Not that I expect “Natasha The Editorialist” to change her ways, but I sent the following letter to the Portugal Resident Editor to try clue them in. As with the TR vs. PR. vs. Nationality comparison, it draws upon NG contributions - so thanks for those 
Subject: Inaccuracies in your 5-Dec “Amicus Curiae” article
Thank you Natasha for your article of 5-December on the “Amicus Curiae” Nationality Law appeal to the Tribunal Constitucional on behalf of Golden Visa investors. While politicians love our billions in investment money, they never seem to remember the impact of AIMA and immigration law changes on our willingness to invest in Portugal.
However it does your readership a great disservice to parrot the “nothing to worry about” Pollyanna view of Golden Visa promoters. Claiming that “having residency in this country, as a foreigner, is every bit as useful as nationality” is simply wrong, for many reasons.
More (perhaps twice as many) years to Citizenship obviously means more years for Portugal to change the rules of the game - again! Will minimum stay or language requirements change as well? If Portugal can pass the current retrospective changes now, who trusts it to not make more unfavourable changes in the next 5 years?
As opposed to proper Portuguese Nationality (what most of us signed-up for)…
Temporary Portuguese Residency adds these burdens and nerve-wracking uncertainty:
- A Temporary visa still has the same stay restrictions outside of Portugal that anyone from a non-Schengen country faces - i.e. no more than 90 days in the previous 180 (just not counting days in Portugal).
- Renewal costs every 2-3 years for entire families, at 3090 € per head for most Portuguese fund/startup/cultural/etc. Investors (a fee that will surely increase).
- Renewal hassle and grief every 2-3 years, with delays getting an AIMA in-person renewal appointment currently running around 6 months, plus perhaps another 3-6 months to get your new residency card after paying for it. Meanwhile many people are forced to live on expired visas while they wait for AIMA.
- Some GV investors are working on their 5th “temporary visa” renewal due to IRN delays in granting Nationality - for a family that could total around 75000 € in ever-increasing GV renewal fees.
- Dependent children may grow too old to be dependent anymore (especially given years-long AIMA and IRN delays), and thus ineligible under their parent’s visa.
And to be clear, Permanent Portuguese Residency is not “almost as good” as Citizenship either:
- Same 90 in past 180 day non-Portugal Schengen restrictions as Temporary Residency.
- Renewals might be simpler and every 5 years, but at 4326 € per head for most Investors and their families (another fee that will surely increase).
- Portuguese PR has never included years waiting in SEF/AIMA purgatory in its count for eligibility. Its 5-year clock only starts from your initial Temporary Residence card date, which could be 3, 5, or even more years after you first applied. So you could be waiting 8 or 10+ years in total just for PR.