With amendments to the Portuguese Nationality Law looming, what are the exact proposals and what are the risks of applying for a Golden Visa (ARI) today?
Part from the nationality new rules we are as GV applicants, when we applied there was a clear rule that the investment shall be hold of 5 years and we will get the PR.
in 2024 and to cover their delay and they said that the 5 years counted from the date of application .
is the counting from the first residency will be applicable on the PR as well?
I was recently informed that time counting for PR starts at first card.
As we are in the ARI program already and they confirm to us last year that the counting will start from the application time so they cannot do retroactive affect
Permanent Residence: Has always been, is now, and will continue to be 5 years from first card issue date
Citizenship: Until 2024: 5 years from first card. 2024-2025: 5 years from application. Going forward: 10 years from first card. (Provided the law just passed is promulgated.)
First, NOTHING is final in the new law yet. It WILL likely change because some parts are most likely unconstitutional.
IMO, the GV will 100% stay in effect.
The timeline as proposed currently will change to 10 years from card issuance (vs 5 and vs from application date). That is the only change that impacts GV holders.
I still believe (perhaps naively) they will add retroactive grandfathering in and especially for GV holders.
The Portuguese bureaucracy is never going to be efficient and there’s always going to be an arbitrary/capricious element. Assuming AIMA improves slightly, I’d add one year to get residency + 2 (down from close to 3 at present) for citizenship. So at least 13 to a passport. Children under 18 have to wait for their parent to get citizenship before they can apply. Currently those applications are taking around 4 years. Maybe they come down to 2 years, in which case it’s 15 years for your child, assuming they still meet the criteria. All of this, while the government has made clear its distaste for rich GV applicants (deixamos os mais ricos para o fim da fila is what the Minister responsible for AIMA told Parliament … AIMA vai resolver vistos gold pendentes em 2026 – Observador).
High risk, uncertain rewards.
Dumb question - what’s the difference between having a residency card and getting a permanent residency status 5 years after, if you are a GV investor who doesn’t live in Portugal?
PR is good for 5 years at a time rather than 2, which give that renewals can take years if you’re unlucky is a big plus. And, you are no longer required to hold the investment, which you must do on the 2 year visa. If you take someone like me, who’s been waiting 5(!!) years for my initial residency, getting PR would be huge. My fund is going to mature in a few years and with the new rules, I won’t be eligible for citizenship or PR, so the whole thing was for nothing. Whereas if I had at least gotten PR, the fund maturing wouldn’t mean I lose my residence.
Does it mean we can all take our money out of Portugal after 5 years and continue visiting it one week per year for another 5? If so that’s huge.
You can do so after you have PR. In theory, that’s 5 years. But it’s 5 years after your first residence card even in theory and in practice, it is impossible to get recently as in no appointments will be given. Apparently some people successfully converted to a regular PR (which requires residency), but a golden PR is a rare thing indeed. I’ve been invested for 5 years and don’t even have my first residence card, so it certainly wasn’t five years for me and my fund won’t last long enough for me to even find out.
Once your fund is over, can you invest into open ended fund? Assuming your fund breaks even?
I imagine a lot of these funds will get extended. The date written into the bylaws is arbitrary and can be changed by vote of the unit holders. And I quite imagine that, if these fund managers are told by their unit holders “can you please hang onto my money longer”, they will move heaven and earth to figure out an appropriate machination to make it happen.
It is theoretically possible as well to just find another investment, but there be dragons.
I think what’s been said is that you can schedule a normal renewal appointment and request PR at that appointment? I recall it may have been Prime Legal who said that, apologies to them if it wasn’t!
Madalena shared such experience during the Liberty Legal seminar last week.
Personally, if the current bill is signed by the President or upheld by the TC, and attempts at class-action lawsuits fail, I will be requesting my funds to liquidate as soon as possible.
PR in a tax-nightmare country doesn’t have value to me, and I need those funds to establish alternative residencies and citizenships.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think you need to establish tax residency in Portugal to get and maintain PR via the GV route. You can still just do the 7 days a year.
There is no obligation to become a tax resident, but the taxes make the value proposition moot. To me, PR means three things:
There might still be option value to keep it rolling for the [30]% probability of eventually getting citizenship (cost = the opportunity cost of being tied up in a sub-optimal 500k EUR investment for more years), but the option value differs greatly for different people.
This makes me realize I need to learn more about what the changes would mean for us long term, tax wise. I’m on the fence about moving forward and that’s just based on what I do know, which is based on the agreement I thought I was making with the GV program.
Where can I learn about potential taxes on worldwide cap gains, etc.?
Also, I understood PR did not require you to maintain the investment?
I appreciate everyone sharing facts and their thoughts, it’s a tough spot we’re all being put in.