The President of Portugal’s Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), Pedro Portugal Gaspar, has said that the agency has resumed processing golden visas.
However, the agency’s waiting list consists of 50,000 investors and their families, some of whom have been waiting for about three years, Schengen. News reports.
According to a report from Publico, the resumption of the processing of Golden Visa applications is not yet at the pace desired by those interested.
Some of these processes are being conducted. They are not at a standstill. Now, naturally, there is a capacity to respond, given the various process flows.
The Golden Visa Program of Portugal offers residency to nationals of non-EU countries provided they invest financially in this country and meet additional requirements.
The most famous option of this scheme was the real estate investment route, which was terminated in 2023 as part of Portugal’s efforts to deal with the housing crisis, to which this option had contributed significantly.
Attorney Tatiana Kazan told Publico that before this decision took effect, many investors believed that the residency permits would be issued quickly.
The problem is that, before this ban, many people believed the government’s promises that residency permits would be issued quickly, which did not happen. The money came into the country, but there was no counterpart.
Abolishment of Real Estate Investment Leading to Increase in Other Options
The termination of the real estate investment option of this scheme has led to a surge in other investment options that continue to remain effective.
Options that remain active for investments through Portugal’s Golden Visa Program are:
- Investment amounts required Investment in a fund – half a million euros
- A capital investment- €1.5 million
- For Science and Research – half a million euros
Those interested in creating jobs will need to invest half a million euros and guarantee at least five new jobs
Last month it was reported that Portugal’ Cultural Heritage option of the Residency-by-Investment scheme in 2024 increased significantly.
In 2024 alone, a total of €12 million were brought to Portugal through this option, accounting for an increase of 165 per cent compared to the statistics registered in 2023, during which year, €4.5 million were recorded.
The surge in this option was noted particularly after the abolishment of the real estate investment route.