On January 1, 2022, the new changes of the Golden Visa Portugal took effect. The most significant were those that affected real estate properties. Only real estate properties in the Autonomous Region of the Azores and Madeira, or inland and rural or low-density areas in lists published by the government would be considered.
Residential property in major cities such as Lisbon and Porto or coastal towns of the mainland were no longer an option in the Golden Visa Portugal, except if the investment was in commercial properties such as hotels and retail spaces.
Golden Visa Portugal investment amounts were based on the age of the property, exact location of the property within a municipality, the GDP, and the population density of the region where it was located. Two similar properties near each other could require either a EUR280,000 or EUR500,000 investment.
Real estate option investment process for Golden Visa Portugal
An investor interested in the real estate option should go through a verification process:
1.Check if the desired property is even eligible for the real estate Golden Visa Portugal investment:
- Figure out which municipality the property is located in.
- Look up the PDF listing of all eligible municipalities.
- If property is located in a mixed municipality, where parts of it are eligible and parts of it are not, you will have to search for the actual parish where the property is located and look if this parish in the listing.
2. Once eligibility is confirmed, figure out if the minimum investment is either EUR500,000, EUR400,000, EUR350,000 or EUR280,000:
- Figure out in where statistical region the property is located on the website PORDATA.
- Look up the region’s GDP to check if it is lower than 75% of the national average.
- Look up the region’s population density to see if it is less than 100 per km2.
- Check if the property qualifies for the 20% reduction in investment amount of either EUR400,000 or EUR280,000.
- Figure out the age of the property and check if it’s located in an urban regeneration area, to see if it qualifies for the 30% rehabilitation discount.
This process and can be very tedious, especially if you need to search over a large radius. A reliable map of Portugal with all the property zones indicated would be very useful.
- Residential and commercial properties (EUR280,000 to EUR400,000)
- Residential and commercial properties (EUR350,000 to EUR500,000)
- Commercial properties (EUR280,000 to EUR400,000)
- Commercial properties (EUR350,000 to EUR500,000)