Ask many lower wage immigrants in Portugal how long they intend to stay in Portugal: their response if often āas soon as I get my passport Iāll go to work in Germany / Holland / name a higher wage EU country OR Iāll apply for a visa to work in UK / Dubai or even try to go to the USAā
Extending the time for MI immigrants to naturalise wonāt necessarily reduce the PT domestic workforce.
Indeed itās the popular image in Portugal that most immigrants donāt actually wonāt to live in PT at all. They just want an EU passport.
This last point was made to me forcibly by a Chega rep. just after the last election.
I have to disagree with your point on this.
In fact it is the opposite if you look at the situation as a whole. 90% of the immigrants are from portuguese speaking countries. Those native portuguese speakers/immigrants do not move to other countries. They remain in Portugal after getting the passport. They have chosen Portugal due to the language.
If you look at GV applicants, for sure 99% of Gv do not live in Portugal after having passports in hand.
However, the numbers of GV applicants is only a tiny fraction of total number of foreigners in Portugal.
Moving to other EU countries is not that easy. The most difficult thing is the language barrier. There are 9-10 millions local portuguese people. But not all of them can move to Germany or Netherland or Sweden. Without speaking german, dutch,ā¦there is no chance of finding a job with only english & portuguese language. Of course, you can say they go there to work in the restaurants. But there are already many other portuguese who were there. Unless they have a cousin/uncle who knows someone or owns a restaurant there, they will very likely stay in Portugal.
Look at the Indian Nepalese Pakistanis Bangladesh. How many are there in Portugal (under easy entry visa regulation)? And compare it with how many there are in England or in Germanyā¦you can do the math!
If there is no connection of language and culture, the people from CPLP are exactly the same as the South Asians (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh). The 700k brasilien in Portugal could easily drop down to only 50k.
In term of getting citizenship, Spain gives a huge advantage to the native spanish speakers. Requirement is only 2 years of residency. Obviously the south american imigrants (except brazil) utilise this advantage.
This is not true, english opens huge doors for you in most of western and central europe, sure you canāt apply for every job on the market, but you absolutely can find something.
I was more making the point if you have sufficient english skills (fluent) and some professional skills (like architect, medical research, accounting, engineering etc), you can get a job in most of europe. I am not talking about just any job.
Whoever had that skills already left. Whoever are going to have that skills will certainly leave the country. The brutal truth is that the majority of portuguese population (over 85%) do not have that skills. And comparing the immigrants from CPLP to the local portuguese, I have to say that the local portuguese have a better english. Hence, reverting back to the main point of the argument, most of the immigrants will remain in Portugal after having passports due to some natural reasons (similar language + culture) and lack of english ability and proper professional skills. If those immigrants from CPLP were able to speak english fluently and had a qualification in other field (engineering, accounting,ā¦), they would straight seek for jobs in other richer countries.
When there is a will, there is a way. During 10-20 years of living in Portugal, for sure the immigrants from CPLP can learn english and obtain a qualification so that on the day they have passport they can immediately leave Portugal to a better life in Holland or Germany. However, to be honest, how many of those will do it? For sure, there exists some. It must be. But it is a tiny fraction.
There is a fine line between āarguing against our own caseā and āfull discussion of pros cons risks benefitsā of course. And doomsaying can be just as bad.
But I would agree at least to some extent. There are few places where any of this gets discussed, and āhope is not a strategyā (well, ok, it is, butā¦). We are making non-trivial investments of time and energy. More pointedly, for some of this is much more of a Plan-A as opposed to some Plan-B where āif it fails Iām just out some money and timeā, but hopes and dreams are on the line, not just for ourselves but for family.
I donāt think that convincing people to not apply is going to cause the government to change strategy. But people can be warned that itās not all sweetness and roses.
Sadly the law establishing the day of application as the beginning of the 5 year period has never been published, therefore it has never gone into effect. The current Prime Minister recently stated that it will not be published before the election and if they win, may never be published. He has also speculated that he is interested in increasing the length of the 5 year period required before applying for citizenship.
Therefore the future for GV applicants is to say the least uncertain.
Artigo 15.Āŗ, n.Āŗ 4
Para os efeitos de contagem de prazos de residĆŖncia legal previstos na presente lei, considera-se igualmente o tempo decorrido desde o momento em que foi requerida a autorizaĆ§Ć£o de residĆŖncia temporĆ”ria, desde que a mesma venha a ser deferida.
Article 15, Paragraph 4
For the purpose of calculating the periods of legal residence provided for in this law, the time elapsed since the moment the temporary residence permit was requested shall also be considered, provided that the request is subsequently approved.
@mborcherding the law was published, it is the regulation of the law that was never published.
E.g. the law says āthe moment the temporary residence permit was requestedā, but does that mean when the form was uploaded? The fee paid? The biometrics taken? That is what the regulations are meant to regulate.
I am referencing an article in Diaria de Noticias 8 April 2025.
The discussion refers to conversations with the current government regarding the law designating the date of application and payment of fee as the beginning of the 5 year period of residency required for application for nationality for ARI investors .
According to the article,
āā¦ this law has not been regulated by the current government , which, in private conversations, had already indicated that it did not agree with the five-year period, much less with the reduced count approved by the new law. Some lawyers argue that the law does not need regulation, but at the same time, many immigrants are unable to apply under the new law, because there is no regulation. With todayās statement, it is clear that the government will not regulate the law before leaving office - nor after if it is reelected in May.ā
If this reporting is accurate and the current government is considering both increasing the 5 year period of residency before allowing application for residency and not publishing the regulations implementing the change of the date beginning the 5 year clock, we could well face continued uncertainty regarding how Portugalās Golden Visa program will be implemented going forward.
The changes noted are by no means a certainty. They may not happen due to political opposition. The current government may not win the upcoming election and the winner may not agree- but until the detailed regulations implementing the changes to the law are published, we cannot take date of the beginning of the clock for granted.
The practical issues highlighted by the DN article are definitely a concern. However, the fundamental legal principle is that the law itself has primacy over regulations or administrative practice. The change to the Article 15, paragraph 4 of the Nationality Law is already in force as of April, 2024. Therefore, if AIMA or IRN were to make a decision that contradicts the clear wording of the law (e.g., issues an incorrect CdT) that residency starts āthe moment the temporary residence permit was requested,ā you will prevail in a legal challenge. The DN article you cited alludes to that effect: ā[ā¦] se a pessoa tiver dinheiro para pagar advogado, consegue.ā It just may require some extra time and money to hire a lawyer to challenge the decision in court.
