After extensive discussions and back-and-forths with my lawyers and the estate agency, we so far have settled on the following:
- SEF appears to require the main GV applicant to invest EUR500k or above.
- At the same time, the main GV applicant cannot āhideā his/her marital status from the Notario who will ask for it before the Escritura is signed.
- To satisfy both, the main GV applicant should be listed as the āBuyerā and his/her sole signature should appear on the Escritura. Their marital status, marital regime, and the spouse name should also be listed in the Escritura.
- The main GV applicant should execute all necessary payments in their sole name only, i.e. from their sole foreign bank account to their sole Portugal bank account, and then from there to the seller.
If anyone would like to pick holes in this method, please feel free to share your thoughts 