The Government of Portugal has approved the new changes to the Golden Visa program, is part of the More Housing program, which includes the termination of new residence permits for housing investments, and the possibility of transferring at least 1.5 million euros to a Portuguese bank account.
However, the new changes still need to be approved by the President, who needs a total of 20 days to make his decision. SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
The proposal was presented earlier this month by the Portuguese government and was supported in the Assembly of the Portuguese Republic, with favorable votes from the Socialist Party (Partido Socialista), the Bloque de Izquierda – a left-wing political party – and of the Portuguese Communist Party. To party.
Despite the fact that the country has decided to end real estate investment as a route to residency in this country, other golden visa routes, such as those allowing applicants to create at least ten jobs and making donations to cultural institutions, continue to exist. valid.
The current changes mean that foreign nationals can invest a total of €500,000 or more in eligible funds, also taking into account venture capital funds. They can also invest up to €500,000 in a company that creates five jobs or maintains ten.
Furthermore, other options, notably the transfer of €500,000 to public or private scientific research institutions or the transfer of €250,000 to projects supporting artistic production, are effective.
In addition, the renewal of these residence permits remains effective, according to local media.
The proposal to end new residence permits for investing in housing was included in the More Housing program, previously announced by the country’s government in order to combat the housing crisis and also regulate the real estate market.
But the new the changes applied to the Golden Visa program were contested and considered counterproductive by the President of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque.
He said the project makes Local Accommodation an unnecessary scapegoat for housing problems, stressing that it defrauds investors’ confidence.
Portugal’s decision to end new residence permits to invest in housing has been condemned and considered unilateral by the president of the Azores governmentJose Manuel Bolieiro.
“What I can say is the position of the Azores Government, which has been in favor of maintaining the golden visas and, given their objective, express our disagreement and protest against the unilaterality of the decision”, Bolieiro emphasized this in this regard.
Despite these changes announced by the Portuguese authorities, investments through residency by investment programs increased significantly in the first half of this yearbased on figures from the Portuguese Immigration and Borders Service (SEF).
The same noted that a total increase of 27.5 percent year-on-year was marked during the same period, thus amounting to a total of 403 million euros.
