I am a permanent resident of the US, but I am not an American citizen.
I’ve been on the fence about getting into the Portugal GV program for a while, but given how much stronger the dollar is now, this option seems to have become really good value.
I had a quick couple of Qs for the folks here:
-I saw that Mercan has a couple of current hotels as investment options. However, it looks like they have spots for 100+ investors. Does this mean the project (and as such, my immigration process) will not kickoff until they fill all those spots?
-Given all the issues I’ve seen with the SEF on this forum, would you still recommend going through this process?
Question 1: Your application process can start upon your investment in the project. Doesn’t matter when the project starts.
Question 2: This just depends on an individual’s tolerance for the uncertainty that comes along with this process and your time line for wanting residency. Also, you really can’t compare the experience someone has in any specific year with what a future filer may experience --your process may go a lot faster (or a lot slower) but it certainly won’t be the same. If you’re in a hurry to get to Portugal, a different visa program would be a better idea.
My suggestion would be either buy a fully owned property or a publicly traded fund investment such IMGA Acoes. That way you can dispose it off if you feel it is not worth pursuing the GV. Understand that you are at the mercy of fund managers or the real estate firm with rest of the options. The forum has a ton of content on all options.
If you have any interest in moving to Portugal, you’d spend a lot less money, headache, and get citizneship sooner if you finished naturalizing in the US, then got a D7 visa to Portugal. I would only consider it if you have no intention of ever moving to Portugal and like the idea that maybe in 10 years you have an EU passport, and even then only if you are fine with the uncertainty of it all. If you can deal with being treated badly by SEF and put in indefinite delays with no ability to ever ask why you haven’t heard anything for 2 years, maybe go ahead?
Thank you so much for your response. I did not realize there were fund options that I could dispose of anytime I wanted.
I was not looking at purchasing my own real estate or investing in funds simply because I did not want to deal with the hassle of finding my own lawyers and not knowing for sure if they’d be around for however long this process takes. Felt like Mercan would not have that problem. But you’re right, each approach has it’s own issues.