6 Reasons to Choose Fund Investment for Your Portugal Golden Visa

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Securing a Portugal Golden Visa is a life-changing opportunity, opening the door to EU residency, visa-free travel, and a path to citizenship.  After the termination of real estate as a route to apply for the Portugal Golden Visa, fund investment has become the top option by far, and for good reasons.

Since 2021, qualifying investment funds have become an increasingly popular route for Portugal Golden Visa applicants. Regulatory updates on October 2023 refined eligibility for fund strategies and terminated real estate as an eligible option for Portugal Golden Visa.  Today, fund investment has become the top option by far, and for good reasons. Today, investors can tap into a broad range of sectors via fund investing (e.g., renewable energy, agriculture, international school, AI, biotech, tourism services, crypto, pre-seed company, public/regulated markets such as equities, fixed income, and so on).

Let’s dive into the six key advantages of investing in funds for your Portugal Golden Visa:

Eligibility Funds for the Portugal Golden Visa

Regulatory framework:

  •  Funds must be CMVM‑supervised Portuguese that satisfy GV requirements.
  • At least 60% must be invested in Portuguese companies.
  • Can’t invest in directly or indirectly real-estate industry
  • Can’t invest more than 1/3 of capital in a single company/asset by policy
  • A minimum fund term maturity of 5 years.

Sectors/strategies: Renewables, agriculture value‑chains, AI, biotech, tourism services, public markets (bonds, equities, commodities), and thematic strategies are common.

1. Highly Regulated & Safe

All eligible funds are strictly regulated by the CMVM (Portuguese Securities Market Commission). This ensures oversight, transparency, and investor protection, giving you peace of mind that your investment is managed within a secure framework.

2. Professionally Managed

Your investment is not left on autopilot. Instead, it’s actively managed by professional fund managers who bring expertise, market knowledge, and a vested interest in delivering strong results.

3. Diversification Opportunities

The single biggest advantage of fund investment is diversification. This is also one of the utmost concerns of Golden Visa investors—diversify, and in turn, lower the risk.

By regulation, a Golden Visa qualified fund can’t invest more than one third of its capital in any single company/asset.

Most funds invest in 3–20 different assets/companies.

Further diversification – Clients can easily further diversify their risk by investing in more than one fund.The more diversified, the lower the risks, as your investment is not concentrated in one asset type or in one industry. This strategy is particularly advantageous in a volatile global economy, providing stability and potential for growth.

Moreover, with funds, you can access areas where you as an individual may not have the budget or the expertise to invest directly, for example, hotels, farmland, pre-seed companies, international schools and etc.

More than 80% of our clients are choosing to invest in more than one fund, most of them choose to invest in two to three funds across different industries, to beat any economic cycles, and create their own portfolio.

4. More Cost Effective

Lower entry / subscription fee – Subscription fee averages 0%–2% on funds.  Sometimes, the fund subscription fee (depending on fund) is deducted from the 500k invested.

Lower exit cost – Most funds offer 0% on the exit of the fund (at fund level).  However, recently we are seeing that some open-ended fund is levying exit fees.

Lower ongoing cost – Management fees mostly range from 1%–1.5% on average for funds (most are paid by the fund; no need for investors to pay on top).

5. Aligned Interests & Higher Earning Potential

Fund managers typically earn carry/ performance-based compensation above a hurdle. Their success depends on the fund’s results just like yours. This alignment creates strong motivation to maximize growth and deliver value.

6. Attractive Tax Benefits

For non-residents (not from a blacklisted jurisdiction), all income and capital gains from Golden Visa funds are tax-exempt in Portugal. This makes funds one of the most tax-efficient paths to obtaining residency.

Explore about the Portugal Golden Visa funds
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What Should You Consider When Choosing Which Funds to Invest?

There are a list of criteria which you should consider when choosing a fund, here are some basic ones.  Talk to us to get a more thorough criteria when deciding which fund to invest in.

1. Know Your Risk Profile

Assess your objectives, target return, and risk tolerance.  A simple rule of thumb is higher risk = higher return, and vice versa.  

2. Personal Preference

Normally clients invest where they feel most comfortable, where they have had investment success, or where they understand the business models.  That’s why get clients familiarize with the fund options, we have a series of interviews with different fund managers to introduce the fund, discuss the investment strategies, the business behind the scene and so on.

Check out our page on funds where you can watch those interviews and get more info on them

View Fund Interviews

3. Fund Terms

Most of the golden visa funds available on market have a fund term of anywhere from 5 to 10 years.  Some people may want to have a shorter fund term so that they could exit as soon as possible, some prefer longer fund terms to provide some leeways for them to get their permanent residency and citizenship application done, or in cases where they anticipate to add family members later down the line. We have funds that allow you to exit early after the 5th or 6th years as an option, but gives you the flexibility to stay longer if needed. 

Moreover, there are open-ended funds allows you to pull money out anytime.

4. Assess Return Drivers of the Fund

Are the assets already in operation, or are they still in the development phase?  Usually those in operation will generate positive return sooner, and those in development phase may potentially provide a higher return, but with a higher risk and negative return during the initial years (the need to initially invest in the development phase).

5. Cashflow Pattern

steady coupons vs. back-ended exits. Some clients prefer to get a steady flow of cash during the investment terms while others may want to get the return back in one lump sum at the end (for the fund to reinvest the return to get the benefits of compounding) and for the ease of tax filing.  We have funds that offers a steady dividend return to clients.

Over 30 eligible funds available

We currently have over 30 eligible funds available, each carefully vetted for performance and compliance.

Explore all available funds and secure your Portugal Golden Visa now.

Please note that funds have subscription opening periods, so the list is not static. We have funds closing and opening constantly. Please contact us if you would like more information.

We would be happy to arrange a consultation call to discuss the Golden Visa process and timeline, give you a background on the Portugal fund industry, and discuss in detail the different options you have and things to consider when choosing an investment.

Our strength is finding the appropriate funds according to your needs and providing detailed analysis on the different investment options for you to make an informed decision.

Ready to explore your options? Contact us today to learn more about the funds available and take the first step toward your EU residency.

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We have helped more than 500 families on their Portugal Golden Visa journey. 

We are also the pioneer firm to help clients to invest through funds back from 2020 until now. Come talk with us.

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