I really doubt TAP couldnāt arrange a dedicated plane for the President for the day he needed to fly, particularly given he must have had an entourage and that his plans must have been set days if not weeks in advance.
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The political background is informative. If Portugal is losing eu funding and gv investors are pulling out it makes me wonder how sustainable the reduced tax regime for visa holders is. However The main issue for most gv applicants I think though, is how long until a final direction on the golden visas stay requirements is resolved. Weāve moved here and were about to purchase a property (applied for gv with non real estate investment). Weāve put this on hold an our feeling is it could be a long time until this is all resolved.
Maybe the EU is dangling an extension of the eligibility period to apply for additional tranches of that funding.
In exchange for you know what.
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The irony is that all of us were simply seeking refuge to a peaceful place using our hard earned money, only to be entangled in this web of madness. There were so many red flags right from the beginning.
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Can you expand on this a little more? I must have missed them, but I began researching investments in 2020, and invested in early/mid 2021. I do not remember seeing red flags at that point. I certainly do not think the people applying in 2012 and 2013, some of whom now earned citizenship, saw them either.
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The obvious and most significant red flag was the number of days taken from application to biometric card for the ARI category. Almost all other categories, including the D7, Ukrainian refugees, and Digital Nomads were processed in less than 90 days, despite the pandemic, and the Warā¦
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Yeah, my only real complaint with my law firm is that, in my recollection, they said we would probably see pre approval in six months. But as soon as we actually filed our application it became 12+. After reading this forum, it was clear they knew or shouldve known six months was not at all realistic for any 2022 application.
It is possible I am remembering wrong, however. Maybe I am remembering what all the blogs were saying about the GV, since they all act as a funnel to the program.
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Again one more contributing factor to the housing shortage - D7, refugee, digital nomad statuses. I would also really like to see metrics around GV applicants vs every other residency category utilizing housing. Based on initial research I have done, the housing impact from GV applicants is minuscule when compared to aggregate impact of all other residency categories.
If we start going down this path we are going to end up making cases against each other helping no one. Everyone is utilizing housing one way or the other, there is only one party to blame - The Portuguese government. It is interesting however that every other residency permit has been prioritized vs GV which leads me to believe that there is some sort of internal throttling on how many GVs could be processed.
The government seems to be trying to cover up the fact that they failed to plan for and provide for housing. Therefore theyāre trying to shift the blame to the āgoldenā visas aka rich people who everyone can hate while they actually solve none of the problems. Meanwhile the average golden visa applicant is far removed from the general perception of a GV applicant.
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A common reasoning I saw last year was that 2021 applications were being pre-approved in 12 months, and there was a 6 month gap in early 2022, so they would ājump the queueā it would be down to 6 months. However, they failed to account for December 2021 actually having 6 monthsā worth of applications, and pre-approvals for December have now been ongoing for several months, so by the time they are done weāre back to waiting 12+ months for applications after June 2022.
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That is very logical. I guess it WAS a few months from when they claimed that to when we applied, so that definitely could be the case.
Regardless, exclusive of all the current GV drama, I am going to feel lucky to get pre approval this year. If that happens, my wife and I could be doing biometrics in early 2024!
(Or we will be suing PT for our money backā¦)
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Not really. New residents will likely pay quite a bit in tax - my expected taxes here will fund at least 2 central Lisbon rental apartments in Lisbon at market rates.
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Thatās a good point. In late 2020 or early 2021, my thinking was that the delays were pandemic related as, for me, apostles also took 3+ months, but the further away from March 2020 we got without progress, along with the fact that other visas take significantly less time, definitely does cut the other way.
Still, the improvements to the ARI process (chronological invitations for biometrics along with auto renewals) cut the other way towards the problems being more about general SEF bureaucracy issues rather than a concerted effort to undermine the program.
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The fact remains that SEF can process visas much more quickly if it wants. ARI is apparently the absolute lowest priority. It seems to be the only visa experiencing such delays.
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I have the sense that the results of the strike now mean more delays as PT sorts out the new new SEF reorg.
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Thatās the trick, EVERYTHING is an excuse for more delays when you have no accountability built in 
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Hi,
I would like to think of issue in a different viewā¦
Letās assume the EU forced all countries with citizenship by investment to cancel their programs.
And letās assume the Portugal GV was part of that although itās clearly a residency not a citizenshipā¦but letās just assume it was bundled with the lot.
The decision was made with in closed doors and is finalā¦
How would the Portuguese government manage this?
I think what has been done is workaround in order to trigger the investors and cause an issueā¦citing the constitution and illegalityā¦announce a massive amendment then negotiate it to the bare minimum so the people accept it.
The Portuguese government would go on after the expected debates and redrafting by ending the program on a future date, and the retroactive part will be removed as itās unconstitutional. So they would inform the EU, āwe tried and this is the best we could doā
I know Malta was asked to even review those who already acquired citizenship and do a thorough background check on themā¦so the EU is trying to stop citizenship not residency. The housing market excuse is just an excuse as they couldnāt just announce an end of GV in such a manner with immediate implementation.
So my view is the GV will be ending with a cutoff date by end of June 2023.
The retroactive amendments will be deemed unconstitutional and existing GV holders will be grandfathered in the system.
There are only 2 things concerning that might be implemented:
1- an updated minimum stay requirement is considered a retroactive amendment but as the law is vague in this area it may be tested.
2- Assuming one reaches the 5 year requirement, will the Portuguese authorities still honor the citizenship process.
I have faith in the system and the Portuguese need to do this one right. Any unconstitutional acts will impact foreign investment even if itās not related to GV.
My 2 centsā¦
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I think theyāre just incompetent, really.
Theyāre socialists and need a scapegoat for shit going south. I doubt there are these shady back rooms youāre thinking about.
Itās nice to think people are competent and have reasons for things, but sometimes theyāre just stupid
I think the courts will take care of us, Iām not particularly worried. Weāll see
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A new website, Justice4PTGVInvestors.com, has been launched, under the banner āinvestors deserve fair treatmentā.
https://www.portugalresident.com/golden-visa-stakeholders-push-back-against-axing-of-regime/
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pretty low quality site. I donāt see the point of using that site instead of here.
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At the very least itās created an excuse for another article https://www.portugalresident.com/golden-visa-stakeholders-push-back-against-axing-of-regime/
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