they may even decline to prosecute in the name of social equity!
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Remember this story:
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Is there some kind of alert a property owner can set up with the land registry (whatever itâs called in Portugal) as a precaution? Basically to have some peace of mind that at least Iâll receive an email alert if anyone tries to sell / put a mortgage on my property.
Presumably you have all your documentation in order and ready to apply the day you cross the 5 year markâŚyou are mere weeks away
The following is based only on MovingTo studying 127 of their own clientsâ GV applications between January 2023 and February 2026. The NomadGate data set is considerably larger, but if youâre interested in another takeâŚ
Processing Time Comparison
- Portugal: 90 days required - 34 months actual (12x longer)
- Greece: No official timeline - 11 months actual
- Spain: 20 days required - 3.2 months actual (3-4x longer)
- Italy: 30 days required - 68 days actual
Why Italy Works and Portugal Doesnât
The divergence stems from structural differences in how each country handles investor applications.
Italy created a dedicated investor visa unit within its Ministry of Economic Development with clear documentation requirements and a functional digital application system. The program processes lower volumes than Portugalâs, but the infrastructure was designed to handle investor cases specifically.
Portugalâs golden visa applications flow through AIMA, the same agency processing asylum claims, work permits, and general immigration matters. When application volumes surged following favorable program terms, the system couldnât scale.
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/travel/article315156591.html
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Trying to get all the documents ready by end of April but it has not been easy (all those different residences coming back to haunt me big time 
)
Also a bit nervous about 1 April. Never know if they just pass the law quickly by taking out the unconstitutional parts..
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For what itâs worth the latest update here says there wonât be a final vote 1 April: https://www.gofundme.com/f/legal-defense-fund-protect-the-5year-citizenship-promise
But I donât know what their source isâŚ
I hear you. Iâve been working on it for the last 6 months myself.
From the WhatsApp group:
Another sign of the times: âNĂŁo somos criminosos, somos vĂtimas." AIMA ordena expulsĂŁo de milhares de nepaleses que sofreram burlas - Expresso
Some years ago, Nepalese immigrants were scammed by a Portuguese man who took their money but applied a fake apostille stamp to their (real) criminal background checks. Now that the scam has come to light, rather than giving them a chance to resubmit the documents, the government has instead issued deportation orders to thousands of these immigrants.
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And people think that the government will allow them to apply earlyâŚ
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For anyone still considering applying to Portugal Golden Visa, please wake up! Even IMI Daily is dragging the program:
â
Portugal in 2021:
âInvest EUR 500k, naturalize in 5 yearsâ
in 2025:
âWe took 4 years to process your application. We put golden visa investors at the back of the line for ideological reasons. But donât worry, weâll count your wait time toward your naturalization timeline.â
in 2026:
"We changed the law, so now youâll only be eligible for naturalization in 2035, and the time spent waiting wonât count after all.
Oh, and the processing time for naturalization is itself another 3 years. So you can look forward to a Portuguese passport in 2038, 17 years after you invested.
Unless, of course, we change something else by then.
Anyway, thanks for the half a million euros."
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