NDR Senior Partner published by Nee Hao Magazine

NDR's Senior Partner Rosemary de Rougemont has just written an article for well known UK Chinese publication Nee Hao Magazine.  The article focuses on the Portuguese Golden Visa, which attracted serious interest from the magazine editors as being very relevant to their readers.

At a time when some usual migration destinations for investors are closing their doors or tightening their regulations, Portugal's Golden Visa programme is quickly becoming the prefered choice in Europe for international investors,  mainly due to its simplicity and sensible investment level.

The full article can be read here

CANADA PULLS THE RUG FROM UNDER MIGRATION INVESTORS - AN OPPORTUNITY FOR PORTUGAL

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced last week that their controversial investor scheme in existence since 1986 is to be scrapped. Under the scheme, would be migrants worth a minimum of C$1.6 million loaned the government C$800,000 interest free for a period of 5 years in exchange for a pathway to Canadian citizenship. The simplicity of the low cost, risk free scheme made it hugely popular among migration investors. But the Canadian migration scheme ran into trouble because it was seen to devalue Canadian permanent residence whilst being not sufficiently lucrative by comparison with other traditional countries such as the US and UK.

Quebec nevertheless retains its investor migration scheme but this has been capped at a modest 1750 applicants per year with a maximum of 1200 applications from any one country.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada said that the investor queue stood at 65,000 and 70% of the backlog, as of January was Chinese. These applicants will have their applications “eliminated” and their fees returned.  This, after having waited for a positive outcome for nearly two years since applications to the Canadian scheme was frozen in 2012.

So this is an opportunity for Portugal to solidify their Golden Visa Programme which was launched last year. The Portuguese Authorities have manifested their support and as yet less than 1000 residence visas have been issued as the Programme gets under way.

The Portuguese Programme is fast establishing itself as the European migration scheme of choice: the investment component is serious in a country where there is no oversupply of property and an established rental market – €500,000 or approximately C$40000 short of the Canadian requirement is all that is needed.  The conditions for the granting and renewal of visas are sensible and not onerous: no criminal record and 7 days’ annual stay.  Nor is the application process complicated or lengthy. In most cases a visa can be obtained in a period of three months.

And it should not be forgotten that the Golden visa remains Gold throughout the Schengen area. So disappointed would-be Canadian investor migrants would do well to look to Europe and more precisely to Portugal - the first European country to introduce an attractive workable migration scheme.

NDR was involved with the Golden Visa Programme from the outset and with its breath of experience in dealing with foreign high net worth private clients it is absolutely no surprise that twelve months on it is the lead firm in this area of work having represented more successful applicants than any other law firm in Portugal.

Rosemar de Rougemont - Senior Partner
r.derougemont@ndr.pt

Portuguese Golden Visa - Latest numbers

The most recent numbers regarding the Golden Visa program have just been provided by the Portuguese Immigration Services.  NDR was informed that over 600 Golden Visa permits have been approved and issued to foreign investors.  In addition, we were also informed that there were nearly 700 investor family members that have been approved, which creates a total of over 1300 people that are already benefiting from the Golden Visa program.

We at NDR are very pleased by these numbers as they clearly reflect that the program is a clear sucess and is quickly becoming one of the favourite residency programs for investors from around the world.

We are also very happy to report that NDR is the top legal firm within the Golden Visa program as we represented  a very relevant number successful Golden Visa approvals. Partners were delighted with this news, which reflects the hard work and dedication of the firm and its dedicated teams.

We believe that 2014 will continue to see a significant increase in the number foreign investors interested in the program, including new Chinese Immigration Agencies coming into the market as well increased interest from the Middle-East.

Francisco Barata Salgueiro

Partner

Foreign Investment 

NDR moves to new premises in Lisbon

NDR, the leading law firm in the Golden Visa program, is happy to inform that it has now completed the move to its new offices in Lisbon.  The new offices are located in the very close to the previous ones but in a brand new office building right in the Saldanha area.  The new address is:

Avenida Casal Ribeiro, No. 50, 6th floor

1000-093 Lisbon, Portugal

We invite all our clients and partners to visit our new offices, which are designed to better assist our clients and to continue the growth of the firm.

CHILDREN OVER 18 & THE GOLDEN VISA

The Golden Visa Program allows for the family members of investors to also obtain residency under the family reunion status. In short, family members that qualify are spouse, children under 18 and other dependant relatives.

One of the most frequent questions that arises is if it is possible for children over 18 years old to also qualify for family reunion. This matter has created some controversy and unfortunately inaccurate or misleading opinions and advice.

The General Immigration Law, states that children over 18 will qualify if they are dependant and study in Portugal. However, the Golden Visa Program is clearly an exceptional regime and the Immigration Services recognize the unique characteristics of this program, having the understanding that the studies are indeed a requirement but do not have to be necessarily in Portugal.

We at NDR are very clear about this subject and we base our opinion not only on the feedback that we receive from our contacts with the Immigration Services but more importantly, from our experience, having already obtained  for our clients residency approvals for children over 18. 

In light of the above, it is clear that children over 18 will qualify for family reunion provided that they are dependant and studying, regardless of the location of the studies. We believe that this clarification is very important as this is an important issue to many investors.

Please contact us for further details on this subject.

Francisco Barata Salgueiro
Foreign Investment Departmentfsalgueiro@ndr.pt

NDR at the Portuguese Property Show

THE PORTUGUESE PROPERTY SHOW - 14th - 16th JUNE 2013

Neville de Rougemont participated in the Portuguese Property Show at the Royal Horticultural Halls, in London, that took place from the 14^th until the 16^th of June 2013, with a stand.

 

Several partners from different offices were present in our stand, clarifying the general audience and explaining the firms’ services regarding real estate, investment and tourism. During the event, Rui Parente, a senior partner at NDR from the Lisbon office, had the opportunity to make a brief presentation regarding the new Investor Residency Permits ("Golden Visa" or "ARI" as it is commonly referred to) that was very well received by the audience and had a good feedback and follow up, with several persons returning to the speaker and to our stand, to ask more practical questions about the procedures and the services offered by our law firm.

 

Our lawyers are working with the new resident permit - "Golden Visa" or "ARI" -  since the publication of the latest legislation and we already have a significant amount of satisfied clients that have completed all the procedures and are now legal residents in Portugal, allowing them to travel freely throughout the Schengen area.

 

We believe that this kind of events is a great way for the firm to present itself to the general audience; it is also an opportunity to clarify people about their possibilities of investment and to promote Portugal in the United Kingdom.

 

Joao Cunha Vaz

Corporate Department

NDR guest speaker at 9th Annual Property Conference

NDR’s partner Rui Parente was a guest speaker at the recent 9th Annual Property Conference organized by the Portuguese Chamber – The Portuguese UK Business Network.    The conference was held under the title “Investing in Portuguese Property – the time is now” and took place June 13^th at the Intercontinental Hotel in Westminster, London.

 

The conference focused on several topics related to the Portuguese property market, namely its current challenges and business strategies.  Making use of the firm’s vast experience in property and foreign investment, NDR’s partner Rui Parente provided his views on the current status of the property market and also on the potential benefits that could come from strategic alliances with the air travel industry.

 

Overall, we considered that this was a very successful event, which gave the possibility of sharing insight and ideas between different players in the market.  NDR was very proud to be associated once again with the Portuguese Chamber's Annual Property Conference and to have one of its partners invited once more as a guest speaker.