Portugal citizenship in 5 years and with minimum investments

Andrew is the owner of a company that develops mobile apps. Andrew lives and runs business in South Africa. Sometimes orders come from Europe, but they are few.

Andrew wanted to expand his business in Europe. To quickly enter the EU market, the businessman decided to open an office in the region.

To travel to the EU without visas. Andrew planned to travel frequently to the European Union. First, find a place for a new office, hire employees and organize the work of the branch, then meet with clients and partners, attend conferences.

As a South African citizen, Andrew needs a Schengen visa to travel to the European Union. But Andrew didn’t want to spend time preparing documents and getting a visa, and then checking its validity and counting the days of stay in the EU. He needed a long-term travel document that would allow him to travel to the region without visas.

To open accounts in a European bank. Andrew was going to open personal and corporate bank accounts in the EU. He planned to keep savings on a personal account. After a personal account, Andrew would be able to open a corporate account for business in order to make currency settlements with customers faster, not to lose money on the exchange rate and reduce transaction fees.

On August 6th, 2018, Andrew turned to Immigrant Invest for advice. He wanted to know how to obtain EU citizenship by investment, in order to immediately and quickly solve all the tasks.

Immigrant Invest program experts analyzed Andrew’s situation. The residence permit program in Portugal turned out to be the only one that met all the investor’s expectations.

Program participation costs. Andrew expected to spend no more than €600,000: he could withdraw such an amount from the business without damage.

When Andrew applied to Immigrant Invest, there were two citizenship by investment programs in the European Union — in Malta and in Cyprus. But participation in those programs required investments of at least one million euro. Such expenses did not fit into Andrew’s budget.

Immigrant Invest lawyers offered Andrew a less expensive way: to obtain a residence permit by investment. In a few years, he would be able to apply for citizenship.

A residence permit by investment, temporary or permanent, is granted in Portugal, Greece and Malta. A residence permit of any of these countries allows to travel across the Schengen area without visas. One can stay in the country of residence without restrictions, in other Schengen states — up to 90 days in half a year.

It is easier for residents to open accounts with a European bank and register a business in the EU.

Terms of obtaining citizenship after a residence permit. Until 2018, it was allowed to apply for Portuguese citizenship after six years of maintaining residency. In July 2018, the Portuguese government reduced this period by a year: now you can apply after 5 years of residency.

Before applying for citizenship, the investor confirms the status of a resident in the program unit and renews the residence permit card every two years.

Malta citizenship can also be obtained five years after a residence permit. In Greece the period of residency is seven years.

Andrew was willing to wait a few years to apply for citizenship. But he did not want to move and live permanently in the country of residence.

Mandatory residing for citizenship. Portugal sets a minimum residing requirement. It is enough for an investor to spend seven days a year in the country to remain a resident and apply for citizenship.

To obtain Malta or Greece citizenship, one needs to permanently reside in the country for at least 183 days a year.

Andrew compared the conditions of European investment programs and signed an agreement with Immigrant Invest to participate in the Portugal residence permit program.

5 reasons why Andrew chose a residence permit in Portugal

Status and country

Do costs fit into the investor’s budget?

Visa-free entry to the Schengen countries

Does the status give the right to run a business and open an account in a European bank?

Terms of obtaining citizenship

Residing in the country to qualify for citizenship

Malta citizenship
under the old program

1+ year

Not required

Cyprus citizenship
under the old program

6+ months

Not required

Portugal residence permit

5 years

7 days a year

Malta permanent residence

5 years

183 days a year
during the first four years

365 days
during the fifth year before applying for citizenship

Greece residence permit

7 years

183 days a year

90% of investors buy property in order to obtain a Portugal residence permit. The investor owns the property for five years, after which he can sell it and return the money invested. At the same time, real estate prices in Portugal are growing by an average of 7% per year, which increases the liquidity of real estate.

The cost of real estate for participation in the program is set depending on the property type:

• from €350,000 — a property older than 30 years, for renovation;

• from €500,000 — any property under 30 years.

The purchase of an old property for renovation reduces the costs by one and a half times. But Andrew did not want to spend money and time on repairs.

The investor decided to buy a new apartment in Lisbon, where he could live during his trips to Portugal.

The Immigrant Invest Real Estate Department selected a new apartment in Lisbon worth €510,000 and organized a viewing for Andrew. In Lisbon, the investor was accompanied by a representative of the Portuguese office of Immigrant Invest.

Andrew liked the apartment. Our lawyers checked the clean title to the real estate and the terms of the sale and purchase agreement in advance, so the investor immediately concluded a deal to buy the apartment.

An apartment in a residential complex in Lisbon

The property doesn’t qualify for participation in the Portugal residence permit program since 2022

The complex is located in the center of Lisbon: a three-minute walk from the Parque metro station and fifteen minutes from Chiado, the main historical street of the city. The one bedroom apartment is on the third floor of the residential complex. The apartment is sold furnished, has internet and TV. The windows overlook the historical part of the city.

