Portugal Golden Visa - The New Law of 2023

As Thomas has posted here, the law should not be passed at the parliament. However, external pressure means they have to end GV, housing package is just a cover. Itā€™s going to be one hell of a ride for some of us.

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They can do what Ireland did, bring a decent death to this decade long regime. I donā€™t see why they want to do it retroactively.

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Iā€™m an IMGA Portugal investor, I am glad I switched to this open-ended fund last minute. I am not concerned as the fund is PGV eligible, but not targeting PGV, means not many investors are PGV investors. They also reserve about 20% cash, their fund size is 154M, so about 30M cash reserve. If the law passed with retroactive effect, it should not be a big issue for us, PGV investors to cash out.

Not to mention we pay only 0.2% subscription fee and the redemption fee is 0%. This compare to 1.5% to 7% of close-ended fund. Given the low fee, itā€™s understandable why no law firm/advisory firm promotes it. But some against it which i think is professionally unethical.

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I find it hard to believe that the latest proposal to change GVs already granted to another catagory with enhanced stay requirements , will actually become law. Like many other investors, I simply cannot stay in Portugal for 183 days a year and the only reason I invested over 600K euros in the country was due to the low-stay requirements. Promises made at time of application must be kept, and such an action will be illegal in most jurisdictions around the world. Doesnā€™t make sense to punish investors who have already invested a considerable sum.

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Only a small fraction of GV investors have actually made it all the way through the program to acquire permanent residency or citizenship. Changing the rules around length of stay will invite a massive class action lawsuit I would imagine, with around 8000+ litigants. I agree with @mir3134.

The other question to answer is why the government wants to change the stay rules midway through the process for thousands of investors: it doesnā€™t solve the housing problem.

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94 posts were merged into an existing topic: Discussion of the potential unconstitutionality of the proposed GV law changes

What Iā€™m wondering is, after the changes made in the countries that are EU members and make golden visa applications, what kind of application did they make to those who were in the golden visa status, did they protect their old rights? otherwise they acted according to the new legislation.
The most critical situation here is that if it removes the 7-day condition within 1 year and brings the other session conditions, namely the 180-day stay condition, it makes no sense.

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Reading all the analysis here so far has been helpful though terrifying. I really wish that the Portuguese government didnā€™t seem to view us all as leeches on society, taking advantage of a system and credit us for part of the transformation Portugal has seen.

I have no idea how, but they need to see real faces, families, stories and the people behind these investments. Weā€™re not all a bunch of wealthy investors trying to buy our way. As someone else pointed out, the ranges 280K-500K were designed for those not necessarily wealthy.

Many have mentioned this is/was their life savings. I can tell you it was a portion of mine, hard-earned over decades. Iā€™ve visited Portugal 11 times. Starting in 2015. Iā€™ve seen the transformation that foreign investors have brought to Lisbon, Porto, the south. The government should be thankful and not scapegoating. This wouldnā€™t be a place that so many would like to call home or that locals would like to stay if in part, this did not occur. I remember our first visit - it was like a bombed-out war zone of empty dilapidated shells in many places. Every local we talked to wanted out.

Wonder why that changed? Think about it.

Interestingly, Iā€™m in Lisbon now, and you want to fix the housing crisis. There are hundreds of empty apartments we pass on every walk. The problem? Who is going to pay for the massive renovations? Indeed not the government. Why not a creative use of the GV to create more affordable housing? It would transform neighborhoods.

Iā€™ve also invested seperately in a rental property (hotel type operation so once again, not stealing anyoneā€™s housing) and it attracts hundreds of people every year to enjoy Portugal. Couldnā€™t even tell you how much money flows through to the local area. And I pay a fat 25% income tax off the top on that income to Portugal. I enjoy nor use any services by the way. I contribute quite a bit in taxes and fees, which they gladly take.

This whole story of us being a bunch of fat, wealthy leeches on the country needs to stop. Are there cases like that? Iā€™m sure. But, hearing from everyone here, we need to put more of a face on the real, honest, reputable people who just fell in love with a country, and bought into a program that we were sold. And yes, promised. I know thereā€™s a debate about how it could always change but come on, Portugal went along with it, and it never once made any effort to correct how lawyers or real estate firms were promoting it.

