Portugal amends “golden visa” project

     The Portuguese government has decided to review the conditions for issuing “golden visas”, Forbes reports. Authorities announced the abolition of tax benefits for foreign pensioners. The Socialist Party proposed to stop issuing a residence permit in return of investment in land within developed cities. Antonio Costa, the Prime Minister, said that the project of “golden visas” should be sent to regions that really need support. He also said that large cities like Lisbon or Porto don’t need financial support.

     Since 2012, the Portuguese authorities launched a project to obtain “golden visas” in exchange for non-residents’ investments in real estate worth more than five hundred thousand euros. In addition, under the terms of the project, investors must spend in the country from one week in the first year after receiving the documents and two weeks thereafter.

     Since 2009, a bill has been in force in Portugal, according to which non-resident pensioners of the state are exempted from income tax for the next ten years, provided that they live in the state for at least six months. Antonio Costa suggested that they pay a tax of ten percent of all income.

     Based on data from a report published in 2018, Transparency International and Global Witness, countries of the European Union over the past ten years have issued six thousand passports and one hundred thousand residence permits. Portugal took first place for the amount of “golden visas”, the country earned about €670 million per year thanks to the project. It is one of the few countries that does not take into account the sources of invested funds.