“lunch” … 
Hi Aditya, could you PM me the contact number or email address with BPI bank as well to enquire about pre-clearance for the BPI Portugal FIAA fund?
Hi Aditya, same here could you share the contact with me too please?
Not sure if we had the same contact at BPI (first name starts with P), but I had almost the exact same experience.
I met him in person in Lisbon several weeks ago, submitted all documents, signed everything, and was told it would take about 2 weeks. After 3 weeks, they requested an additional document, which I provided. They then went silent and ignored all phone calls and emails for a further 4 weeks. Eventually, they sent another email requesting documents that don’t exist, and didn’t respond to any further queries about that.
I also ended up opening an account with Millennium BCP, and am about to start the process for the IMGA fund. Hopefully my account manager is more proactive than yours.
I am curious many agents won’t work with client who interested in open funds, also we can’t share openly where to start the open funds. 
it makes me think the closed fund and properties have huge hidden commission for them.
Yes they do. Generally around 3-5%. If you are truly contacting a fund on your own, you can sometimes get that rebated - the fund is paying someone, and that someone can be you, though there are some foibles; not all funds will do this, though. Before anyone screams, this is just normal for a good chunk of the world. It used to be normal with US mutual funds (who did you think got the load charge? It wasn’t the fund). If you are getting advice or assistance from someone, they presumably are not doing it for free. The US has managed to convince the consumer that everything is free, and I’m frankly not sure we’re all so much better off for it.
That said, I think some people charge an awful lot of money for services actually rendered, and it’s frankly a mixed bag - are people really advising you on all funds available, or just the ones they’ve cut deals with? What do they really know? You’re simply changing who you are trusting from the fund people to the advisor people. That’s why I went the DIY path. But it has absorbed a LOT of my time and effort over the last year and change to do so, and sometimes it is better to simply acknowledge that and pay and move on because one can spend too much of one’s limited time on this earth attempting to over-optimize.
Why can’t you share openly where to start with open funds? There’s plenty of information here in the board. Just search for it. If you are talking about why there aren’t email addresses and phone numbers and why do I have to DM for it, well, there are a couple quite logical reasons Thomas does not want this, the most obvious one being that many people most of the time do not really want their personal information splatted out on a public board for the entire world to see. Which includes even sales people. That said, there is quite enough information here for the average person most of the time to use google to translate what is posted here into at least basic contact info.
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At this point I’m feeling like it would be a good business to open a golden visa lawyer office targeting folks like those on this forum lol.
Pay one or two people to keep on top of funds and available options, a few lawyers to handle paperwork for opening accounts, automated tracking for everything for clients with entirely automated fund selection and investments, bank account opening, document uploads, etc.
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Seba666, can you please if this information is coming from Portuguese lawyer? The SEF website is vague on this topic and many Portuguese lawyer are as vague in providing an answer. Thanks
I’m sorry i can’t find any information in SEF website.
I think the minimum participation that need top update every year is also not correct, this informations come from agent that want more commissions if they sell another products 
(I’m moving this here just to less-clutter the main fund thread since that’s more about comparing and details of funds.)
I would say the generally accepted interpretation is “no you can’t, you need to maintain your initial investment” interpreted as “leave your shares alone one way or the other”. The law itself is rather vague on the matter.
2 — The residence permit is renewed for periods of two years, under the terms of this law, provided that the applicant proves to maintain any of the requirements of paragraph d) of article 3
What does that mean? “Maintain” would imply “leave it alone”, but do they mean maintaining 350k or the initial transfer of capital? But it’s already generally accepted that if the investment loses value, then you still get to keep/renew the visa so long as you don’t sell the shares. But you get to sell shares if the investment goes up? That sounds a lot like “heads I win tails you lose”.
Frankly, if you ask me, the way the law is interpreted is already incredibly generous, and I would be disinclined to push it. I’m really surprised public-equity funds (which don’t have a lockup) are being allowed, as are VC fund shares that don’t have an explicit lockup. Indeed, IMO the entire scheme is incredibly generous compared to others out there. But YMMV and feel free to discuss with your lawyer and try it. I’m not going to.
All that said, if the fund pays dividends, that’s a different animal entirely, and I can’t see any reason you can’t take those; indeed, I don’t see how you can’t since they’re getting paid out as cash. So there’s also a question of how your fund increases in value.
And for what it’s worth, to answer something you posted in another thread - I truly doubt you’re going to get much of a square opinion from any lawyer, and I wouldn’t trust it even if you got one unless it were backed by some specific binding statement from SEF - which appears to be lacking generally anyway around any topic such as this from what conversations I’ve had with lawyers; it all seems pretty much “try it and see if you get away with it”. The entire concept of the fund investment isn’t very old - 2018. The law itself is vague at best. There can’t have been many renewals yet for there to be much if any precedent at all. If it’s really important to you, I’d assume the answer is “no”, whatever that means for whatever choice you mean to make based on it, unless you want to take the chance of having your renewal get rejected.
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I prefer to live by the mantra of “pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered.” Don’t get too cute or greedy and you should be fine.
Thanks for the insight. At least we have the same thinking. Lawyers and fund managers I have spoken are on the fence with the SEF requirements being too vague for interpretation.
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I see a lot about IMGA fund as a potential GV fund but I don’t see specific or detailed information like website links, etc? It’s not listed on NomadGate list of GV funds available?
Could someone please direct me toward definitive information re: IMGA?
Thanks
IMGA is a public fund manager. https://www.imga.pt. One of their public index funds tracks the PSI 20 stock exchange index; it trades on the public exchanges, you buy it like any other stock from a brokerage account, and people have used it as a GV investment. However it is not a GV investment per se and there is no definitive “this is approved” information or any marketing or anything, merely that people have gotten approved. You buy shares of stock via your bank account. You need to talk to Bison or BiG or Atlantico, or translate the web site on your own. No you cannot go buy it at Schwab or whatever, you have to buy it using a Portuguese bank and have it held in Portugal.
There has been some discussion here if you dig around.
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Thanks for the info Jeff. I’m in the process of establishing an account at Atlantico and I was told by them today that they are readying to be able to buy and hold the fund. From reading on the forum it appears that at least three GV pursuers have had the fund approved?
“No you cannot go buy it at Schwab or whatever, you have to buy it using a Portuguese bank and have it held in Portugal.” Yes I believe that goes without saying?
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No, not really - look back, you will find posts from people asking that question, since it would save on fees and be far more convenient for them. shrug
I work with GCS and their lawyers aren’t sure if IMGA truly qualifies because it doesn’t have an at least 5 year horizon and also this is not a contribution to the economy. Buying shares of a public fund means one is obtaining the shares from a selling shareholder. The money does not go to the companies whose shares are held by the fund.
They say that there may be problems down the road at renewals.
Thank you. That makes sense and seems like a risky move at this point?
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My lawyer was pretty confident the IMGA funds qualify.
If I have to move investments before a renewal, oh well, not a big deal.
Hi garrette: may I ask which law firm or immigration consultancy you work with?
I am wondering if there’s a potential conflict of interest with GCS’s claim because it doesn’t get a commission from IMGA. On the other hand, if I invest in a fund listed in GCS’s list, then GCS gets compensated.
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