyway, and are just considering which country they most want to live in for that baby’s future.

3 Likes
9

It’s amazing to be a US citizen and be taxed on worldwide earnings for life! /s