Global Citizen Solutions versus Henley & Partners?

Residencies & citizenships Portugal Golden Visa 🇵🇹
1

We are comparing Global Citizen Solutions versus Henley & Partners, going the investment route. Does anyone have any experience with either? Any companies you can recommend?

3 Likes
2

What is the value add of services like Henley and Partners over other lawyers? I contacted them and their quoted service fee (€30,000) seems relatively steep.

2 Likes
3

I agree they were 25K euros. There seem to be a lot of different players in this area and didn’t know how much any one companies contacts might speed the process along.

4 Likes
4

Hi Joseph, I have been talking to GCS the past few months and they have come across has quite professional. They were also quite connected and helped easily to arrange calls with fund managers. I have not yet signed with them but might do so. Had talked to a couple of lawyers/services firms prior to that and either they were not too forthcoming and helpful and/or were mostly real estate oriented.

1 Like
5

Thank you Jayanth,

This is good to hear.

2 Likes
6

We are speaking to one of their fund managers this week. We are also speaking to 2 other companies, La Vida and Get Golden Visa, if anyone wants feedback on these vendors.

7

I’ve been in contact with GCS as well, but for the real estate route. Glad to hear that you have had positive interactions with them even though you are going the investment route, as it is hard to get a handle over the internet about whether an organization is “real” or not.

8

Hi Joseph,

Of curiosity, does their fee include lawyer’s fee to complete investment, travel costs, translation of documents, legalization of documents, etc? Those can add up quite quickly to a sizeable amount…

Thanks for sharing.

3 Likes
9

Hi Nik,

It includes everything except the legalization of documents. For us though, they seem the safest bet based on their history and track record. We have decided to go with them after speaking to their Portugal office lead and the investment form. We also cross-referenced the funds on the CVCM website.

1 Like
11

Hi Joseph - i also spoke to Global Citizen Solutions recently. They seemed quite knowledgeable. We have not spoken to the rest yet. Planning to speak to La Vida, Mercan and Get Golden Visa. I and my wife are also interested in the fund route versus real estate investment. Were the proposal very different from La Vida and Get Golden? - in terms of inclusions / exclusions or significant cost difference, etc.

12

Anyone on experience Henley and Partners??

3 Likes
13

We are using them now. Chose them in January and we are now in the process of opening a bank account in Portugal and getting our tax ID.

1 Like
14

La Vida seemed ok to us. We ended up going with Henley & Partners due to their reputation and time in market. They are quite a bit more expensive though.

3 Likes
15

Thanks Joesph…

16

Hi Joe,
May I know why you chose not to use Global Citizen Solutions?
I mean what was the deal breaker?
Thanks

2 Likes
17

Hi Fadi,

Nothing was wrong with GCS. Henley was just a little more experienced and was the market leader from what we could find. So since the investment is rather large, we wanted to go with a known name that we felt comfortable with.

3 Likes
18

Hi Joe,

Thanks for clarification. Its true that Henley is older and seems to be market leader. However, the price difference is HUGE. On GCS website seems they offer cost at nearly 70% cheaper than Henley!!!
I will definitely get detailed cost estimate from all before I proceed.

1 Like
19

I’m working with GCS now. For real estate, though, not funds. So far they have been very professional and open with questions and readily available. Working now on opening bank account.

4 Likes
20

Hi Courtney,

Thanks for the feedback, wish you all the best.
Could you please keep us updated with your progress.

Regards

1 Like
22

Well well, we had a vigorous research phase before we finally gave the green light to Get Golden Visa.

Between my boyfriend and I, we spoke to more than 10 different advisory firms, maybe close to 10 funds, and a bunch of law firms too. Intense? I know.

Henley was very professional and they had the most experience by far. Well, with experience comes a high ticket price. We did not want to drop 25K euro on the fees in addition to all the investment we would make.

GCS was pretty cool too, they sure were knowledgeable, but I just found them a bit too pushy at the end of the day. Also, it really annoys me when the advisory firm pushes me to use their own junior in-house lawyer for the application. I don’t know, what if we have an issue with them, isn’t that a conflict for my lawyer to be their employee?

We also spoke to Get Golden Visa back and forth. There were a couple of people from their Lisbon office that dealt with us. Initially, it was a bit of a head whirler, but then we were assigned a key account manager, who took us step by step on the real estate and the fund option. They set up calls with seven or eight different funds. On a separate track, they also went to the properties we liked and took photos and videos and shared them with us, since we could not travel due to the pandemic. At no point did I ever feel pushed, rushed, or sold to. Honestly, they were a gem throughout the process.

Eventually, I decided to go ahead with a fund option.

I know I can be a bit obnoxious when it comes to analysis and not everyone’s like me. But for me, the 350K euros I invested in the funds was a significant ticket size and I wanted to make sure there would be a responsible professional next to me. Get Golden Visa’s team made me feel that security.

In any case, there’s never too much vetting, whichever company you choose, make sure you have as many calls with them as possible… These guys will be there with us for the next 5-6 years.

7 Likes