A public commenter on the Expresso web article criticized Golden visas, noting with contempt that these investors are flipping properties for profits, sometimes doubling or tripling the price of a house before construction is even complete.
Lol. Does he realize that the “investors” flipping these properties are mostly Portuguese? And that they have found a clever way to avoid any taxes on these transactions using assignments? So much misplaced anger! Legal immigrants are not your enemies.
Spot on. There is a serious knowledge gap with people here and what the ARI actually is. Blaming an extremely small percentage of property purchases over a decade for the current housing crisis is an all too common refrain.
I saw something a few weeks back that showed in 2022 (I think) 88% of property purchases were by Portuguese and under 1% were for the GV program. But people, from government politicians down to the jabroni at the local café, don’t want to hear it. It is easier to find a scapegoat and blame them. In the court of public opinion we are the bad guys responsible for the housing crisis and so much more.
And frankly, we are tired of it.
I am so sick of it, living here. Saying you’re here on a GV is social suicide. Most of them don’t realise real estate was disqualified years ago! I’ve tried to calmy explain to many GV haters - we invested in venture funds, that support startups, directly creating jobs in Lisbon! But even then, you get stupid pushback - “those are jobs for immigrants”, “I don’t work in tech so I don’t care”, etc. Basically, you can’t win. Of course, these people have no concept of how much foreign investment has come in and improved things, nor any concept of what would happen if it went away..
I am voting with my feet.
Are you living in PT full-time? Or were you sensible and retained a home base elsewhere (unlike us)?
The solution here is: never use the words “Golden Visa”. Instead of this, use the term: residency by investment. It is literally an exact translation of “autorização de residência de investimento” which is printed on the resident card.
I only say that I got my residency via investment approved by portuguese government. Then they almost never asked me anything and they kept their mouth shut. A few of them asked me what kind of investment. I replied that “governement used financial investment to do some projects including real estates, agricultures, restoring art and historical buildings,…and what exactly government did with the money I had know idea or some of the money could be corrupted which is also a possiblity”. Then none of them wants to find out more information. A few of them even applauded me because they thought that i must be clever to figure out the Residency by investment 
.
It is very strange that we are living in a schengen country in 21st century but whenever people hear the word “gold”, they immediately have bad impression.
For those ill-educated people, you need to use more tecnical terms (investment) instead of just saying “gold”. It’s best way to stop the stupid getting stupider.
No, it was on our roadmap but we had not made the move yet. I fully admit my “pulling the plug” is easier than someone who has moved to Portugal already. But the only control I have over the situation is to decide to not participate in the charade any further.
Wise decision. Had we had even the remotest inkling that things would turn out this way, we’d have never left our warm, insulated new-build in leafy Sussex! 
You can use this term if you want. I’m a D2 now so entrepreneur sounds better.
Do people often ask about how you got your visa in Portugal? I’ve literally never been asked that question. People might ask why you moved to Portugal or something of that sort but most locals are quite unaware of visas or permits of any sort since they never need them, same for EU citizens for the most part. EU citizens usually get a shock when they reach the 5 year mark and suddenly have to deal with AIMA for their PR cards. That’s when their ordeal starts.
We can only assume that some people “socialize” too much 
I cannot even imagine a situation where some random local would start challenging me of what kind of visa I got into the country on..
Some inordinate level of intoxication is required on both sides 
A couple weeks ago I went out for dinner after an event with an American ARI and a few younger Portuguese people. Halfway through dinner, the ARI cheerfully announced that he had a golden visa and lived full time in Portugal, incidental to some unknown topic of conversation on the other half of the table. The Portuguese all took it in stride but I later cautioned the ARI never to mention that to people, because the term had become radioactive since 2023; I suggested keeping it under the lid altogether, or saying “ARI visa” if he had to say something. The ARI had not been following the trends and had no idea, still thinking that “golden visas” were appreciated as saviors of the economy.
Choose your friends carefully.
It usually starts out with a derogatory comment about immigrants, typically Asian and Brazilian immigrants. Then it will move on to social problems which are largely the fault of these immigrants. Once the housing crisis is brought in to the discussion, it invariably turns toward rich foreigners on Golden Visas coming to Portugal to flip houses, engage in all sorts of diabolical misdeeds and ruin the futures of every young Portuguese. All the while we say nothing, lest we give ourselves away.
Being in a situation where people are far too comfortable expressing their opinions on the evils of immigration as well as citizenship by investment programs is enough to make one feel both uncomfortable and unwelcome.
This has happened with other expats as well. There are many pre-Brexit Brits that feel they did things “the right way” and that GV applicants are gaming the system. Maybe this is worse for us in Algarve as it’s become Chega’s power base and the long-term expats have a smug superiority. Either way it isn’t a very nice situation to have happen.
That’s exactly my experience. Nail on the head. Unfortunately. People here are WAY too comfortable with normalised immigrant hate.
Immigrants pulling up the ladder behind them, tale as old as time.
The brief cites a December 1 poll here for the idea that 90%, something like 3,500 respondents, wouldn’t have gone the GV route. The link in the version pointed here is dead. Where can I find that?
Also, the implication is that the 15 are all Americans. True?
Here you go:
The 15 were not all Americans, but enough were that Expresso felt comfortable running with it.
I didn’t see a link to the IMI article about the brief submission so here it is. Golden Visa Investors Challenge Portugal's Citizenship Law at Constitutional Court - IMI Daily