End of SEF will make Portugal âeven saferâ - The Portugal News
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After looking into this further, André Miranda told me:
This post has no grounds. The 30 days are the minimum period required to schedule a legislative proposal after it is received in the Parliament, which is not the case here.
Voting of the adjustments/proposals will start tomorrow at 17.30 pm in the Housing Subcomission
It is really unlikely to be postponed to September
In other words, I donât think itâs safe to assume an extension to September as of now. Itâs still possible that it will happen, but donât pop the champagne just yet.
EDIT: Hereâs the summary of the leaderâs conference translated to English:
SUMULA_036 en-US.pdf (179.4 KB)
The agenda does not seem to be set in detail for July 19 and later dates, and definitely not for later on in July, so I think Mirandaâs take seems plausible.
Also, note that they arenât scheduling any plenary sessions between July 7â19 âso that the committees can finalize the legislative processes and send texts for votingâ. Seems to me that they are setting aside time to, among other things, make sure thereâs enough time to get the bill ready for voting.
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"The More Housing program begins to be voted on in the specialty as early as next Thursday, June 29, in Parliament. On the agenda is Draft Law No. 77/XV/1ÂȘ, which entered the Assembly of the Republic âwith a request for priority and urgencyâ.
What is scheduled is to make the vote point by point next Thursday and, if it is not possible, take the remainder to another session next week, the Express learned from parliamentary sources. Two meetings are planned for Thursday, one before and one after the plenary session.
The ultimate goal is to get the program voted on in plenary in mid-July and before the parliamentary recess."
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âComplicating the situation is a final PS amendment proposal on golden visas, which provided for the maintenance of residence permits related to investment funds, which was again amended the day after it was known, eliminating any reference to the use of investment funds for the purpose of access to a Residence Permit for Investment (ARI), The technical name of the Golden Visas.â
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The vote on the detail of the Mais Habitação program originally scheduled for tomorrow ( ie the initial draft of 82 pages + more than 24 amendments submitted by all parties) is postponed to next Thursday, July 6. The goal is to take the bill to a vote in plenary in mid-July, before the parliamentary vacation. https://expresso.pt/economia/economia_imobiliario/2023-06-28-Votacao-do-Mais-Habitacao-adiada-para-6-de-julho-49d4ec9f
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Does the âvote in plenaryâ mean the full parliament and the bill going to the President after that vote?
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Correct, yes
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I recently read that the United States welcomed over 70,000 Portuguese citizens to America,
Where did you read this? Because I read the number has been in the hundreds the last few years, and peaked at around 1200 in 2001.
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A post that is not relevant to this topic, but useful if you are a travelling to Lisbon.
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PS has updated their proposal yet again, now with a new clause specifically excluding any investments (including VC/PE funds) that is either directly or indirectly aimed at real estate.
See page 23:
C19 PS - June 28 version.pdf (320.4 KB)
The new clause:
5- [NOVO] As atividades de investimento previstas nas subaliÌneas referidas no nuÌmero anterior naÌo se podem destinar, direta ou indiretamente, ao investimento imobiliaÌrio.
Translation:
5- [NEW] The investment activities provided for in the subsections referred to in the preceding paragraph cannot be aimed, directly or indirectly, at real estate investment.
So if this passes as is, itâs not only the end for all direct real estate investment, but also for any of the many PE funds investing in property development.
Iâve tried running a search, but canât seem to find an definition of âreal estate investment.â Is this just residential real estate or does it include commercial? The latter makes no sense if âindirectlyâ is taken literally. For example, a fund invests in a company that owns property (say a solar farm). It has âindirectlyâ invested in real estate.
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Is there a current summary of the proposal available with implications for Real estate investors who have made a purchase and submitted an application but have not been pre-approved? Curious how it will work at renewal if your initial application is approved.
This remains the key unknown. If you listen to Portuguese lawyers, they will tell you that there is absolutely, definitely, no possibility whatsoever that anyone whoâs applied will be affected in anyway⊠thatâs retroactive treatment, is not the Portuguese way and is unconstitutional.
Then you read the actual draft law, and thatâs not at all what it says.
I donât know how that circle gets squared.
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Sadly I live on the 24 Tram route so its still the card for me. Not that it matters - one year and I will only have to pay for the dog!
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Another interpretation would be to put the empathise on the âaimâ of the fund, rather than what it happens to invest in while carrying that âaimâ ie biotech would involve a company in a lab/building, but itâs not âaimed, directly or indirectly, at real estateâ?
I would be careful attaching too much significance to a word that perhaps wasnât translated correctly by DeepL. Maybe âdestinedâ is a better translation? 
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You are correct. Less than 1000/year in the last few years, and and total of ~9000 from 2010 to 2019. Thatâs for âpersons obtaining lawful permanent resident statusâ with Portugal as their last residence country.
The DHS has detailed statistics available online.
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After reviewing this article, one can make different conclusions⊠For me, it makes sense to allow the Golden Visa to continue under these terms. If you can have a Golden Visa immigrant that contributes 250,000 euros donation for residence, is that better or worse than allowing 90,000 residence permits in a month for no immediate contribution to the economy. I think many of these 90,000 are adding value by providing services that are much needed in Portugal. But the same could be said for someone providing much needed capital injection.
So please, letâs stop class warfare for political gain. I think the government has finally come to their senses. I hope.
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I think you are misinterpreting the comment. Over time, perhaps about 70,000 Portuguese have immigrated to America. From these original 70,000, there are over 1 million descendants. I suppose that was the point being made.
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Lawyers have suggested itâs not that black and white. Real estate investment as a term is legally ambiguous (according to lawyers), and most working in real estate would argue that investment and development are not the same.
I can understand why theyâd want to close a loop hole that could have allowed funds to buy up residential properties then transfer them to investors at the end of the fund. But if theyâre keeping GV, then it makes no sense why theyâd want to stop the funding of property development that could help increase the supply of property in Portugal and alleviate the housing shortage.
I strongly suspect the intention is to stop the former, and they havenât given much thought to the latter. Hopefully this will wash through in the drafting as theyâre missing a trick if they donât take advantage of this source of funding to build property.
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Are any of the funds actually building housing? I thought they were primarily like Mercan, renovating or building hotels.
Youâd think the government would love it if funds were building apartments to rent out, rather than for exclusive use of investors.
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