Portugal Golden Visa program: webinar transcript

 

Introduction

Welcome to this webinar, “Portugal’s Golden Visa: everything that you need to know”. My name is Jonathan and I’ll be your host for today. I’ll explain a little bit about who I am and who we are when we get started. Today I’m joined by my colleague Alex who is here to help coordinate the session. Good morning Alex!

Good morning everyone, I’m Alex. I’ll be in the background while Jonathan walks us through today’s presentation. I’m here to help if you have any technical issues or if you have any further questions. There should be a box provided, so if you need anything just drop me a message in there. That’s all from me so back to you Jonathan, let’s get started.

Perfect, thanks Alex. You’re quite right so without any further ado let’s dive into today’s session because we have quite a lot to get through today. We’ll get started with the basic background, so introducing myself for those who don’t know me or haven’t met me yet, the company that I represent (that’s Holborn Assets) and how we work. We’ll then and answer some basic questions; firstly, why so why get a European passport and why Portugal is widely considered the best route to this in 2022. Then we will ask how can we get into Portugal and this is where we’ll explore the variety of visa options that are available, not just the Golden Visa, and then we’ll look to understand whether the Golden Visa is indeed right for you or whether you should be looking at another visa instead. Then, finally, what is the Golden Visa, what are the criteria to qualify and what do the process and timelines actually look like in practice. We’ll then look at some specific investment options which are exclusive to my team and then we’ll discuss how to go about selecting the best investment for you. We’ll then wrap up with some Q&A so, as Alex just mentioned, if you do have any questions please do use the question box provided and we’ll come to them at the end of the presentation. All in all, the session should take between 45 minutes to an hour of your time today and that’s what lies in store.

 

About Holborn Assets

A quick word on Holborn Assets to get started. We’re a leading financial planning and investment management firm. We position ourselves as the financial services group of choice and our aim is to ensure that we put the right money in the right place at the right time. What does that actually mean? Well essentially that means working with you to ensure that we can meet your international financial goals. This means securing a visa for you and getting you the right return on any investment. Away from Golden Visas we also specialize in pensions, financial investments and property investments, specializing in clients in the offshore market. Our core market our expats just like you either are already or are going to be in the future. You may not have heard of us but we are actually one of the largest financial advisories operating in the international space we serve over 20,000 clients now across more than 100 different countries and we manage just under $3 billion of client assets. As regards the Portuguese Golden Visa program, we are extremely proud of our 100% success rate here and we’ve helped roughly 1,000 people now get residency in Portugal through this channel. As a client-centric business we are regulated in our various markets of operation – that includes via the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK and also in the EU via our European head office which is actually based in Cyprus. We’re multi-award winners, as you can see on the screen, and we’re also extremely proud of our 4.8 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot which puts us firmly at the forefront of the financial services market.

About Jonathan Ralph

My name’s Jonathan as you know I’m a Senior Associate here at the company. I’m a fully qualified and licensed financial advisor to expats around the world. I’ve been an expat for the best part of a decade now, however, I qualified back in the UK. I focus on investments within a regulated environment. I’m also a residency by investment specialist and have helped families all over the world to secure their European passports… from Alaska to Beijing, from Oxford to Toronto, all places great and small.

 

Why get a European Passport?

That’s the boring bit out of the way. So then, why should you want a European passport? The value here is the freedom that it gives you. Once you have your passport you can live, retire, work, study or open a business in any one of the European Union member states. It doesn’t matter which country gives you the passport, Portugal or elsewhere, as long as it’s an EU passport you can go where you please. You can also use your new passport to travel visa-free to 185 countries around the world. Let’s answer the question “why Portugal?” which of course is why we’re all here today.

 

What Golden Visa Program? Why Portugal?

This slide shows the most popular Golden Visa programs that are available through us here at Holborn Assets. There are more but these are the major ones however there is one program that really stands out. It is the go-to for most non-Europeans looking to acquire an EU passport, and that is Portugal – no surprises there. Why Portugal? Two reasons: number one, it’s one of the cheapest programs that exist, as qualifying investments in the real estate space start at just €280,000. In comparison, Spain is almost double this at €500,000. The second reason and, I would contend, the main reason to choose the Golden Visa is the physical stay requirement. Whereas other countries will require you to become a tax resident and live there full-time, if your aim is citizenship Portugal does not. In fact, you only have to visit for an average of one week per year to qualify for full Portuguese citizenship and the EU passport. That’s after just five years, so if you do take the decision to buy property in Portugal that qualifies the Golden Visa you can carry on living wherever you are now and after five years you can obtain EU passports for the whole family. The only other condition is that you learn a basic level of Portuguese before getting your new passport to show your ties to Portugal. So the question for you then is: do you think that you could spend one week per year in Portugal for the next five years and also learn some basic Portuguese in that time? I’m guessing the answer is yes, otherwise I doubt that you’d be here on the session today.

 

Which Portuguese Visa?

