According to some local banks, Portugal (or at least Lisbon) is in a complete lockdown. Not sure if they simply tried to extend the holidays for another week or if COVID is really wreaking havoc like many other places. Probably the latter…
The US State Dept has also issued a Level 4 restriction for Portugal. So perhaps things will be a bit unfortunately delayed until the bureaucracies return back to normal.
We also have questions for SEF but with limited communication at the moment. Hope it becomes better soon.
I am in Lisbon now and despite the work from home order, you’d never notice much of a difference. People in hospitality are saying there are a lot of cancellations.
My experience is similar. If you are there for a long stay, then it is very normal and most everyone just goes about their business. For a very short stay, it is super stressful dealing with the various testing requirements for entry/exit.
What’s Lisbon like in the winter? Are folks locally worried about COVID or do they use it as an excuse?
My experience in Paris is that they are trying to get by with the annoyances but are otherwise reasonable people who value their liberty and freedom despite COVID
For the family reunification route (or adding/renewing a residence permit for a child to a golden visa when the child is aged 18 to 26) does anyone have experience with this?
I read various requirements such as the child must be dependent, a student, single.
How exactly does one prove dependency and what are the parameters on this? If the child has a part-time job but is otherwise living with the parent and in school is that enough?
What if the child has some savings?
What if the child is expected to receive some inheritance before the final renewal? Would that disqualify the child and if so, what amount of money would disqualify the child from being “dependent”?
Been a while since I posted. I got my Golden Visa for my partner and I about 2 years ago about about to get my parents their biometric appointments. Our initial applications were huge pain in butt as I’m American, but I have not lived in the USA for 15+ years, and I rarely go back. Doing FBI COC (police clearance) and various other paperwork was pain as I had to trouble family and friends to do all the delivery and such as it was easier that way.
I then read through this forum, and found several mentions of Monument Visa. I rarely endorse services as I’m often disappointed, but Kevin and Monument has saved me massive headaches, and be voice of calm even when there were massive delays due to Covid. Just wanted to call out a good option for Americans who are applying for the Golden Visa.
Just wanted to check one point on fees. I am the main applicant and I am applying alongside two family members. Via my lawyer, we’ve paid an initial processing fee of EUR 533 x 3 = EUR 1599, and have appropriate SEF receipts. But in various places on this and other sites, I’ve seen reference to initial fees of EUR 533 for the main applicant, and EUR 83 for family members. Can anyone let me know why this might be? thanks
The fees charged by SEF are available here, and were applied by SEF until end 2021: https://imigrante.sef.pt/?media_dl=3009. The link takes you to a pdf Tabela_Taxas_2020.
Even if you change the language, the pdf to download remains in Portuguese.
The relevant section for residence via investment is section IV - TÍTULOS RESIDÊNCIA, Section 3 – Por títulos de residência para atividade de investimento. The initial processing fee is EUR 533 for “receção e análise do pedido de concessão ou de renovação de autorização de residência para atividade de investimento, incluindo a receção e análise de pedido de concessão ou de renovação de autorização de residência para reagrupamento de familiar”.
I do not see the amount of EUR 83 in that section and I could not find it in a cursory search on this site.
Thank you very much for looking that up! That does seem very clear. It’s so odd, because many websites of companies offering professional services cite the EUR 83 or similar figures. Where they are getting these precise figures from, I have no idea; as you say, the EUR 83 doesn’t appear to be in the regulations. For example,
Golden Visa Portugal - General Information | Rental Valley - “If you also want to apply for your family members, it will be done at the same time. The first applicant pays € 532,70 processing fee, each additional family member pays € 83,10.”
In older versions of the fee table (see, for example, the 2019 version, Permanência Ilegal em Portugal e taxas SEF – ASSESSORIA PORTUGAL – BRASIL (vistosportugal.com)) there was an EUR 83.10 fee for granting a residence permit. The EUR 533 fee was specifically for a permit in relation to investment activity. This was possibly unclear - someone applying as a family member, but not themselves making an investment, could have been regarded as fitting the EUR 83.10 fee category.
In the most recent version of the table, the language of these two fee categories has been changed, so that it’s now clear that the EUR 533 is both for the main applicant, and for family members.
Hi,
Super informative article, thanks!
I noticed that some information about specific real estate developers (particularly Mercan) was removed in a recent edit of the page. Was this for a particular reason? I’d love to know if your views on these developers has changed since that content was written.
Thanks!
Hi @sortie — that was definitely not intentional. We did some reorganization of our real estate content (e.g. listing some actual real estate projects instead of just the developers), and I guess it got lost in the shuffle. Thanks for letting me know—I’ve fixed it now!
The Portugal GV allows you to live and work in Portugal permanently. It also provides visa free travel in Schengen.
However, is there some carve out that time in Portugal under the GV does not count toward the 90/180 rule? Otherwise, if you stay in Portugal you would effectively be prohibited from travel to any other country because you would have exceeded the 90 days.
It stands to reason there must be a carve out but I havent seen such language anywhere.
No, I don’t see how that’s relevant. This system is only for the external Schengen borders (essentially replacing passport stamps), not between Schengen countries. It won’t help in tracking how much time you spend in Portugal vs other Schengen countries. And with a residence permit in Portugal you can always enter Schengen, and there aren’t any checks between Schengen countries.
