Petition to amend the proposed changes to Portugal’s Golden Visa program
PAIIR – Portuguese Association of Investment, Immigration and Relocation set up a petition to try to sway the Portuguese government and parliament to make adjustments to the proposed (potentially retroactive) Golden Visa amendments. I encourage everyone to sign and share it far and wide (especially to any related groups on social media). Have your spouse sign it, your children, parents, dogs and cats, and so on. (On a serious note, don’t sign on behalf of your pets.)
Sign the petition here and verify your signature through the email they send to you after signing:
Note 1: In the field that asks for your citizens card, in the case you haven’t already received a Portuguese residence permit you can enter any valid ID number instead (e.g. your foreign passport number).
Note 2: If you leave a comment (optional) it’ll be published on this page. If you do, I encourage you to keep a civil tone—and luckily it seems most people do. It’s OK to be disappointed and frustrated with the proposal, but let’s show that we’re nice people that will contribute a lot to Portugal given the chance.
Note 3: After signing you’ll have to verify the signature through the email they send to you for it to count. You’ll have to click on the second link in the email (example of the link below).
Here’s the full text of the petition, machine-translated to English:
For the Defense of Portugal’s Image and Reputation among International Investors
To: Your Excellency the President of the Republic, Your Excellency the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Your Excellency the Prime Minister
More than 10 years ago, the Government had to ask for international foreign aid to ensure the financing of Portugal and the Portuguese economy. These were difficult years for all Portuguese people, in austerity, with more unemployment and less disposable income.
In this context, and on the Government’s initiative, in 2012 a mechanism was introduced in the Foreigners’ Act to attract foreign investment, in this case investment by nationals of non-EU countries, allowing them, upon meeting certain conditions, to become holders of a residence permit in Portugal, which came to be known as a “gold visa”.
Over the years, this mechanism has been one of the flagships of economic diplomacy pursued by the government, by Portugal’s embassies abroad, and also by government investment attraction agencies.
This residence permit quickly aroused the interest of international investors and sponsors, and it helped that Portugal was perceived as a stable and safe country, politically, economically, and socially.
It wasn’t the investors who defined where to invest, nor the conditions for granting “gold visas”. It was the successive governments that modeled and perfected the respective legal regime in order to attract more investors, through differentiated investment activities, according to the amounts, types of investment, and location.
The result of this public policy of attracting investment is visible in the statistics released by the Foreigners and Borders Service. Between October 2012 and February 2023, 11,758 residence permits were granted to citizens from the four corners of the world, with the overall value of this investment exceeding 6.8 billion Euros.
Over the years, the Foreigners and Borders Service has never met the deadlines set by law for processing applications, leaving investors months and years waiting for a favorable response, despite the large administrative fees paid by them and their families.
On November 9, 2022, after the Prime Minister stated that he was considering putting an end to the “gold visa” regime, the Minister of Economy publicly announced the creation of a commission with representatives from the Ministries of Economy, Internal Administration and Foreign Affairs to evaluate the program’s impact.
By 2023, and as part of a broader program (Mais Habitação) aimed at adopting emergency measures to respond to the difficulties faced by Portuguese families in accessing decent housing at prices compatible with their income, investors were surprised by the Portuguese government’s abrupt decision to end the “golden visa” regime, allegedly because it contributed to real estate speculation.
The truth is that the government is not just trying to close down this instrument for attracting investment to our economy, its purpose being to protect the Portuguese people’s access to housing.
Without any impact study of this program having ever been made, namely as to its return in terms of wealth generated, jobs created, taxes collected, the Government also wants to take away the residence permit that was granted to around 12,000 investors and around 20,000 family members in exchange for their investment in Portugal, imposing on them a permanent residence obligation that was not initially established.
In other words, the Government’s proposal is not limited to preventing new investments from being made. It intends to go further, with other objectives that have nothing to do with the Mais Habitação Program and that reveal a strange prejudice against foreign citizens who should also be protected by the rule of law in Portugal
All these citizens are seeing the protection and security of their investments jeopardized by measures that are unjustified and discriminatory.
These citizens thus feel defrauded by the Portuguese State which, between 2012 and 2022, actively promoted a mechanism aimed at making investments and donations under certain conditions that are now being changed, without their constitutionally protected rights or interests being safeguarded.
In light of the above, the undersigned hereby appeal to the Government, in the persons of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Housing, to all Members of Parliament and, ultimately, to the President of the Republic, that, with regard to the “gold visas” regime and within the scope of their respective powers
Avoid the adoption of any measures that have a retroactive nature, in clear violation of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, by offending the principles of legal certainty and the protection of confidence.
Avoid the adoption of any measures that affect the stability of investments made in Portugal and change the assumptions under which these investors were granted residence permits designed for this category, namely by contradicting the obligation that was legally imposed on them to maintain the investments in question for a minimum period of 5 years.
Allow for a legislative transition that protects all ongoing investments and does not affect a sector of activity that has always sought to adapt to the requirements that have been imposed from time to time.
Adopt measures that do not contribute to a massive recourse to the courts to demand from the Portuguese State fair compensation for damages caused by the application of unconstitutional legislation.
Thanks to everyone who shared the petition around the forum already, and @aabukh who already created a thread for it (sorry, I’ll replace it with this one so we can make it a sticky announcement banner).