In a nutshell - purchase a property in Portugal for €500,000, keep the investment for five years, ensure that you stay in the country for seven days in year one, 14 days during years two and three as well as 14 days during years four and five, adhere to the regulations and you will be able to obtain a Portuguese residency.

It is one of the most attractive residency programs for worldwide investors. Without the need to reside in Portugal, investors are attracted to the ease and flexibility with which they can obtain a residency permit which then gives them access to all the benefits it provides. The process is straightforward, fast and has no direct tax implications or obligations for income generated outside of Portugal. Since the launch of the Golden Visa program in 2012, more than 4,200 Portuguese Golden Visas have been issued, representing more than a €2.5 billion investment in the country.



In 2019 the first group of golden visa holders who completed their five years of residence arrived. These investors obtained not only their permanent residence permits but also citizenship - after physically residing for just 35 days in the country. A great deal of uncertainty has always surrounded the question of whether participants in Portugal’s golden visa program would in the end, after holding the temporary golden visa for five years, qualify for permanent residence status and citizenship.

 Up until July 2018 the rules stipulated that to obtain permanent residence, an individual must have been legally resident in the country for five consecutive years. Until then only those who had held permanent residency for at least a year could apply for citizenship, which meant an investor would have to wait until year six to apply.

 This rule, however, changed in July 2018 as Portuguese lawmakers amended the country’s nationality law to permit anyone who had been legally resident for five years to apply for naturalisation.

 

Once the initial five years of holding a golden visa are complete, applicants will also have the option to free themselves of physical residence requirements altogether as there is also a new category of permanent residency recently created that allows for an applicant to obtain permanent residency without then having to abide by any minimum stay requirements in Portugal. This is given to the applicant for five years (renewable every five years) and does not impose any minimum stay requirements.