Portuguese Citizenship application after 5 years of Golden Visa

A is correct.
It means that you will need to have a valid temporary residence permit for 5 years. To count the 5 years you only count the time for which your residence permits are valid.

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Thank you Dumont for the clarifications. Are you a lawyer? If so may I ask if you have any data based on your experience about whether citizenship applications for GV holders (who have only spent the minimum stay requirements as under A. above) have been successfully approved? And a broad ratio of approvals vs rejections.

The reason why I am asking is that I agree with you the law is quite clear, but it’s difficult to understand the practical interpretation followed by the authorities, especially with respect to any stay requirements and effective ties to the Portuguese community.

Many thanks

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This is a great question, it would be great if DumontdosSantos can help us with an answer

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@sofiane I hope you are fine.
Yes, im a lawyer. Unfortunatly i dont have such a ratio as we specialized in the Golden Visa process and not for the citizenship application.

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Thank you, very clear. Any idea as to where we could have access to such data/ feedback?

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Portuguese Citizenship / Permanent Residence By Investment

it a long read, but everything you need to know for getting permanent residency or citizenship after 5 years of golden visa. And you don’t need to get the permanent residency first. You are straight apply for the citizenship. Our lawyer have done many for Golden Visa clients.

The Portugal Golden Visa is a program where you can get Portuguese citizenship or permanent residence by investment.

During the first 5 years of the Portugal Golden Visa, you would hold a temporary residence card.

After the initial 5 years, you have the following options:

  1. To continue the Portugal Golden Visa program
  2. To apply for permanent residency (by investment)
  3. To apply for permanent residency (the regular one)
  4. To apply for citizenship

There are certain [things you need to consider] before you decide on which plan B you go for. One of the most important questions to ask is what is the end goal you want, and how to get there. Can you eventually get the second passport? What requirements do you need to meet? Can your spouse and children get them as well?

This is the complete guide to the aftermath of Portugal Golden Visa, We will go into each of the above categories in details, giving you information on the requirements of getting and maintaining the citizenship or permanent residence status such as stay requirements, investment requirements (if any), language test, renewal frequency, and cost.

We will also go into details of getting Portuguese citizenship and the pitfall that no one else talked about; and insights as to why people choose each different options and which options might be most suitable in your situation.

At the end, we will take a closer look into some statistics of Portuguese citizenship by investment (the Portugal Golden Visa program)

Option 1 — To Continue with the Current Portugal Golden Visa Temporary Residence

Currently, for the Portuguese Golden Visa, you would initially get a 2 year temporary resident permit. Towards the end of the 2nd year, you would need to renew and get another temporary resident permit for another 2 years, and repeat the process at the end of 4th year.

You can actually repeat this process every 2 years, and renew the temporary residence permit, and not hop on to the citizenship or permanent residency train after the initial 5-year period.

Renewal requirements for Portuguese temporary residence by investment

The requirement for renewal is exactly the same as the first 2 renewals during the initial 5-year period of the Portugal Golden Visa. That is:

  • 14 days stay requirement for each 2 year period
  • Maintain the investment for the Portugal Golden Visa program
  • Clean criminal record in Portugal and from your home and residing country
  • No outstanding tax payment in Portugal

Who can renew for Portuguese temporary residence by investment?

The main investor and all dependents under the same application

Renewal fees for Portuguese temporary residence by investment

~2600€ per renewal

The cost is the same as the first 2 renewals of the temporary residence permit and is considerably higher than other options we will talk about below.

Who would typically choose this option?

The validity of the Portuguese temporary resident permit by investment (2 years) is shorter than all the other options. And the renewal cost is the highest amongst all. The only advantages for the temporary residence option is that there is no requirement on passing any language test or equivalent.

