Hereās a link to info on the Malta case.
The EUās beef seems to be offering ācitizenshipā without a āgenuine link to Maltaāā¦
Well, you can have your opinion, I just donāt think its supported by facts. The GV is āunpopularā as a headline because the government is telling people it is a problem. In general, I have heard and I believe that most portuguese people understand the truth.
The portuguese people donāt have a problem with GV, they have a problem with lack of housing. They are smart enough to understand who and what is the real cause of that.
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Look, if you were right, the government would not have even proposed to end the Golden Visa program with such a harsh cutoff (Feb 16 even before the law passed) and we would not have this thread/conversation.
You argue that my stance that āpeople only want to abuse their positions for political advantageā is invalid and that my position āis not supported by factsā.
Iāve brought in two facts:
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The recent proposal dissolving GV as a scapegoat for housing crisis action, with retroactive restrictions on GV renewals and disqualification of those who submitted after Feb 16 before the law is even passed, is exactly the kind of āabuseā you seem to think the PT government is above. And this party is supposed to be the sane one (compared to the rising CHEGA)!
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EU acting harshly against Malta demanding the termination of their CBI program and denial of even pending applications.
You donāt seem to have brought in any facts yourself: you merely make claims my points are āincompleteā and claims that they are āsmart enough to understandā. I donāt want to insult the intelligence of the average voter, but many people globally are increasingly voting in populist, right-wing figures - the voters whoāll happily blame foreigners and GV for all their problems.
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Just 4 months ago on November 22, 2022, PM Costaās own party voted against abolishing the GV program. Has so much changed in these 4 months, that a majority will vote to terminate it? Time will tell.
The average person might be for or against the GV programme, but what will matter in the days ahead is how the next draft is written, what the public discussion contributes and how the Parliament votes on this. The PT programme is different to the Malta and Irish programmes - case in point the Irish Interior Ministry simply announced the end one day in February, and that was it - the programme was terminated. The PT GV programme is underpinned by a set of laws, and only the Parliament can change the law. And has been said numerous times in this thread,
according to the Portuguese Constitution, a new law cannot be applied back in time ā no retroactive effects. Anyone unhappy with the new laws certainly has the legal challenge route available.
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I believe Malta was essentially directly selling citizenship. That is a critical difference between it and Portugal.
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Yeah, while you do need to be resident of Malta (on paper) for 1-3 years, the program is structured in such a way that you donāt need to make your investment and donation until citizenship has been pre-approved.
So still quite different from the Portuguese program which really is just a residency programā¦
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Actually, Spencer, I would beg to differ. The amount of rehabilitation that was launched all over Lisbon and Porto after introduction of the GV regime has been staggering! There is a huge construction boom all over key metropolitan areas, suburbs (Cascais, Estroril, Alcabidece, Caparica, etc. to name just a few), resorts of Algarve, etc. There are hundreds of thousands of jobs involved, from construction laborers to architects and engineers. Huge number of supplies, local artisans, craftsmen, manufacturers (steel, concrete, furniture, ets.) , transportation workers, RE professionals, bankers, and so on have in many ways re-vitalised the sluggish Portuguese economy. Further investments in tourism and tourist properties will be providing many more employment positions for years to come. Even at a very small number of GV applicants, the programme has delivered a significant impart to the economy which was nearly stagnant just a decade and half ago.
The gentrification that was initiated alongside of GV popularity could in many ways be attributed to myriad of factors that might have been only partially caused by GVs. It is a separate process, hardly unique to Portugal. Portugal was just one of the last destinations to be discovered and one of the last to be developed, and these are just typical āgrowingā pains. The same story is repeated all over the world.
Hence, the pushback from many business groups against the abrupt and/or complete termination of GV programme is well warranted.
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Not to forget the taxes paid to the government for the real estate transaction (small or big) and the municipal taxes. Abandoned properties were not paying any taxes. Also the taxes being paid for the AirbnBās
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Brussels believes the scheme is in breach of EU law because citizenship is granted without any real obligation for the beneficiaries to live in the country.
āBy offering citizenship in exchange for pre-determined payments or investments, without a genuine link with the Member State concerned, Malta breaches EU law,ā tweeted EU justice affairs commissioner Didier Reynders.
The statements made here broadly applies to Portugal too, although I do agree one can make an argument thereās a difference as citizenship isnāt directly offered.
Itāll be interesting to see how the ECJ rules and the reasoning behind their ruling. Critically, must citizenship be explicitly sold or is it sufficient that citizenship is granted for investors without a genuine link to the country, and what genuine link even means.
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I do see your point on rehabilitating residences and property taxation. However, it seems like itās only some business groups, primarily GV and property developers, that seem to care.
Regardless, the government has shown itself very willing to throw GV under the bus to score political points. It would be wise not to see this proposal as an outlier, but potentially a step in more restrictions (to placate EU and voters) to come.
If the proposal to close off GV for new applications passes, the money tap will run dry for many of these business groups, who will have limited financial interest in speaking up for any (grandfathered) GV holders moving forward.
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Anyone knows if this has happened?
The more controversial aspects of Mais HabitaĆ§Ć£o were put back by a couple of weeks, partly at the request of the municipalities, who will give their opinion on 21st March. The public consultation now closes on 24th March, and the Council of Ministers meet to vote on the package on 30th March. After that the government will send the bill to Parliament.
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That is exactly the rationale behind this latest round of potential changes. Please bear in mind that the same government and the same PM only recently spoke and acted in favour of keeping the GV alive, albeit with modifications of Jan 1st, 2022. The war in Ukraine and the rampant inflation have created a āperfect stormā for the Socialists, and now they are in a full ādamage controlā mode.
In the long run, most likely the existing applications will be unaffected and new ones will be more scrutinised. Renewals might become more difficult, and applications for citizenship will certainly require demonstration of language knowledge and potentially more time in Portugal.
Eventually the GV programme will be wound down; however, it will not happen retroactively and/or instantaneously.
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Thanks - if you donāt mind, can you share which news / sources (PT ones I guess) you typically use to stay up-to-date?
Ha - I just have a couple of search terms set up in my Twitter feed which alert me to anything relevant in the local press (with a bit of help from Google Translate: my Portuguese isnāt A2-level yetā¦)
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This article has absolutely no hard data or anecdotes related to a āmass exodus,ā but rather an opinion piece and/or wishful thinking.
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Yeah, the Americans and Friend PT facebook group has plenty of success stories with the D7 and Digital Nomad visa. Nobody seems to think Portugal is going to target those.
Succinct and spot on. We are also 4yrs 1 month in and about to move to Lisbon in 2 weeks to become tax resident, pass the language exam etc. Let us see what happens, but anecdotal evidence so far is that a ton of people for whom this was a remote plan B are bagging the process and taking their real estate gains home.
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I agree - it is a pretty ridiculous piece.
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