portugal already views everything related to ARI negatively…
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I have no plans or desires to write to the constitutional court. But not doing so out of a sense of improperly influencing the judicial system is peak Stockholm syndrome. I would have no qualms about doing so if I thought it would make a difference.
They’ll just refer you straight to this Optimize article…
No, it’s about them perceiving it as being improperly influenced and taking an adverse view on us. That is the concern about writing vs not.
Does anyone have a link to the original text of the PS submission to TC?
I haven’t seen the text, and have checked for any references to it, without much luck.
Everyone refers to the points they said they would include, but we don’t have direct knowledge, yet, on what was sent, if anything.
I haven’t posted in a while but been keeping an eye on these developments. Most likely will stick with the PTGV regardless of what happens, try to convert to GV PR after 5 years and then eventual citizenship after 10 (assuming there isn’t yet some other rug pull by then!).
But the following claim in that IMI article - Why Portugal's Golden Visa Value Proposition Remains Unchanged - IMI Daily - caught my eye:
Healthcare access through Portugal’s system extends across all 27 EU member states via the European Health Insurance Card, eliminating pre-existing condition exclusions and lifetime limits that constrain American insurance markets. These benefits activate immediately upon residence approval.
Can anyone verify whether this is indeed the case or yet another example of mis-leading claims? I wasn’t aware that PTGV holders had access to the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). In the UK we used to have it then lost it after Brexit, but it would be a game-changer if indeed PTGV holders also had access to this. I believe it means healthcare access (free or at least on the same basis as local residents/citizens) not only in PT but right across the EU.
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Yes, we have EHIC cards. Supposedly it works for medically necessary care in the UK, but we were hard pressed to find any UK facility in Oxford that knew that.
Although, why does the article refer to pre-existing conditions and lifetime limits in the American insurance markets?
Just looked online - the EHIC was replaced by the GHIC (Global Health Insurance Card) in the UK after Brexit, so perhaps those facilities in Oxford thought (mistakenly?) that a Portuguese EHIC was no longer valid in the UK.
According to the NHS website -
You can use a UK GHIC when you’re visiting:
- a country in the European Economic Area (EEA)
- Montenegro
- Australia
- Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man
- St Helena, Tristan and Ascension
You can use a UK GHIC in Switzerland if you’re one of the following:
- a British national
- a Swiss national
- an EU citizen
- a refugee
- a stateless person
- a family member of someone who holds one of the above nationalities or statuses
The UK government is negotiating with other countries to expand the use of the UK GHIC, so always check coverage before you travel.
Re the American insurance market -
… probably because some US health insurance excludes pre-existing conditions and impose life-time limits on coverage, therefore if you are a US GV holder (and therefore eligible for the EHIC), then this is potentially very valuable.
Yes, I got a GHIC shortly after Brexit. Free, ready to apply, almost as useful as the EHIC.
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Just wondering why ‘almost’ as useful? What is excluded by GHIC that is included with EHIC? After reading about the GHIC on the NHS website I figured that if you had GHIC then there was no real value-added in having EHIC. Am I missing something?
From memory, coverage is more limited in non EU countries like Norway, Switzerland, Iceland.
EHICs are no longer available for UK citizens, the GHIC is a replacement
Ah, ok. Thanks.
Some, I suppose. But Obamacare eliminated those things in most cases. Medicare Advantage allows underwriting decisions but not exclusions.
And Trump will eliminate Obamacare if it is the last thing he does.
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I wish people would stop posting links to that IMI/Optimize article. It grinds my teeth to even see it. 
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Agreed. And I think everyone needs to realise that the business model at IMI daily is clearly intertwined with commercial interests in the investment migration industry. Don’t rely on it for objective news.
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Hi, I live in Portugal but I haven’t had any luck getting this. So theoretically, you’re supposed to be eligible. In practice, you can’t get one without a NISS (social security number), which itself you can’t get unless you have a local work contract - the rules for a NISS were changed early last year. So if you’re here off passive income or work income from abroad (which would be 99.9% of us, I’m sure), the answer is effectively no, because one of the requirements is unfulfillable.
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Thanks @sj-to-pt Useful clarification. It’s odd you can’t get a social security number in Portugal without a work contract. What about people who are self-employed? In the UK you only need to have the right to work.
Yes, the self employed can also get a NISS but everything is so intertwined here that to prove you are self employed you would have to have issued and provide copies of legal invoices “Recibos Verdes” which means you are already declaring the income for income tax purposes and are also paying for a business bank account and other regulatory things that I can’t remember. In other words, being self-employed here is also a bureaucratic and costly tangle that put me off starting a small business to take up some of my leisure time. It’s not a country where you can just do some work, get some money, and declare it as income on your annual tax return. I guess that there’s a history of rampant tax avoidance that has led to this stringent control (while acknowledging that the grey market here must still be thriving if you can tap into it).