Hello, all – My wife and I are U.S. citizens considering (with great trepidation) applying for Portugal GVs. We’ve been told by several attorneys that parents over 65 are automatically considered dependent, and thus can be included under a single investment. It appears, though, that this is a policy rather than a law, and that the government could, in principle – and at any point in the process – ask for proof of dependency. If you are a PGV applicant who included parents over 65 in your application, we would love to know whether you were asked, at any point, for proof of dependency. Thanks! (Apologies for starting a new topic, but the closest I could find was tangential and had been dormant for almost 3 years.)
Do your parents actually want to live in Portugal? If so, why not have them apply for D7s themselves? The “Americans and Friends PT” FB group is full of retirees moving to PT on D7s and they have detailed guides on doing that. D7 is much cheaper and faster than GV.
Note, this is more expensive now that NHR has expired. Pensions/401ks/IRAs used to be tax free in PT under NHR.
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Thanks for this. We are in fact considering the D7 option as well, but none of us are sure if we’re ready, just yet, to commit to the residency requirements. If we were, it would be an easy call…
I am not sure about your concern here.
AIMA sets out the details of the GV procedures and if they don’t require proof of dependency for over-65s then that’s it. There is no other ‘government’ involved here other than AIMA.
And AIMA is known for always following their own procedures 
In my own experience, I was never asked to provide something outside of the official AIMA requirements, but on the contrary, on occasion they were more relaxed and let me submit some docs which were not 100% (like copies instead of original, lack of apostille etc.)
Thanks, Tommy. It’s complicated: the law itself (Art. 98) seems to require that parents be dependent, but the list of specific documents includes proof of dependence only for parents under 65, which implies that it’s not required for parents 65 and over. While most attorneys we’ve spoken to say they’ve never seen proof demanded for parents 65 and over, one said it happens occasionally. That’s why I’m curious to hear about the experiences of other applicants. (It’s good to hear, in any case, that AIMA sometimes cuts people some slack…)
When we went to the biometrics for my parent, the lawyers scrambled to get a POA issued for them because they did not have the same home address as me. I guess that is a marker of dependency? The biometrics appointment was successful but did not appreciate the added stress.
Interesting. Was your parent over 65? And are you saying that your having a power of attorney for them seemed to satisfy the authorities that they were dependent? Thanks!
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Yes, my parent is over 65.
The POA was for the attorney to represent us at the SEF/AIMA appointment.
If your parents are already over 65, it’s worth considering whether their health condition will allow them to move to Portugal by the time you get your residence cards in 5+ years.