The Future of Portugal’s Golden Visa – 2022 and after

A number of our customers have been asking how we foresee the future of Portugal Golden Visa after the regulation changes from January 1st, 2022.

Of all the uncertainties out there, there is one thing that is certain – that the world is becoming more and more uncertain and chaotic; people are getting discontent with their government on various decisions – be it the COVID confinement / quarantine rules, tax issues, social security reforms; and there are more geopolitical tensions and social unrest within and amongst countries.

So seeking Plan B is a trend that will not go or fade away.  

And getting a Plan B whilst you can continue to stay where you are, working at the same job, living the same lifestyle, is not easy to come at.

Portugal Golden Visa is one of the few options out there that can provide you this.  And Portugal’s Golden Visa is ‘The Best’ Golden Visa out there, according to one study.

Why?  Well, there may be a lot of reasons.

But I think the below table really capture the essence.  

Do you know that many countries still do NOT allow dual citizenship?  For example, if you want to apply for your Spanish citizenship, you would need to denounce your own nationality first.  

Here is a complete list of advantages of the Portugal’s Golden Visa.

There are also the investment elements.  Some countries need a big investment commitment (think Canada, Australia..), others demands a donation (eg. Malta) meaning the money is gone forever.  Other plan requires you to invest/ donate plus expense yearly (eg. rent an apartment for a certain value in the country for the whole time).

In fact, we have looked into other country’s Golden Visa program, or residency program to expand our services and offerings, but really, up till now, we can’t find any that can beat the Portugal Golden Visa.  

Portugal Golden Visa doesn’t require you to donate; you don’t need to rent a place; you don’t need to spend a dime other than the government fees and your investment (which should be giving you some returns).  And heck, you don’t even need to pay tax in Portugal for income and capital gains if you choose to invest in fund!  What more of a deal can you get?

For more details of the study, you can go here – The Best Golden Visa Rankings 2021.

And here for the investment requirements for Portugal Golden Visa.

Portugal Golden Visa from 2022 onwards

In short, we don’t think we will see the big rush like what we have seen in the past few months, but Portugal Golden Visa will continue to stay and be one of the best options out there for people seeking a Plan B.

We don’t see the number of applicants would be any lesser than previous years (other than 2021 for obvious reasons) after the regulation changes.  In fact, we already have clients onboard for application next year with 500k funds and 280k property options.  And more are waiting for new investment options to come out to make the decision.

There are still ample of investment options out there – commercial properties, low density properties, student accommodations, touristic apartments, buying Lisbon properties via fund, and investment fund.  We believe the 500k (for the fund route) would soon become the new 350k.

We have been talking to developers and fund managers for new investment products.  We will be launching some very interesting projects targeting to Golden Visa very soon.  And The Golden Portugal clients may be one of the fews who would get them before the full launch to public!

We are also seeing some fund managers who used to target exclusively institutional investors, trust and/ or family offices planning to come into the playing field. Meaning clients may have more sophisticated options on funds, where previously were just opened for investment amount of 5 millions and up.

All in all, it’s going to be another interesting year.