I think lawsuits have lost its magical effectiveness. At the moment Aima does not care about lawsuits. They do not even follow the courtās verdict. The worst thing is that nobody knows what the consequence is when Aima ignore the courtās order. There is no law enforcement unit to make sure that Aima must follow.
2 Likes
More likely they think the factors encouraging Portuguese to leave (unemployment etc) should be addressed.
If they wanted an iron curtain they would try to leave the EU (like UK did) but Portuguese support for the EU is over 80%.
1 Like
Sounds like something got lost in translation 
āToday, most lawsuits filed by lawyers in Portugal have to do with AIMAā!
1 Like
Even now, not one word from the leader of the Portuguese Association of Real Estate Developers and Investors about processing times or AIMAās non-performance ā all they want is a new program to ālure wealthy foreign nationalsā.
If youāre not one of us whoās already stuck, please do not fall into this trap!
2 Likes
If lawsuits continue rocketing to the sky, Govt might come up with a new strategy. They might create something new and dissolve AIMA, just like they did with SEF. Then the new department (basically with the same old employees) will restart from fresh. And they can continue their argument that we are in the mode of re-structure to make it better. It takes some times for things actually run smoothly blah blah. All the lawsuits against AIMA will be discarded because the there will be no more AIMA. And the new cycle repeats. 
2 Likes
Youāre right. I filed a lawsuit last summer and actually got a judge to give AIMA a short time to respond to the complaint. They never responded, however for some reason they issued me another biometrics appointment when I already had biometrics in early February 2023. Tried to get my lawyers to go back to the court and ask for summary judgment against AIMA (or whatever the Portuguese equivalent of that is). Couldnāt get them to do anything. I have now switched to a different law firm.
1 Like
Properties continue rising. In the past, GV investors were scapegoat to absorb the blame from the govt. Now, there is no GV property route. What is the reason of propertiesā price increment? Surely there are thousands of europeans (french, german, dutch,ā¦) buying properties in PT. This number of europeans is 10x more than GV investors. However, it seems that there is a big elephant in the room and nobody dares to talk about itā¦
2 Likes
While property prices may indeed be rising overall, the segment that attracted GV money appears to be stagnant at best and in some cases falling. We bought our two-bedroom apartment just off Avenida in July after securing a significant price drop from the vendors because we were clearly the only ones buying in the > ā¬500k price segment in Lisbon. Iāve just checked Idealista and many of the other properties in Lisbon that we were considering since January are still on the market with price drops. Theyāre just not shifting any more. Probably GV property investors in Lisbon did maintain high prices in the city but now this segment cannot buy property to qualify these high prices appear to be deteriorating. In any case, I donāt think this affected normal Portuguese people as most wouldnāt want to buy in this price segment in the city centre.
The irony is that having got a GV through investing in a VC, we ended up buying a property for significantly more than the old GV minimum and Iām likely to open a business in the next six months employing Portuguese. Oh well. Glad the weather is nice.
3 Likes
I got your point. I believe that the stats in the article include all segments of the property market. Hence, if the segment of 500k or above declines, then other segments (200k-300k) would have been even higher to compensate in order to get the actual numbers. I agree that the average portuguese would not want to buy the 500k or above segment in Lisbon city center. However, if the main target of the portuguese is the 200-300k segment and this particular segment increases 5-10%, it will be a significant number to them as well. I did purchase a property in the upper middle segment (in my opinion) 300-400k. Based on my observation, the same property increases at least 5% after 1 year which is quite astonishing. And obviously, 300k-400k segment has nothing to do with GV investors. Its main clients are portugueses and some small percentage of europeans and people from other countries.
I do believe the rage,tragedy and general madness will calm down when there is one case for citizenship being approved with the residency requirement starting from the online application for the first time.
If that happens,pls let us know,my lord.
Pls do not conveniently forget us poor souls from batch of 2022 who still awaiting pre-approvals. Citizenship clock is not even remotely on my mind.
3 Likes
The reason for the increase in property values is a shortage of housing, and huge numbers of people moving to PT through non-GV means. GV is but a drop in the ocean. As said by a poster below, it had an impact on one small segment of the market only.
Youād think the solution is simple - build more housing - but itās not that simple. PT property values are still comparatively low, construction costs are high, interest rates are high. Itās very difficult for property developers to build property at the price point that itās really needed - affordable, mass market housing, as the appraisals show it may not be profitable. The governmentās suggestion they would introduce a GV route that invests in affordable housing for residents is a step in the right direction, but I havenāt seen any more information released about it.
The legal system having tons of properties in limbo as well as extremely slow government approvals, and strict building limits is doing more than the higher costs of inputs imo
Though of course they are made worse when you have to wait five years for approval to build something
1 Like
With every day that passes, I doubt more and more that I will actually receive my residence card before the five years from application expiresā¦
2 Likes
I doubt we will even receive the card within 5 years. The possibility of that happening is close to 0 for 2022 applicants. I regret my foolishness to invest in this dysfunctional country.
3 Likes
I totally understand your feelings Shashank.
When I started to consider emigration in 2022, I aimed not only to live outside my country but also to change my citizenship.Compared with the Caribbean countries,for example,Portugal is a better option.
Maybe you care more about the residency card so this situation sucks.
I know I have to accept the fact if the calculating point began at either the first card issuance or the biometrics.But I have no better choice.
I emigrate to make me able to choose when crucial things happen even though I have no choice now.
Hope is a good thing,isnāt it?
It definitely is Charles but wish it doesnt turn out to be an endless one.
1 Like
Probably contributes, but weāve been through the approval process twice with large projects, and it wasnāt that bad.