This option may be for those who

  • Can’t stand to study Portuguese and not able to achieve any level of proficiency to pass a A2 level Portuguese test or complete a recognized Portuguese course equal or higher than A2 level
  • Can’t meet the stay requirement as requested by the regular permanent residence
  • Don’t want to get the Portuguese citizenship due to reasons such as dual citizenship not allowed in home country

Conclusion

This is a high cost, high maintenance options. Even if you don’t want to get the citizenship or can’t meet the stay requirement of a ‘regular’ permanent residence, you still have the option to apply for a Portuguese permanent residence by investment, which we will be going into details in the next section. The only catch is that to apply for any Portuguese permanent residence or citizenship, you need to pass the A2 level exam or complete a recognized Portuguese course of A2 (basic level) or above.

If this is the route you will intend to go for, you must be sure that you can hold your [golden visa investment] for the long term (or at least to the point where you will not need to renew for the permanent residence by investment). That is, [investment funds] that have a definite holding period, and some [buy back properties] may not be suitable. You should check with your immigration consultant before making any decision.

Furthermore, if you have children over (or will be over) 18 years of age that are under the same Portugal Golden Visa application as your dependent, they must meet the following 3 criteria at the time ofeach renewal (same requirement as the first 5 years of the Portuguese Golden Visa) - be unmarried, and - be dependent - be a student

Option 2 — To Apply for Portuguese Permanent Residence by Investment (Portugal Golden Visa Program)

Do you know that there are 2 different types of Portuguese permanent residence permit that you can apply for with your Portugal Golden Visa?

There is the “regular” one, and there is another one especially for holders of Portuguese Golden Visa.

Here we will about the Portuguese permanent residence by investment, which can be applied especially for holders of Golden Visa. We will talk about the “regular” one in the next section.

So after 5 years, Portugal Golden Visa applicants can opt to apply for the Portuguese permanent residence permit (by investment).

Apply/ renewal requirements for Portuguese permanent residence by investment

The application requirements is very similar to the renewal of the Portuguese temporary residence by Golden Visa, except the language test:

  • Pass the A2 level Portuguese language test or complete a recognized Portuguese course of A2 level or higher.
  • Maintain the investment for the Portugal Golden Visa program
  • Clean criminal record in Portugal and from your home and residing country
  • No outstanding tax payment in Portugal

Note that a lot of information out on the internet (about there is no language test requirements for permanent residence) are hearsay, and are incorrect. It is advisable to always check with a lawyer or an immigration consultant on all matters concerning your immigration process and be prepared for the documentations and requirements requested. Here is some info from SEF for applying the Portuguese permanent residence permit

The Portuguese permanent residence permit is valid for 5 years, and you can renewal this permit as long as you meet the renewal requirements (as above) and the below stay requirements.

Please note that once you have achieved the required language test/ course completion, you will not need to repeat it for each renewal.

Stay requirement for renewal of Portuguese permanent residence by investment

35 days stay requirement for each 5 year period. Since the Portuguese permanent residence permit is valid for 5 years, the stay requirements is now calculated in a 5 year period, with 7 days per year, the stay requirement is 35 days for the 5 years. You can break it down or you can stay 35 days in one go.

Who can apply for Portuguese permanent residence by investment

The main investor and all dependents under the same application.

Application/ renewal fee for Portuguese permanent residence by investment

~7000€ per application

The fee is similar to the temporary residence when you add up the fee and the renewal frequency and is considerably higher than other options we will talk about below.

Who would typically choose this option?

The advantage of the Portuguese permanent resident permit by investment is that it doesn’t have a very stringent stay requirement as per the ‘regular’ permanent resident. But the renewal cost is high and the applicants must keep the investment.

This option may be for those who:

  • Can’t meet the stay requirement as requested by the ‘regular’ permanent residence
  • Don’t want to get the Portuguese citizenship due to reasons such as dual citizenship not allowed in home country

Conclusion

This is more flexible than the temporary residence option as you renew every 5 years instead of 2 years. And the stay requirement is calculated for the 5 year period which gives you added flexibility. If you are able to pass the language test or complete the required language course, this option is more preferable than the temporary residence. But if you think you can meet a more stringent stay requirement, check out the next one — the “regular” Portuguese permanent residence.

