Citizenship - Portugal, Golden Visa, Investment

How to Renew my Investors Visa or Golden Visa ?

Hot to Renew your Golden Visa

At the time of renewal, what do you need to present to be able to renew your Investors Visa or Golden Visa ?

To be able to renew your residence permit and continue on your Investors Visa program, you are required to get the following conditions:

1- Show a document that proves the required investment

2 – Show a declaration of no debt from Tax Department and Social Security Department

3 – Show a valid health insurance if you do not have Social Security contributions

4 – Show documents that support the fact that you have spent over 7 days in 1^st year in Portugal or in case of 2^nd renewal 14 days from past 2 years. This can be with one visit or several visits. (Hotel bills, flight tickets, etc.)

5 – Show a valid declaration that you will fulfill the remaining requirements for the next period of renewal in Portuguese territory (14 days stay over next 2 years).

If the investment is capital and over 1.000.000 euro, which documents are requested to be presented for renewal?

1 – Declaration of Finantial Institution autorized in National Territory to show that average trimester balance in bank account is over 1.000.000 Euro. In case the investment are stocks from stock market with a current value, if the value is under 1.000.000 Euro it can be used to renew your visa, if the same number of stocks from same companies are kept as the initial investment over 1.000.000 Euro.

If the investment is a company created with over 10 permanent employees which documents are requested for renewal?

1 – Updated declaration from Social Security to confirm that you have kept at least 10 permanent employees during the full period.

If the investment is in Real Estate what do you need to show to renew your Residence Permit?

1 – Property Registry Certification confirming that properties declared as investment are still in Investors name.

The process of renewing your investors visa becomes pretty easy to obtain as long as all the documents are presented. To fulfill all the requirements is advised to check clearly all the papers before submitting the application in order to avoid big troubles. An interruption of Investors Visa might put in risk the possibility of getting citizenship in 6 years.

It is very important that you keep the records from your trips to Portugal and respect all the time frame requirements for Visa renewal. Any doubts we strongly suggest you check our ebook at www.portugalinvestorvisa.com

Citizenship - Portugal, Golden Visa

Who can join Investors Visa application? How does family reunification process works?

Several of our clients have doubts about the possibility of including their family members into their Investors Visa. To make it easier to understand we have stated the regulations as they are presented, not excluding any other option which might be approved under special circumstances. If you have any doubt we will be happy to clarify for you.

As a holder of an Investor Visa , which family members can benefit within same application ?

The Family members which can apply together with Investor for Residence Permit :

1 – Spouse

2 – Minors Kids (sons or / and daughters) or disabled / dependent persons under family responsability;

3 – Minors adopted by the applicant;

4 – Cohabiting Partner duly established under the law – minor kids or disabled kids of the partner ;

When should the application for family reunification be processed?

The application for family reunification can be made after the Investor have been granted a valid residence permit or at a later stage. It depends on investors convenience to decide if he applies together with the family or adds the family at a later stage.

How much it is required to pay for residence permit under Investor Visa ?

The investor once has your application approved will have to pay the sum of € 5,137.50 per each person joining his application and a fee of € 2,568.75 per person for each renewal.

Please note that before paying the full government fee, each investor is requested to pay for a analysis fee and only after application approved, the government fees will be required to be paid. The same applies for every family member which is joining investors application.

Citizenship - Portugal, Investment

How to get citizenship by investment with 1.000.000 Euro

Citizenship by Investment – Investing over 1.000.000 Euro

The Law in Portugal opens the possibility for foreign investors to apply for residence permit by an investment which allows a regular entry into Schengen territory without restrictions (Portugal and other European Countries). All investors who hold residence permits in Portugal are entitled to family reunification and are eligible to request citizenship after 6 consecutive years of valid residence permit. This form of investment , can be considered if capital transfer is executed to a Portuguese Bank with an amount equal or greater than 1 million Euro. The investment can be in stocks, shares, bond or even just time deposit or current deposit. Is it a problem to renew the investor visa if an Investor buys shares of a company and after with depreciation the value falls under 1.000.000 Euro ? The answer is no. If the investor purchased shares in value of 1.000.000 Euro and at the time of visa renewal did not sell or exchange the original investment, the document of original purchase and the certified statement from the bank to show investment is kept as original purchase, will be able to renew the visa, even if the market value falls under 1.000.000 Euro.

Citizenship - Portugal, Golden Visa, Investment, Real Estate - Portugal

Portuguese Government expects to collect over 500 million euro investment in Portugal for 2014 – Investor Visa

Vice-Prime Minister of Portugal announced yesterday that he expects to collect over 500 million euro investment for Portugal with Investors Visa in 2014. After a total collection of 306 million euro in 2013, Paulo Portas expects to be able to collect over 500 million which represents an increase of over 60% for 2014.

