We split our time between India (DTAA states only IRS counts) and Malta which is EU and so OK, plus my wife has a US passport.
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Thanks Thomas for the links and the article!
this “consultalex” government website that you sent is like a public forum where the citizens can write comments about new initiatives before they become laws, like this “more housing” initiative.
Therefore I am planning to share my concerns about the new rules for renewals and I call on everyone here to do the same. I checked the registration requirements and they only need NIF and an address which I believe most of us have.
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For what it is worth,
This morning I participated in a chat session with my attorney who held it for all their clients and the two big takeaways I got was;
The current proposed amendment, does not apply to commercial development such as hotels and hospitality properties. (that is a big chunk of Mercan projects and some others)
As it stands what was proposed pertains to residential properties that ANYONE owns (that includes Portuguese citizens who have multiple homes not just GV applicants)
Secondly, the proposed extension from the current 3 year lease to 5 year lease (which currently applies to commercial properties) for people who own real estate (house/apartment and such) is likely unconstitutional.
WHEN all this goes into effect is undecided.
Whether or not people who are already in the process whether it is approval or time for renewal are affected and in what way, is undecided
People who have already at least paid up the 5XX euro for their application will be considered in-process.
It will likely take 90 days before anything is settled.
Some of this stuff such as ‘what constitutes being in process’ apparently has to do with Portuguese constitutional law hence automatically ‘grandfathered’
Note: This is ONE attorney office’s opinion, and what I believed I heard them say.
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Thanks for this detailed update @Ravig80111. Speaking to other sources, one of them mentioned that Mercan has likely already bought a number of sites (implying millions of euros invested) for future development based on GV based investment (read: loans at 0% interest!). It will be a huge blow to them financially if this investment route is shut abruptly, possibly putting in peril existing projects. Mercan will be lobbying hard for retaining a path for their form of investment I would have thought.
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When I was there in October and chatting with some retail employees in Lisbon, their complaint was 100% with the “digital nomads” and not GV applicants for exactly this reason. We tried to make the most conscientious choice with GV, but apparently this government does not agree. I wonder if they know that we are real humans, many of whom have made significant sacrifices for the privilege of being welcomed to Portugal and are being treated to an unconscionable rug-pull instead.
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Recorded my comments in the consultaLex portal, saying that stopping the golden visa is not going to boost the housing market , but it will shatter the dreams of many who wish to invest in and call Portugal home in future. Just an year ago the golden visa was redesigned to cater for the the inland & low density regions, to boost their economy; now stopping it completely will be a very regressive decision.
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Hi Fred. - having travelled around Portugal for the last couple of years, I’m plumping for the 732k number… Do you have a reference for the “4,500 properties” ?
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A place in Mouraria/Castello and a “bush poet’s” view. Quite poignant and supports what I’ve been banging on about …
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Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks for sharing.
https://youtu.be/4aI-ofZeVSY?t=1505
At 1505 in, she says something like “the President said applications that have been submitted will not be affected, law changes will not affect them”. I had not seen this mentioned before, so authoritatively. Does anyone have another source for this?
Thanks.
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This would be great to know. My attorney is also confident that this is the case. We purchased a long-term rental property at the 280k renovation level and our applications were submitted September 2022. Needless to say, I’m a bit concerned about being out the 280k if the changes invalidate our applications. We have a buy back clause in the agreement, but it only triggers if the property fails to qualify for GV, not necessarily if the program itself is scrapped (though obviously a case could be made…)
It seems most attorneys are expressing confidence that pending applications won’t be impacted, but would be great to have something definitive on this!
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I think most lawyers are speaking from a historical perspective / based on precedent: new laws just aren’t applied retroactively in Portugal, so it would be wildly out of line with precedent for this to cancel existing applications.
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I guess my concern is does “retroactively” only mean people who are in the program won’t be kicked out, or does it reach someone like me who has applied but hasn’t been approved?
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My lawyer has suggested it would, but in truth no-one knows yet
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Agree, that’s generally the case. But here she specifically said “Costa said…” , and reiterated that, which is what caught my ear.
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If we saw pre approvals or approvals happened after last Thursday that will be a more convincing evidence that PT won’t screw the applicants who have submitted, but the discussion for both pre and approvals had been quite silent these weeks…
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This link suggests that’s happening Awaiting Final Approval (Stage 4) - #263 by servettasman
To be honest, that’s what I’d expect. SEF is a bureaucracy, it’ll keep trundling along until told to stop; I wouldn’t expect the officials suddenly to down tools just because the government has unveiled some (still unclear) proposals.
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March is when SEF is supposed to finally be replaced anyway…
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