Golden Visa Citizenship

If you are eligible, look into a D7 visa. The GV is very expensive and not necessary in a lot of cases.

If you have income from outside of PT such as a pension or property rental, you can apply for the D7 as long as you meet the requirement which is only the Portuguese minimum wage (currently about €830 per month. You don't need to pay an immigration lawyer as you can do everything yourself with a bit of research.

We moved here last year from the UK.

Good luck 👍

@joellensmail  I'm not an expert but as far as I know, there is no time limit to obtaining the visa. However, you do have to be resident in the US at the time you do the visa process. You can stay in Portugal for 90 days ( and they will extend this if you ask). However you would have to leave and be in the US  when you apply and until your visa comes through. Owning a property would probably help the visa process. However, there is a slight risk in that if for some reason they deny your visa, you are stuck with a property that you cannot stay in permanently. As long as you have all the necessary pieces of paper, there is no reason they would deny it. I assume you would be in Portugal when you buy the property? I know several people who bought "sight unseen" and one worked out well, the other very badly.

Olá, bom dia.

@joellensmail,

The Portuguese government has already proposed the end of golden visas, but the law has not yet been discussed in the parliament and legislated. You can find more information here, in english:

https://nomadgate.com/portugal-golden-v … -for-real/

Best Regards

You do not need to go thru Golden Visa - unless you really want Portuguese citizenship and passport. As per previous reply, you can apply as a retiree as long as you can show you have sufficient income to support yourself. If you can show you paid into social security, you will also get coverage by Portugal's health care, which gives you coverage throughout the EU.  You can also buy additional health insurance or there are many private hospitals and the rates are very low compared the the USA.

@joellensmail

I will try to help. As as I know golden visa was prohibit by EU .

***Warning!

JohnnyPT is correct. We too live in the US and bought our RE investment in October last year. Our applications for residency were submitted the beginning of February. The Govt decided to nix the Golden Visa mid-February, but all the parameters are not yet decided. They are still taking new applications, but it's a risk not knowing what the new law will be in a few months.

In the meantime, those of us who have bought Real Estate (in particular), are waiting on pins and needles to see how or even "if" we can move forward. And "if" we will be able to renew our permit which is the only way to move forward in the Golden Visa. We love Portugal and plan to live there in 5-6 years when we retire, but we can't move there now because of our jobs. It's a scary time for those of us in limbo. This was a large portion of our savings. Also, if you want to rent your RE out through Airbnb when not in the country, the Gov't said they are restricting Airbnb licenses. At this time, the Govt is saying your RE investment will need to be your Primary residence or you will have to rent it as a long- term lease. Last I heard, they were talking about leasing it out for 5 years!

Honestly, if we had known all this was going to happen, we would not have gone the RE Golden Visa route. At this time, we don't know for certain which Golden Visa investments will be affected, so you will want to stay on top of the changes. NomadGate (the link JohnnyPT provided) is an excellent resource. If you can be there more than, I believe it's 183 days/year, the D7 is definitely the better option.

@joellensmail from my understanding, you will not qualify for the golden visa if you finance a home. This is what I was told. You'd need to buy it in cash. However, as others have pointed out you don't need the GV as a path to citizenship. The D7 visa will allow you to be a permanent resident and you are not restricted to buying property in certain cities, (e.g. the Golden Visa does not apply to Lisbon and Porto anymore).

@mbirk

The above is correct, you can't buy individual RE in Lisbon, Porto, or most of the Algarve anymore.  There is still a commercial investment option in these areas, but again, with all the changes taking place for the GV Real Estate, proceed with caution. And the required amount does need to be paid in cash.

Below is some good news...

Update: I received this email from NomadGate today:

After two months of one announcement after the other adding more fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the minds of current and prospective investors—whether intentionally or not—last Friday's submission of the government proposal to end Portugal's Golden Visa program to parliament provided some much-needed reassurance.

Some highlights:

Applications will be open at least until the law enters into effect (which will still take a while). The previously announced cut-off of February 16 has been taken out.

While investors will eventually be converted to a special version of the D2 entrepreneurial residence permit on renewal, the unique minimum stay requirement of the Golden Visa (7 days average per year) will remain. The same goes for the special permanent residence (PR) permit for GV investors.

There will be no requirement to rent out your Portuguese property in the long-term rental market in order to qualify for renewals.

@joellensmail Golden Visa program is in the process of ending…. theportugalnews.com/news/2023-04-28/the-golden-visa-programme-whats-changed/77030

@joellensmail Boa tarde,

Hopefully, you found the information you were looking for. In case not, I wanted to share some insight.

In short, although it is possible to fund your Portugal Golden Visa investment over several months (depending on if the investment fund you choose allows it), your lawyer cannot submit your application until you have invested the full amount. One of the requirements for submitting your application is proof of the eligible investment amount.

For full details, check out this article: [link moderated]

@RobLane hi i have applied for GV already since dec 2022 , no preapproval yet . can we still a for D7 while in GV process?