EU court rules golden passport in illegal in Malta

The way I read the full ruling, it’s specifically the naturalization of those without a “genuine connection” that was ruled upon:

…The bond of nationality with a Member State is based on a specific relationship of solidarity, good faith and the reciprocity of rights and duties between the State and its citizens. Where a Member State grants nationality, and thus automatically Union citizenship, in direct exchange for predetermined investments or payments through a transactional procedure, it manifestly infringes those principles. Such ‘commercialisation’ of citizenship is incompatible with the basic concept of Union citizenship as defined by the Treaties…

So I don’t think this opines in any way about golden residence visa programmes. Logically, GVs should be able to be renewed as before.

However, this might increase the risk for non-resident GV holders down the road in terms of citizenship. One possible interpretation/implementation of this ruling would be to require real physical presence for citizenship, or require some other proof of connection to Portugal and the community here.

For those of us who live here I doubt this changes much. But for those of you fulfilling only the minimum time requirements, I’d be tracking this as a potential risk.

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