The Portuguese government has just announced that changes to the Golden Visa programme have been approved. Such changes were passed on 22nd December at the Government meeting.
According to the statement from the Government, the changes are aimed at creating incentives for investment in low density areas, namely in urban renewal, cultural heritage, in activities of high social or environmental value, in the productive investment and job creation.
On the property investment category, the preferred route by the majority of investors so far, the Government has said that the limitations to investing in the areas of Lisbon and Porto will only start on July 1st 2021 and will be subject to a long period of transition that will spread even during the year of 2022.
According to the statement of the Minister Mariana Vieira da Silva, "there will be a transitional regime during the year of 2021 and the year of 2022 in which the value of the investments will be successively increased and reducing the possibility of application to the urban metropolitan areas, which will come into force on 1st July 2021"
The specific details on the changes that were just announced will only be known once the decree law is published in the official gazette. In any case, it is very clear now that the eventual changes will only come into effect in July 2021 and that the limitations on property investments in Lisbon and Porto will be subject to a transitional period after that.
In addition, it is also very important to note that the Portuguese government clearly takes into consideration the importance of foreign investors and sees the Golden Visa as a very important mechanism for capturing foreign investment.