If this is the route you will intend to go for, you must be sure that you can hold your [golden visa investment] for the long term (or at least to the point where you will not need to renew for the permanent residence by investment). That is, [investment funds] that have a definite holding period, and some [buy back properties]may not be suitable. You should check with your immigration consultant before making any decision.

Also, one of the biggest difference between permanent residence and temporary residence is that for children over age of 18, they don’t need to meet any special requirement (be dependent, a student, and unmarried) at the time of application nor at renewal.

Option 3 — To Apply for “Regular” Portuguese Permanent Residence

This is the ‘regular’ Portuguese permanent residence permit that most people refer to when they talk about permanent residence.

And Portugal Golden Visa holder can apply for this “regular” Portuguese permanent residence permit.

Apply/ renewal requirements for Portuguese Permanent Residence

  • Pass the A2 level Portuguese language test or complete a recognized Portuguese course of A2 level or higher.
  • Clean criminal record in Portugal and from your home and residing country
  • No outstanding tax payment in Portugal
  • Proof of residence/ accommodation
  • Proof of resources to sustain your living

Note that a lot of information out on the internet (about there is no language test requirements for permanent residence) are hearsay, and are incorrect. It is advisable to always check with a lawyer or an immigration consultant on all matters concerning your immigration process and be prepared for the documentations and requirements requested.

The permanent residence permit is valid for 5 years, and you can renewal this permit as long as you meet the renewal requirements and the below stay requirements.

Please note that once you have achieved the required language test/ completion of course, you will not need to repeat it for each renewal.

Stay requirements for renewal of Portuguese Permanent Residence

Can’t be out of Portugal for 24 consecutive months or 30 non-consecutive months for each 5-year period.

Who can apply for Portuguese Permanent Residence?

The main investor and all dependents including spouse, children and parents.

Application/ renewal fee for Portuguese Permanent Residence

~300€ per application

Who would typically choose this option?

This permanent residence has the most stringent stay requirement out of all 4 options, it is for those who intent to live in Portugal for the long term but don’t want to apply for citizenship. If you don’t intend to live in Portugal, you should look into the other 3 options.

This option may be for those who

  • Live in Portugal and are able to meet the stay requirement
  • Don’t want to get the Portuguese citizenship due to reasons such as dual citizenship not allowed in home country

Conclusion

The advantage of this type of permanent residence permit over the permanent residence by investment is that the applicant no longer need to maintain the [golden visa investment]. Thus, you can be much more flexible in choosing your investment options.

Also the application and renewal cost is much lower.

It is for applicants that live in Portugal as there are stay requirements for renewing your permanent residence permit.

Same as option 2, children over age of 18 don’t need to meet any special requirement (be dependent, a student, and unmarried) at the time of application nor at renewal.

Option 4 — To Apply for Portuguese Citizenship

Portuguese citizenship by investment, is probably the top ultimate goals for most Golden Visa applicants. One of the many benefits of the Portugal Golden Visa is that you can apply for Portuguese citizenship after 5 years.

Portugal allows dual citizenship, so the only catch is if your home country doesn’t allow dual citizenship. And even so, some applicants denounced their home citizenship and opt for the Portugal citizenship.

Getting your Portuguese citizenships doesn’t come with much downside as there are:

  • No obligatory army training
  • No stringent [inheritance law ]or tax law for citizen

Apply requirements for Portuguese Citizenship

Stay requirement for renewal of Portuguese Citizenship

Nil

Who can apply for Portuguese Citizenship?

The main investor, spouse, and dependents over 18 of age For children under 18, they are able to - apply for citizenship if they live/ study in Portugal, or - get a EU family card for the time being, and apply for citizenship at the age of 18.

Application fee for Portuguese Citizenship

~21€ per application

Who would typically choose this option?

