Portugal: 476 gold visas bring in €300 million plus of investment

Portugal granted a total of 476 gold visas last year with corresponding investment amounting to €304.5 million, the border authority SEF announced in a report on Monday.

The report details that there were 1,116 applications to the special residency regime with 476 being new residency requests and 563 for visas for family members submitted by gold visa holders.

A total of nine requests were turned down, four for new visas and five for family visas.

The overwhelming bulk of applicants are of Chinese origin, around 80%, with other nationalities reflecting only residual amounts, for example, Brazilian (3%), Angolan (2%) and South African (2%).

The gold visa program drove property investments in Lisbon, Setúbal, Algarve and Madeira totalling around €270 million with the transfer of capital equal to or above one million euros bringing in capital investment of €34.2 million.

The gold visa scheme enables citizens from countries able to invest either €500,000 in property or €1 million in capital to gain a visa that enables them to access both European Union member states and free movement throughout the Schengen area.

CMP/KAR //KAR.