Portuguese Golden Visas: tighter rules are coming in 2022

Amid a profound economic crisis, the Portuguese government created in 2012 a programme called golden visas that intended to incentivize the much-needed foreign investment. This initiative grants a residence permit to non-EU citizens who invest in Portugal, either by acquiring real estate, transferring capital to the country, or creating jobs.

Since then, this initiative has gained many supporters but also many opponents. Between 2012 and 2019, the Real Estate prices grew at rates never seen before, and rents in Lisbon, Porto and Algarve increased to levels much higher than those that the Portuguese middle class can support. This is a worldwide trend that stems from many factors, particularly the growth of Tourism. However, many argue that Golden Visas have contributed to this trend and should be terminated, particularly in high density areas.

Sensible to those opinions, the Portuguese government implemented new regulations that will take effect on January 01, 2022, such as:

1. Real Estate: investments in high density areas will not be eligible;
2. Investment Funds: minimum subscription requirement will increase from €350,000 to €500,000;
3. Investment in Research will increase from €350,000 to €500,000
4. Investment in existing Portuguese businesses will increase from €350,000 to €500,000
5. Capital transfer amount requirement will increase from €1 million to €1,5 million.

These new regulations were delayed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that anyone who wants to take advantage of this scheme can still invest in high density areas like Algarve, Lisbon, or Porto until the end of this year.

This might be a great opportunity to invest in Portugal because the country will receive in the coming years a package of around 16 billion of Euros from European Union that, hopefully, will drive its economy out of recession, improve labour productivity and support the modernization of the public and the private sector.

If you want to take advantage of this programme, either by investing in Real Estate, investing in an existing company, or creating a new one, EWP can provide you the assistance you need. We have the internal resources and a network of trustworthy partners that will assist you in all the stages of the process.

---

Contributing Advisors