Tag Archives: Portugal Golden Visa

Citizenship - Portugal, Golden Visa, Investment

UPDATE: Now Accepted – OLD Alert: Open Investors process without documents is no longer accepted at Immigration Department

Update: We are now able to submit your biometric data at your first trip without any documentation ready. Please disregard the communication bellow.

We have been receiving investors in Portugal within the past 2 years that are coming without the full set of documents to present to Immigration Department. Due to the changes on internal procedures inside Immigration Department for the following period of time all Investors which decide to travel to Portugal to submit their finger prints and their biometric data need to have their documentation required.

Due to this changes, we are now requesting all Investors to collect their Police Clearance Report duly stamped by Portugal Embassy of their document issuing country before traveling to Portugal. In case you are bringing your family please also collect their Police Clearance Report, Marriage Certificate or Birth Certificate in order to be able to start the process (all documents need to be duly stamped at Portugal Embassy).

Since the demand of the program is increasing quickly it is now requested that Investors advise their travel intentions 4 weeks before their traveling date in order to assure a visit to Immigration Department. In case you are planing to fly in a much shorter period than the one announced here, please contact us in order to identify the risks and possible solutions.

For those who intent to travel without the documents, please be aware that after your investment is completed and your process is been approved you will need to travel to Portugal to submit your biometric data in order to be able to receive your residence permit card.

The Golden Visa Immigration procedures are being revised, for the time being those are the current rules, once the system has been updated we will inform you.

Police Clearance Golden Visa - Investors Visa Portugal

Fb-Button
Standard
Citizenship - Portugal, Golden Visa

What is the advantage of having Golden Visa or Investors Visa ?

Portugal Citizenship by Investment Golden Visa Passport and Residency Permit

 

In reward of the investment done in Portugal there are several benefits which you can start to enjoy when you get a Golden Visa or an Investors Visa as usually called:

1 – Get in and out of Schengen Space without the need of a Schengen Visa;

2 – Work and live in Schengen Area including Portugal;

3 – Move freely within Schengen Area without needing an authorization;

4 – Enjoy the benefit of family reunification and extend the benefits to all direct family members;

5 – Being able to get Permanent Residency after 5 years (Under current legislation)

6 – Request Portuguese Nationality / Citizenship after 6 years (Under current legislation)

Those are the main benefits all investors get once applying for Golden Visa or Investors Visa in Portugal.

Does not matter if you plan to live or not in Portugal in full term basis since the requirement only asks for 7 days in 1st year and 14 days every 2 years of permanency in Portugal. For some investors the main motivation are to be able to get Citizenship after the 6 years period and for others is more about getting the opportunity to travel within Europe (Schengen Area) in a easier and faster way without any restrictions on time or number of times.

Playing safe for your future or your family future can also be one of the main motivations for most of investors. Some areas of the globe are more unstable and require more attention since they easy become a war territory. Moving your family from one day to another to a safe place requires lots of authorizations which in a period of chaos become quite difficult to  obtain.

From our side what we can tell you is that Portugal is a very safe place, education is fairly very good and there is lots of space to accommodate more people in this paradise on earth.  You are welcome to become one of us.

Fb-Button
Standard
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.

 

Fb-Button
Standard
Citizenship - Portugal, Golden Visa

Golden Visa Portugal – What kind of taxes will investors will be required to pay?

We would like to distinguish a difference between residence permit and resident. All investors that apply for Golden Visa and get their authorization cards, they have been granted with Residence Permit. However in Portugal to be considered a Resident you need to stay over 183 days per year for tax purposes. That means if you get your investor visa and do not want to reside in Portugal you still able to get your citizenship after 6 years at the same time you are not subject to global earnings taxation.

Investors who do not live in Portugal over 183 days per year will be entitled to pay taxes for the earnings made in Portugal. Earnings made abroad do not need to be subject to any income tax. If you do live in Portugal over 183 days per year you need to pay your taxes as any regular Portuguese citizen. Your income tax will respect the IRS table which has a different tax level according to your earnings. As a resident your global earning need to be declared and subject to income tax in Portugal.

Income Tax Table 2013

Under 7.000 Euro / year : 14.5%

Between 7.000 Euro and 20.000 Euro: 28.5%

Between 40.000 Euro and 80.000 Euro: 37%

Over 80.000 Euro: 48%

Additionally you should consider an extra 3.5% Income Tax for all Levels as an Emergency Tax called by the Government to help reduce the public debt. If your income is over 250.000 Euro there is still an extra tax between 2.5%-5% on top of the 3.5%.

 

 

Fb-Button
Standard