As one of the top choices for immigrants to buy a home, Portugal is attractive to foreigners not only because of the cool, lovely weather and their local seafood – it is also because of the Portugal Golden Visa, the most popular scheme in Europe for investors, which the country's government actively promotes!
Golden Visa is a very low-barrier Portuguese investment immigration programme, a highly desired visa for many investors or immigrants.
Anyone considering applying for a Portuguese homeownership visa is familiar with Portugal's Golden Visa.
The Portuguese government announced this policy to attract foreign investment to stimulate the local economy, allowing non-EU countries' citizens to acquire Portuguese citizenship through homeownership or business investment.
First of all, Portugal is a member of the European Union and the Schengen Agreement. With a Portuguese residence visa, you can freely enter and exit the 26 Schengen member states in Europe!
These countries include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Furthermore, through homeownership, you can maintain your residency status and acquire Portuguese citizenship by living in Portugal for an average of 7 days per year. Then, when you hold a Portuguese passport, you can enjoy visa-free or visa-on-arrival to 158 countries worldwide.
Portugal's Golden Visa has straightforward application requirements compared to other countries' immigrant visas, with no eligibility requirements such as language, education, or proof of financial resources.
Simply put, anyone who wishes to live in Portugal as an immigrant may apply.
Since it is investment immigration, you must, of course, purchase a home to immigrate to Portugal. The investment method for the Portuguese Golden Visa is relatively simple.
As long as you buy a real estate property worth at least 500,000 Euros without any debt or mortgage or an old property worth 350,000 Euros, you are eligible for Portugal’s Golden Visa. There is no limit to the number of properties you can buy.
Of course, if you find it hard to purchase a property independently, you can team up with others to do so.
Alternatively, if the property's price exceeds 500,000 Euros, which is more than your investment budget, you can apply for a bank loan to complete the investment.
In other words, I believe you can easily invest in Portuguese real estate and obtain Portuguese residency status if you have the desire to do so.
You can apply for immigration at the Portuguese Immigration Office after purchasing a property in Portugal by providing proof of purchase to the relevant authorities.
At the same time, you can apply for immigration alongside the following family members:
Furthermore, if your application is approved, you will be granted a one-year Golden Residence Permit (ARI visa) and become a temporary resident of Portugal.
Compared to other countries, temporary residents in Portugal are only required to stay in the country for an average of seven days per year to maintain their residency status.
The resident is not required to stay in the destination country for an extended period to maintain their immigration status.
After five years of holding a temporary residence permit, you can apply for the "Golden Visa" to obtain permanent residency. Besides that, the entire application process for a Golden Visa is speedy, taking only 1 to 3 months from submitting the form to the approval of the visa.
Once approved, you will be able to travel freely to and from Europe's 26 Schengen member states, just like the Portuguese. As stated earlier, if you become a Portuguese citizen, you will enjoy all of the benefits of EU member states.
When you have Portugal’s Golden Visa, how can you miss the opportunity to visit other European countries? However, we know choosing one out of the 26 Schengen member countries to visit is difficult, so why not visit Meteora, Greece's City in the Sky?
Meteora is not as well-known as Santorini, but a rock formation in central Greece hosts one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries, second in importance only to Mount Olympus in Athens.
These monasteries are built on top of the rock! Walk along the path to the mountain's summit, and you will see the monasteries. After visiting them, you can wander around and possibly buy some unexpected souvenirs or choose to relax on the summit.
Read More: How to Get Portugal's Golden Visa? The Complete Investment Guide
In January 2021, the Portuguese government announced its new Golden Visa policy details, which will come into effect on January 1, 2022.
While the minimum real estate investment requirements remain unchanged, investment in real estate is limited to the inland areas, the Azores and Madeira.
As for investment in real estate in coastal areas, including popular areas such as Lisbon and Porto, it will only last till the end of 2021 and will no longer be eligible for the Golden Visa starting January 1, 2022.
In fact, the Portuguese government originally set the new policy in January 2021 to bring investment to the inland areas, the Azores and Madeira, and low population density areas.
These updates were set in place to promote the development of the selected areas through urban rehabilitation, cultural heritage, activities of high environmental or social value, productive investment and job creation.
The Portuguese government has extended the new policy until January 2022, considering that investors should be given more time to adapt to the changes. 2021-2022 will be a transitional period.
If you want to get a Golden Visa by investing in Portuguese properties, there are only six months left to get it!
This article is written by Sarah Chan.
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