Real estate investment
Portugal Golden Visa
$325,000
Portugal Golden Visa
$325,000
Portugal launched a ARI/Golden Visa scheme in 2012 for third country nationals to obtain a temporary residence permit in to conduct business activities with visa waiver in schengen territory.
- Live, study and travel in Europe.
- Most popular european property investment scheme
- Very minimal residency requirements.
- Profitable real estate investment
- Naturalize for citizenship after 6 years.
- No interviews, No language tests
- Immigrate to Europe with family and children.
- Travel freely in Schengen including Switzerland, Germany etc.
- Qualify for Portuguese PR after 5 years of living.
- Non Habitual Tax regime for HNW families
Qualifying investments
The following investments qualify for portuguese golden visa scheme.
1. Business : Capital transfer with a value equal to or above €1,000,000 Euros;
2. Real estate property: The purchase of real estate property with a value equal to or above €500,000 Euros;
3. Real estate refurbishing: The purchase of real estate property, with construction dating back more than 30 years or located in urban regeneration areas, for refurbishing, for a total value equal to or above 350,000 Euros; If you invest in rural areas, 20% discount offered by Govt makes the minimum 280,000 euros
Hotels / Resorts: The purchase of five star hotel shares (eg. Marriott, Hilton, Evora) etc also possible in Lisbon, Porto for 280,000 euros. The developer buys back the shares refunding you full 280,000 plus 3-4% annual costs. IMT and other commercial taxes covered by developer in some cases. Commercial investments in hotels are unaffected by golden visa changes in 2022.
4. Research & Technology: Capital transfer with a value equal to or above €350,000 Euros for investing in research activities conducted by public or private scientific research institutions involved in the national scientific or technology system;
5. Art, Culture & Public interest: Capital transfer with a value equal to or above €250,000 Euros for investing in artistic output or supporting the arts, for reconstruction or refurbishment of the national heritage, through the local and central authorities, public institutions, public corporate sector, public foundations, private foundations of public interest, networked local authorities, local corporate sector organizations, local associations and public cultural associations, pursuing activities of artistic output, and reconstruction or maintenance of the national heritage;
6. Investment funds: Capital transfer with a value equal to or above €1,000,000 Euros, for purchasing shares in investment funds or in venture capital geared to capitalize small and medium companies that, in turn, must present a feasible capitalization plan.
7. Employment: Job creation at least, 10 job positions;
New Rules 2022
New rules apply from Jan 1, 2022.
- Property investments in Lisbon, Porto, Algarve will be ineligible for Golden visas
- Investment funds such as bonds, bank deposit increase to 1,500,000 euros
- Property investments in major cities increases to 500,000 euros, inner regions remains at 350,000 euros (low density regions remain 280k euro)
- Commercial investments in hotels or offices do not change in major cities eg. Lisbon, Porto. You can invest in hotels, agriculture farms in the form of shares (refunded by developer after 6 years)
Golden visa fees
The following fees are payable to the Government and SEP (immigration office).
|
Government Processing Fee |
€ 513.75 |
|
Initial investor residency permit |
€ 5173.60 |
|
Renewal of residence permit |
€ 2,586.80 |
|
Residence permit for family members |
€ 2,586.80 |
|
Real estate transfer Tax 8% |
€ 28,964.75 |
|
Financial Management and Fiscal Representation (0.5% per year) |
€ 2,500.- |
|
Real estate stamp duty 0.8% |
€ 4,000 |
|
Property Transfer Service 1.5% |
€ 7,500 |
|
Permanent residency application |
€ 350 |
|
Citizenship application |
€ 250 |
You have to pay small initial retainer fee and our lawyers will start the process .
Residence requirements
The Portugal program does not require you to live or stay in Portugal at all. No minimum residence requirements, except you are only required stay in Portugal are 7 days on the first year and 14 days over the subsequent periods of 2 years. Initially Residence permit card is valid for 1 year, then renewed for 2 years, then again renewed for 2 years, then PR after 5 years of holding RP. If you dont visit Portugal, you cannot prolong your residence permit.
For example if you have a business to look after in UAE, you might like to stay in UAE for most of the time but want to visit or live in Portugal anytime you want, without applying for visa. We also take care of property rentals, when you are out of the country. We work with developers of many real estate projects in Portugal (Lisbon, Cascais, Coimbra, Porto etc).
Portugal citizenship
Under the requirements set out by the Nationality Act (Act number 37/81 of 3 October) after 5 years, it is possible to naturalize for Portugal passport and citizenship.
Portugal Passport
Portuguese passport is ranked 6th best passport in the world with visa free travel to 185 countries according to henley restrictions index 2016. Portuguese passport gives right to live and work in 26 member states of EU including Switzerland and United Kingdom.
Visa free travel
The ID card (residence permit) issued by Portugal allows you to travel all 26 schengen countries including Switzerland and maximum stays of 90 days in 180 day period allowed in combined in all EU member states. Non EU citizens cannot visit UK using the portuguese residence card (will need a separate visa). You may also visit other non schengen EU countries such as Croatia, Romania, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Montenegro etc. using the EU residence permit issued by portugal for stays up to 30 days.
Non Habitual Tax Regime
Golden visa applicants can make use of non-habitual tax regime to pay less taxes in Portugal
The Non Habitual Resident’s regime (NHR) is a Portuguese unilateral regime for relief from international double taxation, with European Union approval. It works as a means of enabling tax residence in Portugal, with a preferential (as opposed to the Portuguese in general) tax regime. It is, for the time being, a one off, 10 year entitlement starting from the date of application, with the possibility of interrupting and restarting, counting the period of interruption.
Eligibility
- To have civil law consent to reside in Portugal;
- To not have been tax resident in Portugal at any time, in the five years immediately preceding the date of application;
NHR provides for benefits applied in line with two streamlined income criterias. These are:
(i) Source (Portuguese or foreign) and
(ii) Nature of the income
Tax exemption on foreign-sourced income: dividends, interest and other financial income, capital gains (derived from property but not securities), income from self employment and from retirement and pensions; T
Taxation at a fixed rate – 20% – on Portuguese-sourced income of self employment;
Taxation at a fixed rate -20%- and employment provided it originates from certain legally classified activities, such as architects, medical doctors, dentists, engineers, liberal, technical and similar professionals, namely company directors, plastic artists, musicians.
