Portugal Golden Visa through sponsorship: helping family flee danger in the home country
I left South Africa several years ago when I received a job offer from a German research centre. When I lived in Pretoria, the criminal situation didn’t bother me much, as I had been used to it since childhood.
In Germany, I learnt what safety was. I can walk on the streets in the evening and don’t need tall fences with wires and bars on the windows of my house.
I offered to get my parents to move to Europe a couple of times, but they refused. Recently, they were robbed on the street and injured, which became the turning point. I insisted on relocation and turned to Immigrant Invest to help me arrange that.
Hendrik,
Scientist, an immigrant from South Africa living in Germany
Clients’ names and photos have been changed
This case was provided by our expert
Editor-in-chief, content creator
Portugal Golden Visa through sponsorship: helping family flee danger in the home country
Why Hendrik’s parents decided to move abroad
Hendrik’s parents, Petrus and Martha, lived in South Africa. The situation across the country was not calm or safe. Petrus and Martha were accustomed to it and managed to protect themselves. They had a tall fence with barbed wire around their house and mostly got around the city by car, never walking alone.
The precautions taken were not enough. One day, when Petrus and Martha were driving home in the evening, they were robbed and hurt at the traffic light. Hendrik, who lived in Germany by then, got scared for his parents. He persuaded them to relocate to Europe, where he knew it was much less dangerous.
Another reason for moving was the visa issue. Petrus and Martha had had difficulties visiting their son for the last couple of years because it had become harder to obtain visas due to the pandemic.
In the end, Petrus and Martha stated their goals as the following:
Move to a European country with high-level safety and quality healthcare.
Obtain visa-free entry to Germany.
As a recent immigrant, Hendrik knew his parents needed residence permits in Europe to solve these tasks, so he turned to Immigrant Invest with this request.
Why the family opted for the Portugal investment program
Hendrik held a residence permit in Germany, and at first, he planned his parents would get that status, too, using the family reunification route. However, it turned out that according to German legislation, only spouses and children were eligible to do this. Petrus and Martha could not apply for family reunification with their son.
We suggested Hendrik consider the investment route of obtaining residence permits for his parents.
Through an investment program, you can move to Europe within 3—8 months. Germany does not offer such an option, but some other European countries do: among them are Spain, Greece, Portugal, Malta and Cyprus.
Safety was the main criterion when choosing a country. The family studied the situation in the proposed states and examined the ratings. Portugal took the leading position.
Under the Crime Index, Portugal and Cyprus shared the same rate. But Cyprus residence holders cannot visit Germany without visas. Thus, the Cyprus investment program was not further considered as it could not lead the family to their goal.
Comparison of European countries with investment programs and South Africa by the level of safety
Country
31
1.3
31
1.9
35
1.6
42
No data
47
1.8
South Africa,
home country
75
2.3
Climate and location. South Africa has access to the ocean, and Petrus and Martha like that Portugal has it, too. The couple enjoys visiting the coast to admire the views of the watery expanse and the horizon.
As for Portugal’s climate, it is beneficial for senior citizens: the change of seasons is pretty mild, and the sun shines about three hundred sunny days a year.
Good for expats and pensioners. Portugal is ranked 1st in the 2023 Annual Global Retirement Index. The community is multicultural, with about half a million expats already living in the country. The country’s healthcare is affordable and excellent, ranked 12th by the WHO.
Most residents know English, at least at a conversational level. Finding English-speaking staff in health centres, banks and other facilities is not difficult.
Petrus and Martha decided to settle in Vila Real, a beautiful town in a valley framed by Serra do Alvão and Serras do Marão mountains. The city is located a 4-hour drive from Lisbon, Portugal’s capital
The peculiarity of the sponsorship option under the Portuguese program
The Portugal Golden Visa Program required an investment of at least €250,000. Petrus and Martha could not invest such an amount on their own due to the foreign currency control regulations of South Africa. They had savings in South African banks, from where they were allowed to transfer no more than 1 million rands per year, which is about €53,000 and obviously not enough.