• €500,000+ apartment price

• 53+ m² apartment area

• 1—4 number of bedrooms

1. The registration of a tax number is required for any major transactions, such as a purchase of real estate in Portugal.

To get the Portuguese equivalent of the TIN, Andrew needed the following documents:

• an application for registration as a taxpayer;

• copies of his national and international passports;

• a copy of the certificate of TIN registration in South Africa;

• a proof of income.

Andrew applied to a tax office in Lisbon in person while he was in Portugal. When submitting documents, he was accompanied by an Immigrant Invest lawyer.

The investor received the taxpayer number two weeks after contacting the tax service.

2. An account in a Portuguese bank is required to pay for the program participation and purchase real estate. The condition solved one of Andrew’s problems.

To open an account, he chose Novo Banco bank and transferred €600,000, which he planned to spend on participation in the residence permit program.

3. The purchase of the apartment was paid from Andrew’s new account in a Portuguese bank. The investor also paid taxes: 8% of the cost of the apartment for the transfer of ownership and 0,8% as a stamp duty.

€554,880 was spent by Andrew on the property purchase in Portugal

• €510,000 — apartment in Lisbon

• €40,800 — transfer tax on real estate

• €4,080 — stamp duty

4. To apply for a residence permit, our lawyers collected and prepared the following documents:

copies of the investor’s passports;

• a certificate of non-conviction;

• a wealth history with a list of assets owned by the investor and a confirmation of his income legality;

• a medical insurance;

• a sale and purchase agreement for the apartment in Portugal;

• a certificate of transfer of ownership for the apartment;

• government questionnaires and forms.

Andrew paid the application fee of €533. The lawyers attached the payment receipt to the rest of the documents for obtaining a residence permit.

5. The submission of biometrics takes place at an office of the Portuguese Migration Service.

As soon as the lawyers received approval of the investor’s application, they registered him for fingerprinting in Lisbon. The next free date was March 28th, 2019.

On the appointed day, Andrew flew to Portugal and submitted his fingerprints. He paid another fee for issuance of a residence permit card — €5,325.

6. Andrew received a residence permit card two weeks after the fingerprinting, on April 11th, 2019. At that time, he was still in Lisbon and got the document himself at the Migration Service.

A personal visit is not necessary: usually investors receive residence permit cards by a delivery service.

Participation in the program took eight months from the moment of applying to Immigrant Invest.

The investor’s expenses amounted to €561,138 taking into account the purchase of real estate, taxes and fees. Andrew did not exceed the allocated budget of €600,000.

Business and travel. Andrew expected to open a branch of his IT company in Portugal by the end of 2019. To do that, he studied information about Portuguese taxes and benefits for business, the possibility of using European servers and ways to expand the client network in the EU.

In June 2019, Andrew rented an office space in Lisbon. Registering a business in Portugal took about a week. By September, the Portuguese branch of Andrew’s company concluded the first contract with a European client.

In a year since obtaining a residence permit, the businessman has attended 15 conferences in Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, Estonia and Ireland. As a resident of Portugal, he did not have to obtain a Schengen visa to travel. When crossing borders, he used the Portuguese residence permit card.

Andrew visits Portugal once every six months. He rests at local resorts and practices Portuguese: the investor will need to know the language in order to obtain citizenship.

If Andrew decides to move to Portugal and change his tax residence in the future, he will receive a beneficial tax status for 10 years. Under the terms of this status, the income tax in Portugal is levied at a flat rate of 20% instead of a progressive scale of up to 48%.

EU citizenship. Andrew is going to apply for Portugal citizenship in May 2024, five years after obtaining a residence permit.

In five years, the investor is to extend the residence permit twice: in April 2021 and 2023. The Immigrant Invest lawyers will help him with this. They will prepare the documents in advance and submit an application for reissuing a residence permit card to the Migration Service of Portugal.

In 2024, Andrew plans to contact Immigrant Invest again, so that lawyers will accompany the application for Portuguese citizenship.

1. Maintain a residence permit for five years. A residence permit obtained by investment is to be renewed every two years. To do this, a resident needs to apply to the Portuguese Migration Service. To extend the status, the applicant confirms the ownership of an investment, such as real estate, and residing in Portugal for at least seven days a year.

2. Confirm knowledge of the Portuguese language. An applicant for citizenship needs to know Portuguese at A2 level or higher. As confirmation, they can provide a certificate of successfully passing the exam or state language courses.

3. Apply for citizenship at the Portuguese Migration Service. The candidate for citizenship submits an application in person or by mail. The application is accompanied by a copy of the identity card, a birth certificate, a certificate of good conduct and a certificate of proficiency in Portuguese.There is an application fee of €250. The process of obtaining citizenship takes about a year.

4. Get a citizen’s ID card. The issuance of an ID-card takes about two weeks. The card is sent by mail to the registration address in Portugal.

Andrew is going to receive both an ID card and a Portuguese passport. The document gives the right to visa-free entry to 187 countries.

We spoke in more detail about all the stages in an interview with the head of the Portuguese office of Immigrant Invest: “How to obtain Portugal citizenship after a golden visa”.