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Portugal.

How Portugal sells residence for investors (golden visa): 1 residence programme, open today. Every number and rule below links to the document it comes from.

Residence ↓
1
residence programme
747
numbers
162
prices and rules
33
events

67 documents and articles behind this page, listed at the bottom.

Residence

Sells the right to live in the country (a “golden visa”), sometimes leading to citizenship later. Portugal: 1 residence programme, open today; 747 numbers, 162 prices and rules. Every country's residence programmes

All the numbers, sources and downloads for Portugal in the data portal →

Golden visaResidence

Can lead to citizenship: after 6 years of legal residence until 2018, 5 years from July 2018, and 10 years from 19 May 2026 (7 for EU nationals and Portuguese-speaking countries).

Status
Lowest price for one person
Applications received
Investors approved, not counting family members
Investment by programme investors
Top nationalities
Last change
Residence·Open·since 2012

Golden visa

Sells the right to live in the country (a “golden visa”), sometimes leading to citizenship later.

Path to citizenship. Can lead to citizenship: after 6 years of legal residence until 2018, 5 years from July 2018, and 10 years from 19 May 2026 (7 for EU nationals and Portuguese-speaking countries). (from the research notes below)

Official name: Portugal Golden Visa (Autorização de Residência para Atividade de Investimento, ARI)

Lowest price for one person: €500,000

Main route today: EUR 500,000 in units of non-real-estate Portuguese investment funds (Law 56/2023, from 7 Oct 2023), the route most applicants now use since real estate and capital transfer were removed. Research and job-creating company routes are also EUR 500,000 (t-d3f6b6811b, t-5ccea19610). The cheapest money route is EUR 250,000 for arts production or cultural heritage (t-0963153d54), up to 20% less in low-density areas; it is a niche donation route, so it is not used as the headline (same choice as Greece, where the EUR 250,000 conversion/listed-building routes are niche). Permit fees (EUR 8,418.90 in 2026) excluded.

Notes from the research

Residence permit for investment under art. 90-A of the Foreigners Act (Law 23/2007), created by Law 29/2012. Temporary permit (now two years, renewable for two-year periods) without a residence visa; minimum stay 7 days in the first year and 14 days in each later two-year period; family reunification. Routes over time: capital transfer (EUR 1m, then EUR 1.5m), job creation (30, then 10 jobs), real estate (EUR 500k), rehabilitation property (EUR 350k), research (EUR 350k, then 500k), culture (EUR 250k), funds (EUR 500k/350k/500k) and company capital with jobs (EUR 350k, then 500k). Residential property limited to the interior and islands from 2022; real estate and capital transfer closed to new applications by Law 56/2023 (Mais Habitação) from 7 Oct 2023. Run by SEF until 28 Oct 2023, then AIMA. Path to citizenship: naturalisation after 6 years of legal residence (2012-2018), 5 years (from 6 Jul 2018; from 1 Apr 2024 counted from the permit application), and from 19 May 2026 10 years (7 for CPLP/EU nationals), with pending applications kept under the old law. 12,718 investor permits and 20,424 family permits were granted under SEF (Oct 2012-Sep 2023), with EUR 7.32bn of reported investment.

Investors approved, not counting family members, per year
01k2k3k2012201420162018202020222024

The line follows the official figure for each period; faint dots are other sources and earlier versions; a ring marks a period where official sources disagree by more than 2%.

Golden visas issued, per year
05001k1.5k20142016201820202022

The line follows the official figure for each period.

Applications turned down, per year
024620132014

The line follows the official figure for each period.

Who buys

Investors approved, not counting family members, by nationality, per year
The 6 largest nationalities in recent years; 8 more are in the data but not drawn, so a bar is not a total. Each piece is one published number: click it for its source.
01k2k3k201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025
United StatesChinaUnited KingdomIndiaBrazilRussia Official total, all groups

How they invest

Investors approved, not counting family members, by way of investing, per year
The 7 largest routes in recent years; 1 more is in the data but not drawn, so a bar is not a total. Each piece is one published number: click it for its source.
05001k1.5k2k201420152016201720182019202020212022
Real estateReal estate rehabilitationInvestment fundCapital transferBusinessCultureEmployment Official total, all groups

How they invest

Investment by programme investors, by way of investing, per year (euros)
Every group in the data is drawn. Each piece is one published number: click it for its source.
€0€250m€500m€750m€1bn2016201720182019202020212022
Real estateReal estate rehabilitationInvestment fundCapital transferBusinessCultureResearch Official total, all groups

Prices and rules

Ways in that apply today (minimum amounts)
Fees today

What is measured

  • Investors approved, not counting family members406
  • Investment by programme investors188
  • Dependants approved35
  • Golden visas issued33
  • Applications received21
  • CBI fees collected by the programme unit17
  • Applicant share12
  • Programme activity (measure not defined by the source)5
  • Applications turned down4
  • Staff working on a programme4
  • Programme grants as a share of all grants of the same status3
  • Application appointments2
  • and 12 more; see Explore below.
Gaps

What we know is missing

  • The latest yearly figures are several years old: applications (2013), money raised (2022).

A gap means no figure is in our data: either it was never published or we haven't found or read it yet. Charts leave gaps open rather than drawing across them.

Explore

All the numbers we have for Portugal

747 numbers about Portugal's residence programmes. Pick a programme and what you want to see. Each dot is one number from one document; click anything to open its source.

Timeline

What happened, and when

Sources

The 67 documents behind this page

The stories behind the numbers

Who buys passports and golden visas, what they cost, and what happens when governments change the rules. Written from this data, in the newsletter.

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