Yes, it’s very interesting and complicated question, but I didn’t receive any concrete response.
I read most of the questions and responses in this discussion and understood that there are some very good professional lawyers comments/responses so I would highly appreciate if any of them can answer this.
I recall seeing this question asked and answer at some point on this forum.
I think the answer was that it varies on the country where you are seeking residency but in general the answer is no you cannot do this.
I can certainly see how this would be frowned upon by authorities. You are essentially trying to game the system and I doubt that would be seen positively.
You are right but what will happen if you have Golden visa and you get a job offer in France for which they give you French residency. Will you give up the Golden visa for which you spent a lot of money on government fees, property tax and lawyers fees and waiting time or will you give up with the attractive job???
That is an interesting take you have on my post. I guess you have to determine if I am trying to rip you off or not. 
I would first check with lawyer in France. Maybe there is a way.
… but there’s always that 1%. mm falls in that category. He’s just being that old guy saying “here thar be dragons” at the mouth of the cave that no one wants to listen to. 
I started a reply to the troll but I decided to block him instead. “Don’t feed the trolls”, they say.
Hi @flyfreely thanks so much for your comprehensive overview. My girlfriend and I just purchased property as well and are going through the process fairly last minute.
Quick question: when you said that the lawyers discouraged you from going through the GV process until they knew you were planning on living in Portugal - why was that?
Separately, I too am nervous about FBI apostille times, considering how soon I need them. There seem to be services which help get apostilles done and some seem to claim faster times but I’m wondering if that’s BS because it seems like the bottleneck is the FBI itself…
Thanks!
bottleneck isnt FBI…you’ll get your report in hours if you go the Post Office route. Bottleneck is US State Department. Send it yourself. It will take same amount of time as a servive. When I did it in July it took 3 weeks.
Hello can someone explain exactly what has to happen to buy an apartment in Porto or Lisbon before December 31 deadline? Is a contract to purchase sufficient? Does the 500,000 + actually have to be transferred? Does the purchaser have to have legal ownership of the property? Thanks
In summary, yes you would need to have a registered promissory contract, and the property you buy needs to have certain licenses in order to qualify for registration of promissory contract. Your bank would have to certify the transfer of 500K EUR to the developer / seller of property. You would also need to have certain documents attested from your home country and the Portuguese Embassy in your country in order to complete the initial SEF application.
For the Golden Visa Investment for US tax payers, is it necessary to annually file Form 8621 for the passive fund?
Hi Shivani - came across your post from a few years ago.
Were you successful in applying with your mother at 66 years of age, without showing her economic dependency?
In December 2021, I wanted to get all my own documents ready to include my parents in the GV application, so this would be helpful.
Thanks 
Hello Alexander,
Would you kindly let us know if economic dependency demonstration is waived for parents over age 65, and this is still the current practice?
Thank you very much.
Kind regards,
I am in the same situation. My brother is 66 and totally dependent. At first my lawyers said that there would be no problem if I submitted paperwork showing his disability. I did all this in June of 2021. Now they say that they cannot make the application online as there is no “space” on the portal for siblings and they need to talk to SEF directly and explain the situation. They have not been able to get an appointment as SEF are not answering their phones. I still have faith that my brother will be accepted. Hope this helps.