Getting the Portuguese citizenship means you would also become an EU citizen and you can live, study, and work in all 27 EU countries. It has all the benefits, and no downside. Once, you get the citizenship, it is for life, and you don’t have to worry about any stay requirement, income requirement, investment requirement any more.

You can also see the cost of application/ renewal is so much cheaper than the other options.

We recommend this option unless you have other concerns (such as the dual citizenship issue).

Conclusion

After you get the Portuguese citizenship, it is permanent. You become a Portuguese citizen and an EU citizen. You just have to renew your citizenship card when the card validity expires, but there is no longer any requirements for renewal. This is no more worries, no more counting the stays, and no more visits to the SEF. In fact, the application of citizenship is not even handled by the SEF.

We can’t think of any.

Same as option 2 & 3, children over age of 18 don’t need to meet any special requirement (be dependent, a student, and unmarried) at the time of application.

There is an additional benefit other than all the points we have mentioned above. When you get your citizenship, you no longer need a NIF tax representative to represent you. Another saving to not having to pay for NIF tax representative.

Comparison Table of the 4 Options

With all the options to choose from, catering different needs and situation, Portugal Golden Visa is one of the [Best Plan B in the world]. To help you compare the different options, here is a comparison table of the 4 options at a glance -

  • Portuguese Citizenship
  • Portuguese Permanent Residence
  • Portuguese Permanent Residence by Investment
  • Temporary Residence by Investment.

A Closer Look into the Portuguese Citizenship by Investment (Portuguese Golden Visa)

The Golden Visa in Portugal started in 2012, counting the 5 years to the end of 2020, only applicants that applied from 2012–2015 are eligible to apply for citizenship. And counting on the application/ approval time of citizenship which may take 1–2 years, it is most probable that only those part of the applicants that applied in 2012–2014 have gotten their citizenship or permanent residence.

From the statistics above, you can see that over 80% of the initial applicants from 2012–2014 were from mainland China, and then the rest are from Russia, Brazil.

There is an interesting uprise of Americans taking interest in the Portugal golden visa starting from 2019/2020, where Americans became one of the top 5 countries applying for the Portuguese Golden Visa.

You can check the statistics of the Portugal Golden Visa by year with this link from SEF.

This also means that if you want to find a company that has the experience of going thru the whole journey for clients from golden visa application to citizenship, you most probably have to find someone who had handled those clients back in 2012–2014.

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Susan
I have not read your entire post yet but it seems you are very much an expert at Portugal Golden visa and I thank you for the information and for taking the effort to write this. When I have time I will read with interest.

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Thanks so much for your message. I see that a lot of people are relying on information they get on facebook or forums. But a lot of those info are hearsay. I am just sharing what I know because it is what I do on a everyday basis.

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Thanks very much for your detailed post.
I have some questions about the citizenship:

  • The requirement A2 language is for main applicant only ? Or this requirement applies to all applicants (main+ spouse+kids) ?
  • The NHR tax benefit lasts 10 years. Let’s say if by end of year 5, I apply for citizenship, and I get the citizenship by year 8. Then the citizenship will not affect anything to my NHR status ? Or right after getting the citizenship, my NHR will be no longer valid, and I will have no tax benefit from that point on ?
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HI,

You are welcome!!

  • The language test is required by all (investor + dependents)

  • NHR is totally separate by the citizen/ residence permit you hold. People who have not been a Portuguese tax resident for the past 5 years and now starting to live in Portugal can apply. And they can only apply when they first become tax resident, after that you are no longer eligible to apply. And it last for 10 years, it won’t changes because you change from golden visa to citizenship (as long as you are a tax resident of Portugal). On the other hand, if you are not living in Portugal, you shouldn’t and couldn’t apply for NHR.

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Hi Susan
Thanks a lot for quick reply.

  • for the A2 language requirement. If it is required for all dependents, then some dependents like parents over 65 will never be able to fullfil this. Hence they will not be qualified for citizenship ? Then the main applicant with his spouse + kids apply for citizenship whereas his parents apply for Golden Visa ?

