Golden Visa recovers fast pace

Several news articles have just been published in different media in Portugal confirming the strong recovery in the processing of Golden Visa applications.

Reputable Expresso newspaper reports: Golden Visa recovers the fastpace of 2014

The Government remarks that "1,600 Golden Visa applications were processed until 22^nd April”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, asserted today that until 22^nd April “1,600 Golden Visa applications were processed” by the working group set up for this purpose.

On 2^nd March, the Minister had stated that, in slightly more than a month 850 Golden Visa applications had been processed, recovering from "a huge backlog" registered at the end of 2015 and he now remarked that "currently this figure increased to 1,600".

Augusto Santos Silva explained that the processing refers to "applications reviewed, and that some of them result in approvals of residence permits for investment activity, others result in renewals thereof, some others respect to the approvals for the family members and others in extinctions".

According to the Minister, since the Golden Visa entered into force - on 8^th October 2012 - until 22^nd of April, 3,247 Golden Visa for Investors and 4,950 Golden Visa for family members have been granted.  

The Minister also stressed that since the beginning of the year, 459 Golden Visa and 647 Golden Visa for family members were granted.  “We overcame the difficulties that were registered in 2015", said the Minister, with regards to the fast pace of the Golden Visa approvals.  "We are currently working as fast as we were in 2014", he added.

The statements of the Minister of Foreign Affairs have also been quoted in several other news articles:

http://www.publico.pt/vistos-gold

http://www.jornaldenegocios.pt/empresas/imobiliario/detalhe/vistos_gold_analisados_quase_duplicaram_em_menos_de_dois_meses.html

http://www.tsf.pt/politica/interior/vistos-gold-1600-tramitados-cerca-de-400-concedidos-em-2016-5144051.html

http://sicnoticias.sapo.pt/especiais/vistosgold/2016-04-26-Tramitados-1600-processos-relativos-a-vistos-gold-este-ano-diz-MNE

 

 

Golden Visa - Updated Government fees

The Portuguese Immigration services (SEF) have informed that the processing and approval fees for residency through the Golden Visa have been updated.  These fees are now as follows:

• Application fees - Investor - 517.40 Euro
• Application fees - Family members - 80.60 Euro
• Approval fees - 5,173.60 Euro
• Renewal fees - 2,586.80 Euro

The official table with these fees can also be seen on SEF's website.

 

Golden Visa - Statistics January 2016

The Portuguese Immigration Services (SEF) have released the statistics of the Golden Visa programme up to the end of January 2016.  These latest numbers reveal that the total investment brought by the programme was over 1.7 bn Euro, which is a very important figure for Portugal.

According to these statistics, there were a total of 2,853 investors and 4,293 family members approved up to the 31st January, with the vast majority of investors choosing property as their qualifying investment.

These numbers are expected to increase rapidly and significantly in the coming weeks as a result of the massive improvements in the rate of approvals that have been happening since the beginning fo the year.

Golden Visa - Portuguese Government confirms massive improvements on the approval of applications

Following the recent news about the improvements in the rate of approvals of Golden Visa applications, the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs has informed Parliament that the recent measures that were put in place to tackle the problems with the delays in the processing of applications are already starting to produce significant results and that the Portuguese Government expects the rate of approvals to return to normal.

These statements have been the subject of different news articles released by multiple sources and can be seen here:
 

http://www.jornaldenegocios.pt/economia/financas_publicas/orcamento_do_estado/detalhe/santos_silva_governo_aprovou_850_vistos_gold_num_mes.html

http://www.publico.pt/politica/noticia/tramitados-850-processos-de-vistos-gold-1725013

http://www.dn.pt/portugal/interior/mne-850-novos-vistos-gold-tramitados-em-pouco-mais-de-um-mes-5057543.html

http://www.rtp.pt/noticias/economia/governo-autorizou-mais-de-800-vistos-gold-nos-primeiros-dois-meses-do-ano_v900660

We have confirmed these massive improvements on our daily work and we are now receiving approvals on a daily basis.  

Golden Visa Update - Improvements in the rate of approvals

Golden Visa back on track

 

The year of 2015 was particularly challenging  for the Golden Visa programme and for the Portuguese Immigration services SEF.  The changes introduced by several new regulations in the qualifying investments and on the internal procedures to be undertaken by the authorities gave rise to serious delays in the approvals of new applications and on the renewals.

However, a series of measures put in place by SEF over the last few months specifically designed to tackle these difficulties have started to show clear results and the problems are now being overcome at a rapid pace.

We at NDR have witnessed these very significant improvements, particularly since January 2016.   We have received numerous approvals for our clients over the last few weeks and we are receiving multiple daily emails from SEF with client approvals, requests for document and other correspondence.

In addition,with the introduction of the measures mentioned above SEF is aiming at having the issue of the delays resolved around March/April and at returning to the previous approval time frames of 2 to 3 months. 

 

In this respect, we are also doing our part in the improvement of the situation by complying with the administrative requests from SEF and by making a big effort to follow entirely their guidelines about submission of applications and biometrics. It is of the utmost importance that the applications are submitted properly completed and in accordance with the applicable regulations.

Although we are still taking a cautious approach on the communication with both our clients and partners, the positive signs are very clear and the rate of approvals is increasing rapidly. 

Being such an important programme to Portugal, the Golden Visa is now back on track and remains one of the best investor residency programmes in the world. 

Francisco Barata Salgueiro

Senior Partner