So far, the announcement has only been made orally and in response to a journalist. was asked yesterday about New visa for digital nomads in Portugal After his speech at the Web Summit, the huge tech bloc in Europe that takes place every year in Lisbon, Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced that his government is considering putting an end to golden visas. “They may have already done their job and there is currently no justification for keeping them.”He confessed, Report it De Noticias Magazine.
These residence permits are granted to wealthy foreign investors who pledge to spend at least €500,000 to purchase a property, invest at least €1 million in the Portuguese economy or create ten jobs. This program, which allows them to move freely in Europe, was launched by Portugal in 2012 when the country was under financial leakage from the European Union and was looking for foreign capital.
Within a decade, Portugal seized 6.54 billion euros in exchange for more than 11,000 residence permits. According to part of the Portuguese political class, these investments, 90% in real estate, have contributed to the rise in house and apartment prices, especially in Lisbon and Porto, where golden visas have also been suspended.
‘Very bad idea’
Left Bloc deputy Mariana Mortagua immediately responded on Twitter and called on the head of government to match his words with actions by submitting this proposal to Parliament for a vote in the next state budget.
https://twitter.com/MRMortagua/status/1587782374003187713
If the Portuguese parties, from left to right, agree that this program should be re-evaluated, others demand the preservation of golden visas, such as Jose Manuel Diogo, president of the Portugal Brasil 200 anos association, in columns De Noticias Magazine This morning :
“What Portugal really needs is stable investors, not digital nomads […]. The thought of removing one of the policies that put Portugal at the center of international investment forums is a bad idea and must be refuted.”
Portugal is not the only country in Europe that issues these golden visas or passports. Last March, the European Parliament targeted Malta, Cyprus and Bulgaria, and several Russians were among the beneficiaries of these measures. The UK, for its part, ended its “golden visas” in February, which has been criticized since the start of the Ukraine crisis.
