Portugal Golden Visa processing time: a guide through the application process

The investor gets their biography checked by a certified Anti Money Laundering Officer. The process is completely private, and all that needs to be presented for verification is the main applicant’s passport— the specialist searches for information about the investor in international databases. Only the applicant and the lawyers assigned to their case are informed about the check results.

The preliminary Due Diligence minimises the risk that the application will be rejected.

Choosing an object for investment is a very important stage, which can take several days to several months. Depending on the option chosen, the investor is helped to select an object for investment: real estate, a bank, a company, a fund, a scientific program or a project.

If necessary, one of the Immigrant Invest employees in Portugal travels to the site to take photographs and videos. Such assistance can speed up the process: the client does not need to spend time personally inspecting many objects.

The applicant travels to Portugal and performs some steps that only may be done in person. In two or five days, they need to register their individual foreigner’s tax number, open a bank account, and draw up a power of attorney for a lawyer in Portugal to act on their behalf.

There are 4 ways to get a taxpayer number in Portugal, each of which takes a different amount of time.

How long it takes for a foreigner to register a taxpayer number in Portugal:

• 30 min in person at the tax office in Portugal,

• 3—5 days by email in the Portuguese language,

• undefined through a tax representative or a friend in Portugal.

The procedure and time depend on the chosen investment option.

If the applicant has chosen to invest in real estate, then the client’s lawyer in Portugal signs a preliminary sale-purchase contract, concludes the deal and receives the certificate of ownership of the real estate. Verifying the purity of the transaction and bank transfers may take some time.

If the investor has chosen to open a business in Portugal and create 10 jobs, then, among other things, he will need to do the following:

1. Open a company. It takes 3 weeks to open a company from the moment the main applicant receives the Portuguese tax number.

2. If necessary, conclude a virtual address agreement or find an office or commercial space for rent.

3. Submit documents to open a company bank account.

4. Find workers and sign contracts with them. If employees are moving from another country to Portugal, they need to get a D1 visa, which normally takes 3—4 months.

Immigrant Invest’s lawyers provide the investor with an individual list of documents that must be submitted. After collecting the documents, the investor gets them translated and certified. The electronic copies of the documents are then sent to the SEF. The time for collecting documents may increase due to the applicants’ circumstances.

One of our clients, Ali, wanted his grandson to get the Portugal Golden Visa along with him. Although the program does not directly provide an opportunity to include grandchildren in the application, the lawyers have found a way. The investor took temporary custody of his grandson which allowed him to be included in the application. The custody process took an additional 1.5 weeks to complete collection of the documents.

Both the investor themselves and the family members included in the application need to come to Portugal and submit the original documents as well as their biometric data. Having this done, the applicants receive a confirmation document from SEF that allows them to live in Portugal until the residence permit cards are issued. However, they cannot enter or leave the country based on this document.

This step takes less time if all family members can submit biometrics simultaneously. This, in turn, depends on the possible dates to sign up. Not to delay the process, lawyers sometimes register members of the same family for submitting biometrics on the same day but in different cities.

The Portuguese golden visa program allows family members to donate biomaterial on different dates, but in this case, this stage can take up to a whole month.