One cultural heritage / arts donation in there! I am not alone!!
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Hereās my interpretation based on some insight being British and having lived in China from 2017-2021 so I have some feeling for behaviours of both categories.
The rise of the British applications/approvals is obvious as we werenāt able to apply before Brexit and didnāt need to. Portugal remains an attractive retirement destination for the British so the Portuguese GV is an attractive option and itās not surprising weāre climbing quickly through the ranks having not featured before.
The drop of Chinese applications requires some more informed interpretation. I could be wrong so donāt flame me but I think itās a combination of a number of factors: (a) is the elongated border shut down during Covid preventing Chinese from even attempting to attend biometrics in Portugal in person. (b) the Chinese largely would choose the real estate option for the GV rather than a fund investment and as Lisbon and the other well-known urban areas were removed from the eligible destinations for real estate then this would introduce uncertainty for people who almost-certainly donāt know anything about Portugal or speak the language and are reliant on intermediaries to inform and manage the process. (c) the normal restrictions on currency exchange and ability to get exchangeable currency out of China would get more challenging during Covid which would inhibit any type of application. Remember that Chinese can only legally exchange up to USD50k a year from RMB so a Portuguese GV that requires nearly ten times that amount would either require amazing foresight and planning or some more shady method of getting wealth into an exchangeable foreign currency out of the country on a shorter timeframe. Iām generalising with these points but they will all have an impact on the stats.
Given all this, the latest statistics are not surprising.
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Does the data show a drop in Chinese applicants or just a relative increase in the others?
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Items A and C make sense, but we are talking about approvals here. SEF is barely granting pre-approval to the last applicants for whom urban real estate was still an option, so I am not sure B is applicable (yet). In the year 2037 when 2022 applications receive final approval and are registered in SEF stats, we may see Chinese visas drop further as urban real estate was no longer an option.
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China had about 500 approvals in 2018, 400 in 2019, 300 in 2020 & 2021, 200 in 2022.
For the first half of 2023:
US: 176
China: 119
UK: 92
Others: 474
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I havenāt seen the final draft but I canāt really see a reason why investment to & property purchase from touristic properties are taken out in the new GV scheme; at least the ones done for hotels should be kept as a viable route which will be a win-win for Portugal and the investors.
Many of the worldās leading touristic destinations, including my home country have benefitted greatly from foreign investment into its tourism industry - the investors become voluntary promoters of the country and are great at spreading word of mouth.
Furthermore they sometimes attact more interest due to the fact that any comment from non-natives are perceived to be less biased and more independent & objective.
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Any breaking news from the voting today?
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I think theyāve spent the day dealing with other MH issues - rentals, etc. Not sure theyāve got onto the ARI yet. Thereās another Committee session tomorrow.
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Thanks. Where are you getting the information? Is there a site I can follow as well?
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Just surmising, based on news stories in the Portuguese press - all reporting on rules for leases and rentals, no-oneās mentioned ARI.
Oh, wait. Stories just dropped.
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That article seems light on details and potentially not very accurate.
Hope weāll get access to the final text soon.
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What does it mean when the application is āpending prior control procedures in Municipal Councilsā, as mentioned in the article?
Where does this step fall in the process? Is it after the pre-approval?
Should those who are still waiting for their pre-approval with the application status showing as āunder analysisā be worried?
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Iām not exactly sure - I suppose there might be specific types of applications where some regional/municipal body has to give an approval of some sort, before SEF can give final approval.
Your status should be the same as anyone else who has applied but hasnāt yet received final approval and had their card issued. So, if your investment type is being discontinued as ARI-eligible, you will fall under Article 45, which is designed to allow pending applications to proceed. The common understanding is that such applications will be allowed to continue as now, but we wait to see how exactly that will be reflected in the law.
Thanks Chris! I just noticed that those exact terms (āpending prior
control procedures in Municipal Councilsā) were used in Aprilās revision of Article 45 Clause 2.
I believe the most confusing/unclear part in the last rev is Clause 4:
ā4- ā¦ the competent authorities must verify the adequacy of the investment to the respective entrepreneurial projectā
I hope this clause is amended and made clear in the final draft! Any idea when we should expect the official release?
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I agree, I think that language has to go.
Unclear when weāll see the next version - it may take the parliamentary authorities a little time to turn it around. Will keep an eye out.
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āi) it was made clear that all applications submitted until the entering into force of the new law will be fully processed, and renewal rights will be fully assured;
ii) the analysis of all files submitted up until the entering into force of any emends will follow all existing rules and regulations;ā
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Wow, what a roller coaster ride this process has been and continues to be.
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Sharing this from the lawyers at Prime Legal, who I think are quite close to the process:
Golden Visa News
Regarding the meeting held yesterday by the Commission in charge of the legislatives changes that include Golden Visa program, please be informed that:
- The proposal under discussion is the last of from PS, which includes, namely, the maintenance of VC Funds;
- The discussion in specialty (article by article) of this proposal did not occur neither it is scheduled, probably going to happen in the upcoming days;
- In the same sense, it was not discussed yet any transitional period;
- There is still room for improvements in what regards to the traditional options of investment;
- Although there is a goal from the government to have this approved within this legislative session (that ends on July 19) there is a possibility that the final approval in the plenary of the Assembly only takes place in the next legislative session (September).
We will keep you updated on the news as PAIIR is still actively seeking to improve the range of the amendments (namely touristic real estate investment and grace period).
Thank you for your support!
#GoldenVisaIsNotDead
Sara Rebolo / Vanessa Lima
Clearly there are different interpretations of the state of play at the moment, and I think we should be cautious about jumping to conclusions. There will be a meeting of the Committee on Wednesday (h/t @joelvogel ) which may be a rubber-stamp, but may also shed further light.
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