Golden Visa Program in Portugal

Attractive conditions for tax residents and the “golden visa” program have given a serious boost to the development of the local market.

The main goal of the program is to attract foreign investment into the country by expediting the issuance of residence permits to large investors.

Wealthy foreigners who have spent at least 500 thousand euros on real estate have the right to obtain a residence permit.

Portugal started the scheme in 2012 but ended it after a corruption scandal. The golden visas have attracted almost half a billion dollars in investment to Portugal.

In 2015, the program was reinstated. According to figures from the country's immigration service, by the end of 2015, 2,788 residence permits had been issued to investors. Of these , 2,635 or 95% were in exchange for the purchase of real estate , 149 in exchange for the transfer of capital , and 4 for the creation of 10 or more jobs.

Let us recall that 1,526 residence permits were issued under the program in 2014 , while in 2013 – only 494. Since the program began in October 2012, foreigners have received 2,621 residence permits . In exchange for investment in real estate – 2,480 . As expected, the largest group of foreign owners of Portuguese residence permits in exchange for investment are representatives of China – 2,087 documents.