I donāt know anything except what it says on number 6.
" 6) The submission of new Residence Permits concerning investments or support to artistic production, refurbishment ormaintenance of national cultural assets, provided with a declaration issued by GEPAC (Gabinete de EstratĆ©gia Planeamento e AvaliaĆ§Ć£o Culturais ) before the entry into force of the Law Proposal no. 71/XV/1st, will be allowed, and will also be processed asa Residence Permits for Entrepreneurial Immigrants."
Hello Thomas,
Thank you for posting the Prima Legal analysis. I am wondering about the impact of the new law on new investments in open-ended mutual funds (e.g. IMGA). Do you know if these funds are accepted under the new special D2 visa regime?
Regards.
The specifics of that hasnāt been released, but to me it doesnāt make sense that there would suddenly be a different criteria for granting or renewal of the residence permit than what was in place when the investment was made and the initial application was submitted.
Iām confident these details will be ironed out during the parliamentary process.
In short, no-one knows yet. As far as we can tell from the draft, existing GV holders seem able to renew with their existing investments.
But applicants who have not yet had their first card issued may need their investments approved by one of several specified government agencies, or āothers that prove appropriate due to the subject matterā. It hasnāt been explained what this process may involve - whether itās a rubber-stamp of existing investments, or whether there is more to it. This may be clarified during the legislative process.
I agree - changing the criteria effectively creates a retroactive impact which they have repeatedly mentioned it wonāt be, due to all the constitutional difficulties , etc.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Hopefully they clarify how these investments can possibly be considered entrepreneurial. To me that says business activity, but maybe it has a different meaning in PT? (Or my own definition is simply too narrowā¦)
No one has brought up the question of fees. Besides GVs being given the lowest priority, we have also paid eye-watering fees for the same visa services every other visa type gets. Iām now living in Portugal and am required by law to change the address on my Titulo de Residencia from my lawyerās address to my actual address. Never mind that I am unable to get through to SEF. People I know who are D7 visa holders pay a couple hundred euros to update their addresses, while ARI holders like me get to pay around 2500 for the identical āserviceā.
If all else remains equivalent in terms of visa conditions, but conversion to D2 makes the cost go down, then Iām all for it.
That is a good point. Do we get a refund of our application fees since our original visa (we dont yet have pre approval) wont be ARI? Are renewals cheaper?
But we also get tiny residency requirements, ie 7 days/year, which other visa types donāt. That could be argued re the fees
That doesnāt explain why a genuine, full-time resident like me has to pay around 2200 euros more than other genuine full-time residents to change the address on my residency card.
Joelā¦
Article 45& renewalsā¦
Wasnāt the original instruction that funds for ARI be in the VC space and this wording is effectively aimed to continue that? Iāve long wondered how index and property funds got approval (but they did). But I wonder if the VC funds are encompassed in this definition of āentrepreneurialā
For index funds at least, I think it was in 2017. In the Aliens Act, compare the definition in Article 3(1)(d)(vii):
(Lei n.Āŗ 59/2017, de 31/07)
vii) Transfer of capital in an amount equal to or greater than 500 thousand euros, intended for the acquisition of participation units in investment or venture capital funds aimed at the capitalization of small and medium-sized companies that, for this purpose, present the respective plan of capitalization and it proves to be viable;
(Lei n.Āŗ 102/2017, de 28/08)
vii) Transfer of capital in an amount equal to or greater than (euro) 350 000, intended for the acquisition of participation units in investment funds or venture capital funds aimed at the capitalization of companies, which are constituted under Portuguese law, whose maturity, at the time of investment, is at least five years and at least 60% of the value of investments is realized in commercial companies headquartered in the national territory;
So I think this second version was the first time you could qualify using an investment fund with a portfolio of Portuguese equities.
I did the process by starting a company so I am qualified as an entrepreneur. I just hope it speeds process up.
Received this opinion from my lawyers in response to my specific question regarding the requirements for the special D2 visa beyond just the minimum stay requirements: āWith the information that we have, it will not be possible to indicate to you if the Government will add additional requirements to the investment for the conversion. Nevertheless, we believe that it will merely be a change in name due to the extinction of the article of the Law that regulates Golden Visas. In this sense, it seems to us that the Governmentās intention is only to change the name and keep the investments made so far unchanged (so that there is no unconstitutionality). I believe that new rules for investments through the entrepreneur visa will only apply to new processes. However, we will only be 100% sure with the publication of the Law.ā
So take that for what it is worth.
Soā¦ a definite maybe?
āWe believe that it will merely be a change in nameā seems a bold claim given the language in the draft and the PMās statements.
Well the answer depends on not yet written legislation. Theyāre only lawyers, not soothsayers 
Can you please clarify for me when you applied? We submitted our documents in January. We havenāt heard anything since. We were hoping to start school in Septemberā¦