Golden Visa – Other options

Following are the other Golden Visa options available in Portugal:
 

Investment can be either donation-based, or film production based.

This investment option is the only Golden Visa option to feature a fast, pre-approval process (only 15 days) involving an authorized governmental entity before any capital is to be committed. This pre-approval system offers applicants unparalleled peace of mind. It is a much faster route towards residency than the traditional property-based Golden visa.

However, this is a relatively new program with no track record of investors gaining their Golden Visas or making a profit yet. As of October 2022, 14 investors are awaiting pre-approval from the Portuguese authorities to make an eligible investment & proceed with their Cultural Golden visa application. And while feature film investments traditionally carry significant downside risk, innovative pre-selling of content to distribution networks significantly mitigates such risks.
 

No minimum investment is required. You must create at least 10 new jobs (8 new jobs if the business is situated in a low-density territory).

Given that no minimum investment threshold is required, this option could work well for Golden visa applicants who plan to launch a business that will create permanent jobs in Portugal.

However, establishing & operating a new business will require individuals to spend the majority of their time in any given calendar year in Portugal to run their business. Hence, for such people, the D7 visa or the D2 visa might be more viable options.
 

Minimum Investment: EUR 500,000

Make a Socioeconomic and/or technological contribution to the Portuguese Research Sector, and potentially develop & scale high-value intellectual property (IP) in collaboration with a Portuguese research institution.

The downside to this option is that in many instances, this option essentially entails a non-refundable donation to fund research activities. So, for most golden visa applicants this option will not make sense. However, in the case of successful patenting & royalty payments, potential returns can be negotiated.

The HQA visa could be a more attractive option to this visa since it offers a similar but more structured approach at a far lower price point, and with the ability to own 100% of the IP created during the research project.
 

Minimum Investment: EUR 500,000.

You must also create at least 5 new permanent job positions OR create 5 new or preserve 5 existing jobs if capitalizing an existing Portuguese enterprise.

This option allows you full control by launching your own new company & target a higher yield than you could expect with a real estate-based Golden Visa. You can also opt for low or no operations involvement by capitalizing an existing Portuguese company.

The downside of this option is that launching a new company abroad comes with the potential risk of losing your entire principal. Hence, this option would be more suited to seasoned serial entrepreneurs.

Investing in an established business could be a more viable option that requires less or no operational involvement. However, depending on the nature of the business being invested in, the risk of part or total loss of capital can nonetheless be significant too.
 

Minimum Investment: EUR 1.5 million.

This is the most passive of all Golden visa investment options.

The upside of this option is that it does not require any extensive market research or due diligence whatsoever before making your investment.

The downside is that you must make a significant investment, which will be tied up for at least 6 years. A point to be noted here is that bank accounts in Portugal are only guaranteed by the Deposit Guarantee Fund for deposits of up to EUR 100,000.

Contact us if you are interested in any of the above Golden Visa options.

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