They are not the almighty United States, after all. With a poorly managed economy and absurdly inflated real estate prices, the local youth have little choice but to seek work in developed European countries or Switzerland. Their entire livelihood hinges on foreign investors, tourists, and the goodwill of Brussels.
Long story short — they don’t have the luxury to sit back.
I, on the other hand, do.
I sit back, unbothered, with not a single worry. And should the need arise, I have a top-tier legal team ready to act.
Their entire livelihood hinges on foreign investors, tourists, and the goodwill of Brussels.
[…]
I sit back, unbothered, with not a single worry. And should the need arise, I have a top-tier legal team ready to act.
Just so you’re aware, this was really obnoxious. Your nouveau riche disdain easily justifies their views of the foreigner who just wants a passport.
Maybe you’re wrong, maybe you’re right, but don’t be surprised if a people who have little left but pride decide to hang on to their pride.
I appreciate your emotional investment , pride, after all, is often the last currency of those whose economies have long since defaulted.
You speak of obnoxiousness, yet bristle at an observation grounded in hard, measurable reality: GDP, net migration, housing bubbles ,not sentiment.
If stating facts reads as disdain, perhaps it says more about the fragility of the mirror than the clarity of the image.
And if national pride requires the denial of economic dependency and a hostility toward foreign capital, then we’re no longer talking about pride , we’re talking about denial dressed up in a flag.
I didn’t create the imbalance; I simply chose not to lie about it.
Well! I have to say frankly that Portugal does not need you at all. Portugal, as a country, does not need any of us to get involved with its economy. We need Portugal more than it needs us. Your presence in this post already shows your interest in Portugal. It is undisputable fact.
We can use all words in dictionary to describe how bad/weak/poor Portugal is. But in the end of the day, it certainly continues to be there for at least hundreds of years without backing off even one milimeter. We are the ones who need to back off (if we no longer have interest in the country) or adjust ourselves (if we still want to continue the portuguese passport mission) depending on the Portugal’s policy.
Portuguese state definitely is not acting in good faith in this case and it is a total disgrace for all of us who thought Portugese state will act like a country where rule of law is first and foremost.
Well, that’s certainly one way to interpret things through sentiment rather than substance.
Yes, Portugal has existed for centuries. So have many struggling nations. Longevity is not a substitute for prosperity.
If a country’s resilience is measured by how long it can endure inefficiency while its youth emigrate and its cities are gentrified by necessity, not choice then by that logic, stagnation becomes a virtue.
I never said Portugal needed me. But when a nation actively markets itself to foreign investors, offers residency-for-capital schemes, and aligns itself with EU funding pipelines, the message is clear: participation is welcome until it hurts someone’s feelings.
You’re right about one thing though: adaptation is key. But adaptation is a two-way street not a blind acceptance of status quo wrapped in national nostalgia.
As for me I’m North American. Portugal was simply a gateway to Europe. If Spain had offered the same terms for golden visa, citizenship timeline and dual nationality, I’d have gladly invested €800k instead of €500k without blinking. Italy, Barcelona those are far more attractive long-term destinations to retire or live. We all have different motivations and timelines, sure. But none of that changes the facts on the ground.
Portuguese state definitely is not acting in good faith in this case and it is a total disgrace for all of us who thought Portugese state will act like a country where rule of law is first and foremost.
I sympathize with your disappointment. But I offer these counterpoints:
It is politicians who are not acting in good faith.
The law has not passed. The state is not implementing these proposals yet.
We don’t know whether the rule of law will prevail.
Ah yes, Paris in a bottle such a poetic visual. Beautiful, really.
Except… this is an immigration forum, not a Montmartre wine bar.
We’re not discussing Voltaire or vintage Bordeaux here.
We’re discussing timelines, tax codes, dual citizenship, and policy shifts.
My comment was about comparative residency frameworks (if) not bottling metaphors.
So unless France starts offering golden visas with fast-track citizenship, I’m afraid Paris will have to stay outside the bottle… and outside this thread.
I know that we are all badly unsettled by the events of the last week, but please let’s be kind to one another.
With due respect, I have been hearing,”We don’t know yet”, “Be patient”, “Wait and see” for close to four years while the GV process whipsaws from one major revision to another; and I would point out that the one change that would have been beneficial to us, the law altering the start of 5 years to apply for nationality to application date rather than first residency card flailed about in limbo for what felt like forever.
They never clarified exactly what that change would mean or how it would be implemented; never published the regulations; and now the PM stated definitively that his government has no intention of ever doing so. And those applicants who waited anxiously for years for their first residence card and were comforted by the law that said their long wait would at least count toward applying for citizenship, had hopes shattered once again.
Even if these newly proposed changes are softened somewhat or even if they fail completely in Parliament or the Constitutional Court, I am done. I will no longer “wait and see”. Too many changes, too many disappointments, too many years waiting. I will chart a new course away from Portugal.
I sympathize. I have oscillated between giving up hope–preparing to throw in the towel–and regaining a glimmer of hope that it will all work out. My Portuguese friends, of all political stripes, always laugh in wonderment that I stress over these things. They all demonstrate implicit faith that it’ll be fine.
If and when I do give up and commence the wind-down of Project Portugal, I won’t linger here and torture myself amid the ghosts of the past. I might check in with other investors about how to wind down my investment, but the naturalization chats wouldn’t be relevant or uplifting.
Maxine, of course we sympathise with your sentiments and you’re unlikely to be the only one abandoning ship. But I’m curious - we forum regulars have been advising you for the better part of two years to file a lawsuit since your case seems stuck. Why didn’t you ever pull the trigger? (Probably wouldn’t do much good now.)
It might if you could persuade your legal team to file a “super-urgent” case. Since you have been living in Portugal, there is probably a very good chance you could succeed. “Super-urgent” cases have lower wait time in court queues.
You are certainly a loquacious individual! Your unnecessarily garrulous compositions border on vanity, and serve to undermine the notions you ostensibly wish to elucidate.
After all, many of our users are not native English speakers. You can lay off the vocabulary measuring contest
It’s called “interim measures” (providência cautelar). If I am not mistaken it became possible since summer 2024 as there was a court decision that equaled immigration issues to human rights, which made it eligible for expedited processing.
I filed it in Nov’24 along with the regular process, but was rejected by the court, regardless it gave AIMA enough impulse to solve it for me and give me an appointment and, then, cards in April this year.
I will not back off if the government and Portuguese funds/ law firms have scammed me off my hard earned money by essentially lying about the program. I’ve invested in a closed end fund and I’ve no way of backing off from the investment either.