So that’s why Portugal covered. Now let’s look at the how. There are six primary visa routes if you’d like to come to Portugal. If you would like to go into any further detail either drop a question in the question box or we’ll have a follow-up chat after the session, but for today’s session we’re going to ignore the working visa. I’m assuming no one is on this session because they need a work permit. If this is you, then you should probably speak to your prospective employer about this rather than us. However, you can see the remaining five on the screen here. We’ve put the Golden visa to one side and the others are:

• the startup visa: this is where you commit to starting a business and you have a business plan approved
• the family reunification visa: where you’ll be married to a Portuguese resident or are their dependent
• the passive income visa (D7): this requires just over just over €8,000 in annual passive income, such as a pension, outside Portugal.
• the new digital nomad visa: details are still emerging as this is a very recent development, but this requires you to earn more than €33,000 per year from a non-Portuguese source and is valid for one year. Like I say, details still emerging on that one.

 

What is the key distinction between these four and the Portugal Golden Visa program? The Golden Visa is the only visa that gives you a clear route to citizenship without committing to living in Portugal full-time during the five-year qualification period. It’s important that you know that the fees involved with the Golden Visa are higher than the other visa types and you do need to tie up at least €280,000 for at least five years but it is the only visa route that gives you citizenship and allows you to keep your current tax residency (outside Portugal) and it’s the only one that gives you the flexibility to leave Portugal to live elsewhere during the five years of qualification for citizenship. Also, if done right, it can deliver a decent profit on the funds that you invest. This is one area where my team and I feel we excel.

Is the Portugal Golden Visa program right for you? Well, if you want to move to Portugal right now and you can commit to staying there for at least the next five years then to be honest the Golden Visa is probably not for you. You may as well look at the cheaper alternatives where you don’t need to tie up capital to qualify. The D7 is what most people choose here, so I would probably suggest that you take a look at this in the first instance. That said, if you can’t commit to becoming a Portuguese tax resident, and that means spending six to eight months here per year, then the Golden Visa is most likely the one for you. You might even have zero intention of ever moving to Portugal at all and just want the easiest and cheapest way to get a European passport and all the benefits that that brings, allowing you to go anywhere you want in Europe in the future, in which case the Golden Visa is also for you. Again, if you have any questions on your personal situation, or if any of this isn’t clear, just pop a question in the box that’s on your screen.

 

Portugal Golden Visa Program: Case Studies

A couple of case studies now. I think this might be interesting just to see some context. Firstly, Mr and Mrs C: these are clients of mine based in China. They wanted to give their daughter access to European education and they actually planned to move to Portugal when their work situation allows However, he is a powerful CEO deeply connected politically so leaving China not an option for the next few years. She has a similar problem as well as a director in a multinational. However, they do want to get the clock ticking on a second citizenship that gives them flexibility for the future, so we invested in the Portuguese Golden Visa program together so that they can provide that flexibility for their daughter’s future and also give themselves the right to come and live in Portugal. We actually gave them an investment that delivered a very interesting level of profit so they are very happy with that particular arrangement.

Another case study which might be of interest is Mr & Mrs G from Oxfordshire in the UK. They were upset at the UK’s decision to pursue Brexit, which had wrecked their dream of moving to France and raising their newborn baby girl there. Fortunately ,Mr and Mrs G love to travel and so we pursued a Golden Visa together that has allowed them to split their time between Portugal and the other states in the Mediterranean, living on a boat going where the tides take them. Their investment option also paid them a return of 25% up front, so they are very happy with the solution that we built for them. They haven’t yet got their passports yet, but they’ll be heading straight to France as soon as they do. Portugal is the conduit that allows them to do that.

 

Background to the Portugal Golden Visa Program

Focusing in on the Portuguese Golden Visa scheme in that case. It was launched in 2012 and has proven extremely popular as it is the most accessible route to a European passport. You can include the whole family but you must have a clean criminal record. You’ll be interested to know that my team here has managed a thousand cases on behalf of various people looking to get residency in Portugal, so if you work with us you are working with an expert and a tried and trusted market leader.

There are several investment routes to take. Property is by far the most attractive, so this will be the focus of the rest of today’s session, but before we do that let’s look at all the Golden Visa routes. This session is called “everything you need to know” so let’s give you the full picture first. There are five main investment routes to choose from.

The first is transferring at least one million euros in cash into a Portuguese bank account – which I personally wouldn’t recommend with inflation hovering around nine-to-ten percent at the moment, so there’s lots more that we could and probably should be doing with that cash instead.

Secondly, investing half a million euros into Portuguese funds – essentially Portuguese businesses – that’s another route to the Golden Visa, however, as with any funds this can be volatile and with no guarantee on your investment returns.

Real estate is the third option here, and that starts at just €280,000 Euros as we’ve already discussed – this is by far the most flexible and popular route.

