Travel rights in the EU with Golden Visa, PR vs citizenship

Residencies & citizenships šŸ›‚ Portugal Golden Visa šŸ‡µšŸ‡¹
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#1

Hi Thomas. Iā€™ve just read your article on the Portuguese Golden Visa with huge interest. Iā€™m British, but Iā€™m in the 49% who wanted to remain, so Iā€™m now investigating ways to become European again! Hence the huge degree of interest in that Gooden Visa. I have a couple of questions which I hope you will find easy, and that Iā€™m sure loss of other people in my situation would also be interested in:

  1. once Iā€™ve applied for and got the Golden Visa (Iā€™d go investment funds route - sounds by far the simplest), you say that gives me the right to travel freely within the Schengen Area. But during that 5 year period when Iā€™m waiting to get residency, am I limited in the amount of time I can spend in Europe? At the moment I think I can only spend 90 days out of every 180 days in the EU.
  2. after the 5 years qualifying period, what is the difference / pros and cons of applying for residency rather than citizenship?

Thanks so much. Rich

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#2

Hi Rich, Iā€™m in the same boat as you,(remainer from the UK) and considering the investment route. Sorry I canā€™t answer your questions! But Iā€™d be interested to know how you get one, one investment fund you choose

I was hoping it would be possible to choose a simple index fund or something low risk low reward. But it seems most of the investment funds shown on this website are Venture capital funds, which are normally high risk high reward.

I dont have much investment knowledge though. Just be interested to know how you get on

#3

Hey Alex. Thanks for your message. I am relatively sure that I will be able to find the right kind of fund (or certainly the lowest risk one anyway - I work in the investment fund industry). Iā€™ll take a look at the track records of the people involved and since my objective will be pure capital preservation- Iā€™m not remotely interested in profit on this ā€œinvestmentā€.

The key question is whether residency in Portugal is sufficient to allow me to live in France for half the year (which is what I really want to do)!

Will mail you if I find out more on either answer.

Rich

Best regards,
Richard Butler
Chief Operating Officer
ESO Capital Group
Phone: +44 203 642 2600

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#4

Thanks, from what I gathered it didnā€™t seem any of the funds were low risk or any guarantee to preserving capital. I am the same as you, that is my main goal, persevere capital and get the visa. But going through some of the thread on here it doesnā€™t seem very certain.

In one thread someone said ā€˜There are various property projects that will preserve capital; Mercan is probably the biggest/most stable of them. If you donā€™t want to buy a house.ā€™

But I dont know why Mercan is not in teh Ultimate Golden Visa guide on this website

please do let me know if you find anything out and vice versa

#5

ā€œBut I dont know why Mercan is not in teh Ultimate Golden Visa guide on this websiteā€

check here: The Ultimate Guide to the Portuguese Golden Visa

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#7

The key question is whether residency in Portugal is sufficient to allow me to live in France for half the year (which is what I really want to do)!

I donā€™t think so, the Golden Visa only lets you visit other Schengen countries for 90 days out of 180.

Have you considered applying for French residency directly instead? It might be less difficult than you think: Droit au sƩjour-EN

If you applied before December last year you would even have gotten it automatically as a UK citizen.

#8

Iā€™m British, but Iā€™m in the 49% who wanted to remain, so Iā€™m now investigating ways to become European again!

Do you have ancestors from any EU countries (e.g. Ireland) through whom you could get citizenship?

Otherwise as a UK citizen you still have the right to live in Ireland via the Common Travel Area. If you live there 5 years you can naturalize as an Irish citizen and then have free travel in both the UK and EU.

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#9

Hi, unfortunately I donā€™t have Irish ancestors. My grandfather was born in wa was then The Ukraine and now is part of Russia, and I looked into that but its not possible

I canā€™t leave the UK for now, and to be honest Iā€™m not sure if I want to live full time in Portugal or any other country right now, so its really trying prepare for the future after Brexit, not knowing what could change

#10

Thanks, I didnt see it because I was only looking at the Funds route, as I thought the property investment was not a good idea now and with the rules changing about Lisbon and Porto.

But can someone confirm this : the Mercan offering is to invest in some large-scale property projects, which then they pay you 3% on your 350k investment, and you then get that money back after obtaining the golden visa.

Can anyone explain how or why this is the safest way to preserve your capital? I dont really understand why its the lowest risk option

#11

But if you later get Portuguese residency-rather than just the visa-would that give the ability to spend expended periods in another EU country?

#12

Exactly. Thatā€™s the key question. This is a long-term play. The visa itself is not much help. The fact that you get residency at the end is the goal. But I donā€™t want to live in Portugal. I want to live in France. Does being a Portuguese resident give me the ability to live in France?

Also, as regards the other routes (Ireland etc) they donā€™t work, as I live in the UK and have no desire to move to Ireland for 5 years. The beauty of this Portuguese method is you donā€™t need to live in Portugal, or even go there very often!

#13

Richard,
No offense meant, but this type of attitude is what causes the EU to want to terminate the golden visa programs. I suggest a more tactful approach.

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#14

Yeah I have to agree, if you are going for the Portugal Golden Visa, Iā€™d say you should at some point be interested in living in or spending a fair bit of time in Portugal. If you want to live in France then probably best to live there when you are a ready and get citizen ship after some time

#15

@courtney3327 Yes you can live in any EU country.