In summary, Attorney Madaleina Monteiro of Liberty Legal noted:
(1) Existing GV applicants or those who submit before the new citizenship law is passed should be grandfathered under the existing counting mechanism that starts from the application submission, because this counting mechanism law pertains directly to the Golden Visa program to which we applied.
(2) Existing GV applicants do not automatically qualify for grandfathering under the current citizenship law if a new citizenship law is passed if such applicants have not yet started their citizenship law application. She is sympathetic to the argument that GV applicants have an expectation of being able to apply under the existing citizenship terms at the time of GV application and therefore could potentially qualify for grandfathering on that as well; however, the legal merits of such a position are still under debate and the governments and courts have not solidified any position on this point yet.
(3) She has not seen any indication yet that additional physical presence (i.e. more than 7 days per year) would be required for GV holders to obtain citizenship.
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