at least you won’t have wasted 4 years to get to that decision point
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In Portugal anything is possible. Two flights? Sure. Two cities on opposite sides of the country at the same time? Sure. If this strikes you as strange, illogical or inconvenient you might want to rethink your country choice.
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I understand the frustration but. Is there a better or cheaper option to get a EU citizenship especially without a need to live there? Many of us are ok to wait for 10 years worst case scenario.
Also I made $140k in 2025 by investing in Portugal’s open funds.
I agree if it was a real estate option and I wanted to get to get a citizenship and willing to relocate sooner - it would have been a less attractive option for sure.
…until perhaps they jerk us “wealthiest at the end of the line” around further and change other things, like how much time you need to spend in PT. They have experience in changing the rules of the game after play has started.
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Yes but I can always take my money out after it becomes a lucrative investment, so far it’s not so bad.
Applied in Sept 2022, haven’t updated any docs since. Just notified of March 2026 biometrics.
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Congrats, great finally see you back to the forum.
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Yes for those on the real estate route, many were structured for 5 years of return tied to the citizenship timeline sold to investors. Some projects paid 5 years of returns up front, reduced of course, so holding the real estate for another 5-8 years is going to be very costly.
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Just a cautionary note. Biometrics appt is not the same as receiving your actual residency card–and this is a huge issue. A year after our family’s cards expired, we were offered a biometrics appointment in May, attended, paid fees and have heard nothing since. I love Portugal, but the inability to handle basic printing of a card after paying thousands of euros in fees seems really bizarre to me. I realize I am not alone, but when you are trying to plan a move to a country where you thought you would become a citizen (we are 4 months shy of being able to apply for citizenship under the old rules), it is discouraging, to say the least.
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And then they decide to increase the already eye-watering fees for ARI renewal for investment funds. Five renewals plus an extra one while waiting for citizenship if you’re resident. That’s not chump change, especially if there are multiple people.
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Just to be clear, nobody that invested in the Portugal stock market as a GV investor and still holds the investment has “made” anything. Your investment is up on paper, and public market investors got lucky because the market has been on a tear the last 2 years and a material portion of the gain also comes from currency fluctuation. But I think the market has historically been a pretty poor performer and you just as easily could “lose” that money. Anyways, I’m not trying to debate investment philosophy, I only note this to say that you’re still in basically an illiquid market if you want to get your GV, and if you decide to pull out, you may be doing it at a time when the market is not returning well. All of this is to say that I would rather not be in the illiquid fund I’m in, I would rather be in your position, but I would REALLY like to have had my money in the US market and not in this BS scheme.
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I agree it’s illiquid if you have to get your GC.
Bu Since I can liquidate it at any moment, I am ok to stay in the market and if I don’t like something - exit immediately.
So I think it’s much much better than having money locked in without a change to take it out.
Not really, which is why people have been dealing with the mess up to this point.
Well ok there are plenty of other options for people who want to live there full time, and ones that take less than 10 years in stable legal environments, but…
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Which is why I am ok to wait. I know many people want to have a second citizenship but if you have a residency and you don’t need to move - it doesn’t matter to me if it takes 5 years or 10. For me path to a residency card is much more important, as well as the fact that it’s only A2 test I need to pass and that it’s enough to do an online course instead of learning the language at an advance level. This is an unprecedented opportunity to get a EU citizenship without residency requirements and I am grateful it still exists.
That is the requirement now… trust me the likely hood of it being increased to near fluent is high.
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Still not hearing any news about whether I get my appointment or not from my agent. But I saw on LinkedIn, the coverage is till Oct 2025. Keep waiting….
I am outside of this window so she is probably misinformed a bit.
Applied in Aug 2023
Lawsuit in July 2024.
Resubmited Jan 2025.
Got notified of biometrics date March 2026.
No biometrics date for my wife yet.
Thanks. I stopped paying attention to ARI news for a long time and WOW, looks like Portugal continues to amaze. Not even sure I want to continue my application anymore, although someone made a good point about getting EU long-term residency so there still might be value even if citizenship is a long way off…
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Same circumstance here. Attorney forwarded appointment information for Primary. Primary never received the email even though address is listed in the portal.