The line between hope and foolishness tips with evidence. We have too much evidence.
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In Spain, it seems abolishing the real estate GV route hasnāt had the intended effect. At least in the few months between April and August (which admittedly isnāt long enough to be conclusive).
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I was told 3-4 years for approval for new construction or renovation in Lisbon, what did you build? Iām curious if things have improved or what
Has Spain actually abolished it? It seems the usual story (like in Portugal) is:
- Government talks about abolishing it.
- The press says itās about to be abolished / has been abolished.
- People rush to invest before itās abolished.
- Itās not actually abolished.
- High demand continues due to FOMO since people think it will be abolished any minute.
- Press talks about how people are getting Golden Visas despite them being āabolishedā (implying some kind of back door / corruption)
Mostly, it just acts to increase demand.
This article says yes?
The decision has been confirmed by the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez
A ādecisionā is not a law. To abolish it, they would need to actually change the law. Confirming that they have a ādecisionā to abolish it, doesnāt abolish it.
As far as I know it is not abolished, multiple websites are still advertising it.
Could be. Or could be GV promoters touting BS 
Like this article, verging on criminal lies. Sadly no option for comments to warn readers awayā¦
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Purpose-built student accommodation. New build.
If I ever get this damn passport it will be the last interaction I have with Portugal. Off to a functional country!
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I confess that since I made the GV investment my life has entered into anxiety and uncertainty.
To be honest Iām not enjoying this process.
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They have totally ignored the entire applicant pool of 2022. Have not even begun June. Without any repurcussions or ramifications. Each application is worth, at the least, 280K Euros. And yet, there is just no accountability. I have not even heard the words GV from an official source in such a long time. Complete abandonment.
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The MAIN GOAL of our family pooling our resources in 2022 to buy into an investment in Portugal was so we would have visas in our pockets by the time this 2024 US election rolled around. A sure thing, we were told!
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So reading through all this while at the verge of going through with the PGV has definitely made me re-think if this is the right move. Iām looking for an EU citizenship for me and my family without having to spend too much time there as we have an active business in our home country that we need to manage.
There are some half-promising articles and other news that suggests the situation is likely to improve but way more stories of delays and not so nice things about AIMA for me to proceed.
Anyone still suggests going through with the 500k PGV investment? Or if anyone has gone through/has knowledge of the HQA visa that has a shorter processing timeline and only one renewal needed in 5 years?
If you are in a position to move to somewhere in the EU now and fulfill minimum residency requirements, then definitely not - there are better options. However, if you canāt or donāt want to move now, then Iām unaware of any other option with low minimum stay requirements. Just be prepared for a very long wait, and potentially to need to allocate some money towards legal fees for a court case, if it looks like your visa is not going to be approved.
My suspicion is that, at some point, they will manage to clear the backlog, so you may not end up having as long a wait as someone who applied in 2022. Thatās pure speculation though.
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There was discussion about that and the HQA visa has much higher stay requirements. They can be waived for exceptional circumstances (which the people advertising HQA claim is easy to get) but who knows in practice.
The only visa that has low stay requirements in Portuguese law is GV.
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Honestly, wonāt suggest you to proceed with Portugal GV. And that is not out of my own inherent bias against it. Considering the delays in both Portugal GV residency and citizenship; overall time taken in citizenship processing maybe less for Spain, Hungary and Latvia albeit at longer stay and harder language requirements. But hey, residency card will be processed much faster. More importantly, w9th Portugal the regulations change way too frequently for any investors comfort. Now that I have a few Portuguese friends, even they laugh at my folly of having invested in Portugal. They rather seek my support in exploring opportunities in UAE 
But even if you want to proceed with Portugal ARI, why not wait for them to at least recommence the pre-approval processing. No applications (without a rare successful lawsuit) since 2022 has seen light of the dayā¦so in reality we are looking at 2+ years of delay and it is not like they are even moving at a snailās pace. It is practically at standstill.
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HQA is realistically not a viable option to citizenship if you do not want to move to Portugal. Yes you may get the initial 2 year visa, but in order to refresh you will have to have an interview and show how long you have been in Portugal for etc. If you have not spent a significant time in Portugal it is likely that the authorities will not renew your visa.
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I fully agree that normal processing will never resume. One needs to keep in mind that lawsuit is needed in all intermediate steps until passport in hand.
The dreadful reason of why ARI is badly treated by the government is because money goes first, service comes later. Govt already keeps our money and the only way for them to keep our money in a longer time is to treat us as badly as possible.
In contrary of GV, govt needs to treat D7 as nicely as possible. Because if people under D7 do not have visa, they will not come spend their money (passive income/pension/ā¦) in Portugal.
If now, GV is designed in such a way that investors only transfer money within 30 days after they have GV in hand. Then all of sudden, waiting time could be no more than 10 days.
Thatās why I keep repeating that portuguese politician are cunning like foxes. They create a sweet condition of GV - 7 days/year - which no other countries in EU could offer. It is indeed a trap and one needs to consider very carefully because all lawyers are shitty. I am 100% sure that by now lawyers know that it could take up to or even longer than 5 years to receive the 1st card. But they never tell the worst case scenario. They only tell the best case scenario: āwell, one of our clients has just got his 1st card after 14 monthsā. Thatās all they do. Trying their best to deliver the lip service in order to take money from investors.
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Shashank makes a good point.
For anyone who reads everything on this thread, and somehow still can consider investing in Portugal, wouldnāt you at least want to see AIMAās ARI / PGV application processing situation start to improve?
Yes, AIMA has made a big show of increasing its resources 10-20%, but as far as the evidence on this site indicates, the extra resources havenāt translated to any material improvement in the processing of ARI / PGV applications.
Unless youāre willing to wait 12-15 years for a passport, isnāt that a dealbreaker?
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