Back on track! – The exponential growth of the Golden Visa Program in 2016

Recent numbers have been released regarding the Golden Visa programme (“ARI”). According to the official data made available by the Immigration Services, since the beginning of the program, which was launched in October 2012, the total investment exceeds € 2.2 bn. 

The year of 2016 has been marked by very significant changes in the time frames for processing and approving applications, as well in the tackling of the difficulties of 2015. This is now a very clear reality and the signs of improvements keep increasing.

Looking into the official numbers, it is easy to ascertain that just in the first half of year 821 applications for investors and 1212 applications for family members had been approved until the end of June. It should be noted that those numbers are already higher than the total amount of approvals granted in the whole year of 2015. 

According to recent statements made by the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Augusto Santos Silva “the values of the processed applications and of the permits granted are currently the highest in the existence of the programme”, also confirming the improvements in the processing of applications. 

The Minister also disclosed that the total investment during the first half of 2016 exceeds € 500 million, “in most cases associated with property investments”. 

The recent numbers are extremely positive and are a reflection of the massive improvements of this year and also of the clear priority given by the Portuguese Government to the Golden Visa programme.