Investors Visa Program is surpassing the expectations and according to Paulo Portas words, it is a credible and sustainable way to get foreign investment in Portugal and overall results are very positive. This Program is today one of the most important instruments to help Portuguese economy to recover from global crisis.

Investment in Portugal to surpass 500 million euro in 2014 with Investors Visa

Real Estate Industry has been seen an unexpected recovery with this program which can account with a volume increase of 40% in 2013 for number of transactions processed through this program. Till the end of December 2013 have been accounted a total of 471 Golden Visas | Investor Visas.

This is a clear message of how important this program is for Portuguese Government and how much efforts are being put into this resource of foreign investment.

Real Estate prices are already overseeing an increase due to all positive factors that are surrounding Portuguese economy. Great expectations are still open for the period after IMF intervention in Portugal.

Golden Visa

Investor Visa Portugal : I have 3 wifes can I join all my wife and children into my application?

Many countries allow marriage between a man and several women. In those cases investors usually ask us how they will manage to insert all their wifes together with their children into their investor visa application. In fact by Portuguese law there is possibility to recognize only one wife, so looking into this perspective there is no possibility to add into their application all the wifes as spouses. As for the children, as long as all of them have the investor name in their birth certificate, you will be able to directly join all kids even if they are from different wifes.

In resume, all children will be able to join the program, for the wife position you will need to select one. To solve the problem of having several wifes out of this application you can always make them an investor themselves and make a separate application for them.

The application for this visa does not discriminate any national from any country or by race or religion. All nationals, all races and all religions are welcome to join the program and become a residence permit investor.

So far there is also no restriction in the amount of applications approved by month or year. It becomes a very straight forward process, if you invest within the requirements and present the correct paperwork, you will be granted with a golden visa and become a Portugal Investor Visa member.

Investment, Real Estate - Portugal

Real Estate Portugal : Long Term Rentals vs Real Estate Purchase

Real Estate Lisbon - Investment for Golden Visa

Lisbon 25th of April Bridge – Architect Eiffel

It was published today a study that says the amount of Portuguese persons looking for a long term rental is the same as the amount of Portuguese looking to buy their own home. Usually by tradition the demand for home purchase have been always higher then the demand for long term rentals. This is good news for current Property Owners who are looking for to find a tenant for their investments.

According to the study from APEMIP (Associattion for Real Estate Professionals in Portugal) 44% of Property owners take 1-3 month to find a tenant for their properties and 39% from 4-6 month. Remaining 17% take over 6 month to find a proper tenant for their properties.

In regards to demand on rentals, 44,6% Real Estate Professionals claim that demand for rentals increased, 33,9% maintained and 19,6% that decreased the demand in the past month. In general looking at the numbers the current trend is to see a higher number of customers for long term rentals.

For those investors who want to maximize the most the return of their investments by rentals, it is clearly noted that demand for rentals is increasing and the amount of time required to find a tenant is also getting shorter.

Citizenship - Portugal, Golden Visa

Investor Visa – Can my adult kid already married join the program with Investor ?

Family reunion for Investor Visa in Portugal allows you to join direct dependents in your application. Direct dependents mean all persons which survive depending on your earning and are directly related to you. All daughters, sons, parents or other related family member only when they depend on you can join the application together.

By normal understanding all kids under 18 years old are direct dependents from parents, once they complete 18 years old unless stated or proof of studying can not be considered for this application. In case your kids have already over 18 years old and are married, its a normal understanding that they have created their own family, therefore they are not direct dependents anymore, even if they still depend on investors money.

The solution for an adult kid already married to be able to join this program is to be himself an investor and get all the benefits from early beginning. In case that can not be considered a solution, it is also a good understanding that all investors visa applicants which apply for citizenship after 6 years will grant the possibility for 2 generations to claim citizenship. Meaning is, when an investor becomes Portuguese citizen, sons or grandsons will be able to request Portuguese citizenship also whenever they want.

Golden Visa, Investment, Real Estate - Portugal

Portugal Golden Visa : How to invest in a Vineyard in Portugal with 500.000 Euro ?

If you are a Wine lover and always had a dream of owning your own vineyard and cultivate grapes, investing in a Portuguese vineyard might be the investment you were looking for. In Portugal most of wine production comes out of boutique wine labels and is known for extremely good quality even though market price for wine in Portugal is still very affordable.

With the expertise on wine lasting for several generations, in Portugal is still easy to purchase a vineyard that with a little bit of marketing and export sales, can generate a good return on investment, able to grow at a much faster speed than global economy.

