For those who already live in Portugal, is anyone aware of the procedure of switching from a GV to D7 within Portugal? I think that will be the path forward for 90% of people who live here. In fact, most of us who live here deeply regret ever getting a GV.
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April Fools!
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25% income tax sounds pretty low!
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The Goal post keeps changingā¦
Forced rental to go ahead for vacant homes - The Portugal News
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Thatās not specific to GV, itās talking about those owned by Portuguese also. In fact it specifically says holiday homes would be exempt, which sounds like unoccupied GV homes might qualify as.
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No, this is incorrect.
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I see people mentioning getting lawyers. Now is the time, we need to start getting organized so the Assembly of the Republic members and President get a letter from a law firm representing X100ās of people ready to protect the rights they were assured under the ARI law. Influencing now could save a lot more money later.
Can this site enable sign-upās for a particular type of action? Who knows of a good lawyer. I liked the lawyer for Mercan, who wrote the article.
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I have started a new topic for those interested in the possibility of a Class Action.
ARI investors are being scapegoated as the cause of Portugalās inflationary situation. You only need to look at food to understand inflation is everywhere and obviously ARI investors didnāt cause food prices to increase. I do think ARI (at least those who buy houses) causes some effect on housing prices, but it is overall a minor impact compared to other factors.
So, there must be some Portugal shopkeepers who benefit from ARI who can tell their story.
Same with real estate agents and construction workers who can tell how they have good jobs and need more investments to continue. Same with lawyers who make money and hire people, and spend money on cars, foods, etc. It is all a story that needs to be told.
Another story is how the image of Portugal (Lisbon/Porto) has improved since 2012. 6 billion of investments making Lisbon attractive and desirable. Neighborhoods totally revitalized. Portugal is routinely listed as one of the top place to retire/vacation. Some of this effect is due to this investment.
When an ARI investor get a residence permit, they spend for a family upwards of 20,000 euros on fees, plus legal fees + VAT, and then if they buy a house somewhere they spend tens of thousands more euros on taxes. This is a big benefit for the country, especially to have people pay huge taxes, but they donāt live there so they are not using up all the resources. That is an ideal situation for a country - to have someone paying taxes, but not using transportation, healthcare, retirement pensions system, police, etc. Imagine a country where the largest taxpayers used few resources and saved those resources for locals.
If all ARI disappeared tomorrow, would Portugal be just fine. Sure, it would but I think it is better because of people like us. And that is an important story to tell.
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Scroll down to the last part on litigation and counteroffensives being already underway.
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we need to take steps to initiate a class action lawsuit in preparation for the worst-case outcome. how do we do this? who do we need to contact?
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A question: are the proposals that will be passed to Parliament to be voted on a) one big bill, or b) a bunch of smaller bills? I ask since the President (Marcelo) has strongly signaled he will veto the law. However his main problems are with things like forced rental of properties, and hasnāt specifically mentioned the Golden Visa, so Iāll be a ton more worried if that was split off into its own billā¦
Also, can the President do line item vetoes (where he only vetoes parts of the law but allows others to pass), or can he only veto/approve a bill as a whole?
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I believe they split the proposal into smaller pieces.
Larry, Iām in agreement with what you say. Lots of fear mongering on this forum. Truth is, none of us know the future despite the small bits of info we are trying to piece together. Iāll hang ten until the picture becomes clearer.
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Wouldnāt fear mongering imply there is something to gain? People are just plain afraid! No malicious intent.
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The problem is that people are running around the ship shouting āthere are no lifeboats! the crew is abandoning us! weāre all doomed!ā, even though there are lifeboats and the crew is working to save the passengers. Maybe the antagonists are repeating rumors, maybe theyāre malicious, maybe theyāre tripping on PCP, but it isnāt helping our cause for people to spread factually unwarranted doom and gloom. People who donāt know the law are making incorrect claims about it, to our mutual detriment.
Yes, the GV is under attack. But it is false and damaging to say that the law does not provide for successive renewals, and that there is no entitlement or contract to continue residency on the original terms absent good cause for denial. As others have documented, the constitutional court takes this seriously, and asserted this for GVs as recently as last year.
Sure, be worried. Be afraid. Be sad. But donāt try to stir up panic and hopelessness with FUD.
And to the few who are actively brainstorming about ways to doom GVs even if the law doesnāt pass constitutional muster, I hope youāre at least getting paid for your consulting work by PS or BE.
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How dare they, in the face of a government repeatedly stating it is going to do something extremely unexpected, examine all the possibilities!
I find that a good way to be prepared.
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Usually when people are afraid they will dig in and defend themselves, and sometimes go on offense. But to repeat and reinforce the attackers talking points?
Though there are posts that really cause me to fear, but they didnāt say ābelieve me! Iām rightā. They expressed their opinions, and people can decide what to believe. I really hope that PT government is just playing with politics and trying to get votes , but the hope I have in their legal system is slimmer than it should be because of SEFās performance.
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Thank you, Mark. You have a point. As of today, there is indeed no new information to digest and analyse. It is natural to feel anxious in the current situation. And still it is very important to continue brainstorming constructively when new info becomes available. Letās all hope that it is just optics on behalf of the government and stay patient with each other to solve the common problem.
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