  • Let’s say: suppose now by end of year 5, I apply for the citizenship. At the time of applying, my Golden visa card will have 01 year to be expired. If the citizenship process lasts 2 years, that means my Golden Visa card will be expired before I get to know that the result my citizenship is granted or not. Therefore is it legally OK for me to stay in Portugal when my Golden visa is already expired and my citizenship application has not been confirmed ?

Her post also said that language requirement also applies for permanent residency permit.

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Thanks for reminding me. It was my fault, a bit careless
 I will correct my question.

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Thanks for the detailed information. This part is news to me. Why do children have to be living in Portugal to get citizenship? Also, there is another thread that talks about whether it is worth getting a GV for young children since they can get citizenship through their parents once their parents become citizens. Is that a better way to go if you aren’t planning on living in Portugal until after citizenship? Thanks.

Hi Susan,
Can you please advise regarding this
“For children under 18, they are able to - apply for citizenship if they live/ study in Portugal”

I would imagine that if the main applicant, spouse and dependent child under 18 have obtained GV, renewed it by fulfilling requirements (like min 7 days stay per year), then when they apply for citizenship the child should be eligible to apply for Citizenship along with the parents (provided the Child meets min stay requirement and language requirements). Why would the child have to separately meet additional criteria of living or studying in Portugal? Are you sure about this requirement?

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Hi,

  1. Yes, PR also needs the language test. They can take some recognised Portuguese course, if they can complete an equivalent of A2 level course, it can also be use as a language requirement.

  2. You need to renew your resident card in order to stay legally in Portugal. You can choose the permanent/ temporary residence card (the options listed in my post), or if you are working/ living in Portugal, you can renew for other types of residence permit too.

That citizenship law doesn’t apply to those who got the citizenship by naturalization. The kids can’t get the citizenship once the parents gets the citizenship.

If the family lives in Portugal, it is possible for the dependents to get the citizenship without going thru GV. But it is hard for them to get the citizenship if they don’t get the GV and not live in Portugal. One requirement is the connection with Portugal, such as you live here, you study here, you work here.

It may not make a lot of sense, but it is the law. But it can always change.

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It is the connection with Portugal. The couple, when they have an investment here is a connection with Portugal. The more connections (work contract, rental agreement, bank account, etc) you have, the better/ easier. For kids, it’s mostly the education. You can check with your lawyer too.

Last year, the European Commission launched infringement procedures against Malta and Cyprus over their schemes, noting that applicants benefited from EU citizenship without having established genuine links to the country.

“The Commission considers that the granting of EU citizenship for pre-determined payments or investments without any genuine link with the Member States concerned, undermines the essence of EU citizenship,” it said.

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@susanayang This is good information. Thanks Susan.

As for the children under 18 not being entitled to citizenship if their parents are citizen, the logical outcome of this policy would be to (in some cases) separate non-citizen children from the citizen parents. This would seem to violate EU human rights policy. Perhaps you are correct but it doesn’t seem right from a humanitarian policy.

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There is no need for minors and spouses to apply for GV if you have no plans to reside in Portugal. Article 2 and 3 of the Nationality Act will allow for “Acquisition of Nationality” once the main applicant has received citizenship (or has naturalised).

The only time kids need to be resident is when their parents are not Portuguese nationals, where one needs to demonstrate time and ties to the country in order to naturalise as a citizen. This is in Article 6 of the Nationality Act, which explains how when one does not have “blood ties” to Portugal can attain it.

In your case, Article 2 and 3 will deem you as a Portuguese citizen (one you have been through the process) and hence your kids and spouse (after 3 years of marraige) can qualify to acquire Portuguese nationality.

If you need the comfort that all is well, please go ahead and do so. However, I would presonally not spend that additional EUR10k per applicant, and rather invest it somewhere. But then, that is me!

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