There are also routes to the visa via a donation to culture and the arts in Portugal, that starts at €250,000. I say donation here because investing in the arts almost never generates a return You may see it labelled as an investment elsewhere, but for all intents and purposes it is pretty much a donation in most cases.

The final route is by creating at least eight jobs in Portugal. It’s actually ten jobs across most of the country but eight jobs if you create them in a low density area.

I’ve mentioned on a couple of occasions that real estate is the most attractive, at least in our opinion, so why is that the case? Simply because it offers a lot more flexibility versus the other routes. With the right partner, with the right investment, you can have yields paid to you upfront for a relatively low investment amount versus the other investment routes that are available. You’ll also have a place to stay for free when you need to come to Portugal to meet the ongoing residency requirements and a built-in exit strategy via a guaranteed buyback once your passports have been obtained.

 

Focus on: Real Estate

Diving a little deeper into real estate then. You may be aware that since the start of 2022 there have been restrictions on where we can invest for a Golden Visa. The orange areas on the map that’s on your screen here are typically the most desirable areas of Portugal – we’re talking about Lisbon, Porto, parts of the Algarve… as of this year, residential real estate in these areas no longer qualifies for the Portugal Golden Visa program. The other areas of Portugal – the areas you see in grey here on this map – are just nowhere near as attractive for investors so it no longer makes sense for me my team to offer options in the residential real estate space in Portugal. If you’re buying a place to live you’re probably looking at a D7 Visa anyway, as we discussed earlier, but if you’re buying an investment in Portugal it doesn’t make much sense to actually look in these grey zones. However, commercial real estate in these orange areas still qualifies and that’s important.

Commercial real estate could be shops, offices or hotels. Apartment hotels are the closest thing to residential real estate and they make for some really attractive and flexible investment cases, so here at Holborn Assets this is now our primary focus when it comes to the Portugal Golden Visa program. The threshold for qualifying Investments does vary according to region and property type. As you can see, there are four types of qualifying property: newbuilds, newbuilds in low density areas, such as parts of the Algarve, refurbishment projects on buildings that are at least 30 years old, and refurbishment projects in a low-density area. You can see the minimum investment thresholds there on the screen. We specialize in finding the best investments across all four of these categories and have exclusive options at each of these levels.

Generally, the more you are able to invest, the greater the return on the investment. I would urge you not to simply jump straight to the €280,000 level. I say this simply because there is a lot of demand at the €280,000 entry point, far outweighing supply. The supply is very low at this at this level, so the yields that are offered by developers are quite low here. If you invest a little bit more you’ll typically be rewarded for that; as the demand gets a little bit lower the supply gets a little bit higher resulting in higher returns, so I would urge you to please keep an open mind. When selecting the right investment for you, don’t fixate on getting as close to the €280,000 minimum level as you can. Many people make this mistake and they actually miss out on far more profitable Investments if they’d only invested just a few thousand more. We’ll be running through some examples of good investments in just a few minutes, but that’s a top tip to take forward.

 

Timeline and Process

This slide has been simplified a little bit to make it quite easy to understand, but we don’t need to go into any more detail at this stage. This is essentially the process for you to obtain your Golden Visa residence permit. The whole thing takes around 12 months and, as you can see, we do most of this from the comfort of your own home. This includes the kick-off, which is where we sign client agreements, establish your administrative presence in Portugal (that means getting your NIFs and opening your bank account), and setting up a power of attorney as well with our lawyers so they can purchase the property for you without you needing to come to Portugal. We’ll then ask you to send the funds to your Portuguese bank account, once that’s all been set up and validated, so we can complete the property purchase. Once that’s all done we’ll submit your Golden visa application online to the authorities for approval. This is a key milestone because, once your application has been given pre-approval after two to three months, you are in the system and then it’s just a matter of time before we have everything sorted and get your cards issued. To do this, we’ll invite you to physically come over to Portugal for the biometric appointment. This is the first and only time in the entire process that we actually need you to be physically present in Portugal. Once that’s done, we’ll take care of the rest. Once cards have been printed issued we’ll have them sent out to your home address.

 

Pathway to EU Citizenship

What does the process to citizenship actually look like? It’s a five-year roadmap, and it’s fairly simple. Once we’ve got the Golden Visa issued, the clock is ticking on those five years. The Golden Visa residence permit is valid for a two-year period, after which the Golden Visa needs to be renewed for a further two years providing that the requirements have been met. That means you need to retain the asset that was originally held to grant you the Golden Visa. After another two years (so a total of four years at this point) we need to renew the Golden Visa again, and same criteria apply. You need to make sure that you meet the ongoing requirements and then after a further year (that takes us to a total of five years) you are now eligible to begin applying for citizenship and the EU passport.

 

Investment Options for the Portugal Golden Visa Program

Please refer to the video itself to understand some example investment options. Please bear in mind that available investments and the conditions available are subject to change, so you would be best served speaking to an expert to understand the best route for your circumstances and objectives.

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