Sorry for the rant; we all have one Iā€™m sure. Instead of just lawyers, the politicians need to see more deeply who these policies are impacting and in some cases, destroying. Real people, real faces that have made extraordinary financial contributions, and many who would like to go beyond that.

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Totally agree. Total bullshit about ARI not creating jobs or stimulating the economy. The house I purchased had sat empty for years, a typical situation where children inherited it from their father and had difficulty agreeing on how best to monetize it, whether to fix it up or not, etc. And since buying it I have invested nearly 100,000 euros renovating it and paying locals to do all kinds of repairs and work to it, updating plumbing, rewiring the whole house, replacing all the kitchen appliances, replacing 5 mini split AC / heating units, not to mention a massive investment in solar panels. Iā€™m currently paying locals to arrange for rain water capture into a cistern and hook that up to a drip irrigation system to bring the plants and trees back from the dead without wasting city water. And I have been living in it 3 months at a time (maximum possible under Schengen Visa rules) flying back and forth from the US every 3 months on TAP. While living here I have been spending a lot of money in local shops and restaurants. If Portugal passes some bullshit retroactive law that pulls the rug out from under me I will DEFINITELY direct my attorneys in Lisbon to file a lawsuit, with or without anyone else.

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For those who already live in Portugal, is anyone aware of the procedure of switching from a GV to D7 within Portugal? I think that will be the path forward for 90% of people who live here. In fact, most of us who live here deeply regret ever getting a GV.

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April Fools!

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25% income tax sounds pretty low!

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The Goal post keeps changingā€¦

Forced rental to go ahead for vacant homes - The Portugal News

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Thatā€™s not specific to GV, itā€™s talking about those owned by Portuguese also. In fact it specifically says holiday homes would be exempt, which sounds like unoccupied GV homes might qualify as.

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No, this is incorrect.

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I see people mentioning getting lawyers. Now is the time, we need to start getting organized so the Assembly of the Republic members and President get a letter from a law firm representing X100ā€™s of people ready to protect the rights they were assured under the ARI law. Influencing now could save a lot more money later.

Can this site enable sign-upā€™s for a particular type of action? Who knows of a good lawyer. I liked the lawyer for Mercan, who wrote the article.

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I have started a new topic for those interested in the possibility of a Class Action.

ARI investors are being scapegoated as the cause of Portugalā€™s inflationary situation. You only need to look at food to understand inflation is everywhere and obviously ARI investors didnā€™t cause food prices to increase. I do think ARI (at least those who buy houses) causes some effect on housing prices, but it is overall a minor impact compared to other factors.

So, there must be some Portugal shopkeepers who benefit from ARI who can tell their story.
Same with real estate agents and construction workers who can tell how they have good jobs and need more investments to continue. Same with lawyers who make money and hire people, and spend money on cars, foods, etc. It is all a story that needs to be told.

Another story is how the image of Portugal (Lisbon/Porto) has improved since 2012. 6 billion of investments making Lisbon attractive and desirable. Neighborhoods totally revitalized. Portugal is routinely listed as one of the top place to retire/vacation. Some of this effect is due to this investment.

When an ARI investor get a residence permit, they spend for a family upwards of 20,000 euros on fees, plus legal fees + VAT, and then if they buy a house somewhere they spend tens of thousands more euros on taxes. This is a big benefit for the country, especially to have people pay huge taxes, but they donā€™t live there so they are not using up all the resources. That is an ideal situation for a country - to have someone paying taxes, but not using transportation, healthcare, retirement pensions system, police, etc. Imagine a country where the largest taxpayers used few resources and saved those resources for locals.

If all ARI disappeared tomorrow, would Portugal be just fine. Sure, it would but I think it is better because of people like us. And that is an important story to tell.

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Scroll down to the last part on litigation and counteroffensives being already underway.

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we need to take steps to initiate a class action lawsuit in preparation for the worst-case outcome. how do we do this? who do we need to contact?

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