The question is whether you are able to invest 500.000 Euro in a vineyard and still be able to apply for Residence Permit / Citizenship with that investment? The answer is pretty simple, yes you can but most of vineyards business is allocated to a company and not exactly just a piece of property. In order to be able to be granted residence permit with your investment in a Portugal vineyard you need to choose between one of the following options:

Option 1)

Purchase real estate of the vineyard in a value of 500.000 Euro or bigger to your personal name and then purchase the shares / stocks of the vineyard separately. This way you will be able to apply for Residence Permit in Portugal for the fact that you have invested over 500.000 Euro in Real Estate and you still will own the vineyard business in a separate way.

Option 2)

You purchase the shares of the vineyard for the total value over 1 million euro instead of 500.000 Euro, since you are making a capital investment instead of real estate acquisition. Even if the company you are purchasing is itself owner of real estate in total value over 500.000 Euro. Please note that all capital transactions under 1.000.000 Euro will not be able to be considered for Residence Permit application.

It is also common that most of vineyards in good conditions in Portugal will have an asking price over 1.000.000 Euro and this can also make your business easier. Just be aware that when you acquire a company you are also assuming the full debts of the business and therefore is strongly advised that you perform a good due diligence to all company activities.

Vineyards in Portugal is a protected business since its required to have license to explore vineyards, buying a company that holds a license is definitely your best way. For checking opportunities on Portuguese vineyards please email us with your investment budget.

Golden Visa, Investment, Real Estate - Portugal

Golden Visa Real Estate : Short Term Rentals vs Long Term Rentals

When choosing Real Estate as the selected option for Golden Visa application, investors usually tend to choose their real estate options according to the return on investment rate of rentals business. By getting a return of 4% on Long term rentals I would say is a pretty much average investments in terms of Business. Specially if you consider that you can still have your property appreciated on price at a rate higher than 10% a year for Luxury / High Standard Level Quality apartments.

If your property has a planned return on investment over 4% for Portugal economy I would say your rentals business is a very good deal. Luxury properties pay usually 1-3% of Return on Investment in terms of rentals.

When investment option of Real Estate is to optimize the rental income, I often request my customers to define if they prefer to do Short Term Rentals or Long Term Rentals.

Short Terms rentals are usually directed to tourists who come with short stays (average 4 nights) and enjoy the city life. This includes also short stay business trips where people often prefer the privacy, convenience and price of an apartment instead of an hotel room. Specially when they travel with friends on in a group.

Long Term rentals are usually defined as rentals for periods over 6 month and with a fix rental and property fully occupied.

Currently and after evaluating both solutions is clearly understood that Long term rentals business is facing higher risk than Short Term Rentals. Long term tenants usually are Portuguese and due to economy struggling in the past years, several of them are loosing their jobs and not able to keep affording rental price at the end of the month. Short term rentals is 90% tourists from stronger economies who are less affected by world crisis and manage to spend an affordable amount of money for their city experience trip.

How much should you expect in Short term rentals properties? If your property is extremely well located on the right spot for tourists you may expected returns of 7-12% with your rental income. Obviously their is bigger uncertainty since you are not very sure your apartment will have guests.

If you plan to do Short Rentals business in Portugal with your Golden Visa Real Estate Investment, please be aware that your property needs to be fully furnished and equipped, which also allows you to block the calendar dates when you need to come over to Portugal and enjoy your own space.

If Long terms Real Estate is your preferred investment type, properties are most of the time available empty, considering that tenants will be their own furniture. With our current economy stage, short rentals is often the best choice, not only because it has less risk but also because has the best return on investment.

Golden Visa, Real Estate - Portugal

Investor Visa – Which one is the best investment solution ?

To be able to obtain the Investor Visa for Portugal you can choose between 3 options of investment:

a) Invest in Real Estate over 500.000 Euro

b) Capital Investment over 1.000.000 Euro

c) Open a Company with more than 10 permanent employees.

Several investors query which one from this 3 types of investment is their best choice and the answer is quite simple. More than 90% of the 400 Investors that choose to apply for Investors Visa have chosen option a) Invest in Real Estate as their best option. The reason to explain this investment decision are:

1) Capital Investment in a Portuguese Bank like a long term deposit pays very low interest rate. Return on Investment is quite low or often associated to high risk investments. Their is currently no investment in Capital that can be a safe and highly profitable bet in long term analysis.

2) Open a company with more than 10 permanent employees is only a clear option when you really have the intention of having a company with more than 10 employees located in Portugal. If you are thinking about opening a company just to get the residence permit is clearly and most costly solution (time and money) than any other option.

Electing Real Estate as the preferred option between investors becomes quick to explain and analyze, even though real estate can be a quite complex investment depending on what you really plan to apply your money.

Portugal Investor Visa

Citizenship and Residence Permit by Investment – info@portugalinvestorvisa.com – Phone: +351 914976018 – Portugal

Author Archives: David Machado