We offered Hendrik, who held his savings in a German bank, to sponsor his parent’s participation in the Portuguese investment program. To do this, he was to transfer the required amount of money to his parent’s account, which would be opened in a Portuguese bank.
Vladlena Baranova,
Head of Legal & AML Compliance Department, CAMS, IMCM
Sponsorship in Portugal is not a generally accepted way of confirming the availability of funds for obtaining a residence permit: it is considered only within the framework of banking matters. Thus, to legalise the transfer of money, Hendrik needed to grant a deed of gift in the name of his parent.
The account was to be opened for Petrus. Before opening an account, bank employees run Customer Due Diligence on the account holder and ask them to disclose sources of income. In our situation, both Petrus and Hendrik became subject to the Due Diligence check and passed it successfully.
Choosing a real estate investment property in Portugal
Among the variety of investment options under the Portugal Golden Visa Program, such as investments in real estate, business, securities, science and culture, the family chose to buy property. They wanted to buy housing where Petrus and Martha would live after relocation, and this option requires an investment of €500,000.
Martha and Petrus have gotten used to living in a private house, so they decided to purchase a villa, not an apartment. Moreover, the villa is spacious enough for Hendrik with his wife to pay visits to his parents without any inconvenience.
Examples of properties in Portugal
Portugal, Albufeira
€1,400,000 — €4,500,000
Apartments and villas in a luxury resort managed by Marriott International
194 m² — 386 m²
3 
3 
Portugal, Algarve
€1,300,000+
Villas and plots in a large-scale residential complex on the territory of the golf club423 m²3 3 
How Hendrik’s parents obtained residence permits in Portugal
Petrus became the main applicant and included Martha in his application. De facto, Hendrik sponsored his parents, but de jure, Petrus was the investor.
Preliminary Due Diligence. Our Compliance AML officer ran an internal Due Diligence check on Petrus to make sure he was eligible for the Portuguese program. We conducted the check on Hendrik as a sponsor, too. No red flags were found in both cases, so Petrus signed a Service Agreement with Immigrant Invest.
Taxpayer numbers in Portugal, or NIFs, for Petrus and Martha were obtained remotely. This document is necessary to open a bank account, purchase property and pay taxes.
Bank account. To open an account, Petrus came to Portugal.The Immigrant Invest lawyer accompanied him to the bank to apply for the opening of an account and then to activate it. After that, Hendrik and Petrus signed a deed of gift, and the son transferred the money.
Real estate purchase. On the same trip, our real estate expert showed Petrus around several villas, which helped the investor make a choice. Petrus signed the sale and purchase contract and paid the taxes.
The villa cost €850,000. The property transfer tax was calculated at 6%: €51,000. Another fee was a 0,8% stamp duty for registering the contract: €6,800.
Online application for residency by investment in Portugal was submitted through the web service of the Portuguese Immigration and Borders Service, or SEF. When it was processed, Petrus and Martha got an invitation for an interview. We made appointments for them to submit biometrics and prepared the package of documents.
Moving to Portugal. When Petrus and Martha got fingerprinted and submitted the originals of the records, they were issued temporary permits to stay in Portugal until the application had been considered.
At this stage, it had been 7 months since Hendrik turned to Immigrant Invest. Portuguese residence cards were not ready yet, but Petrus and Martha had already relocated to Portugal.
Approval. SEF considered Petrus’s application for half a year and then approved it. The processing fee was €540 per person.
Residence permit cards were issued for the spouses in 2 weeks. The issuance fee was €5,392 per card.
14 months and €919,664 were spent by Hendrik’s family to get Portugal Golden Visas
Preliminary Due Diligence
Getting taxpayer numbers
Opening and activating a bank account
Transferring the investment money to the account
Selecting and purchasing the property, paying taxes€907,800
Submitting an online application and waiting for it to be processed
Moving to Portugal, submitting biometric data and filing originals€1,080
Waiting for the application to be considered, getting approval
Receiving residence permit cards€10,784
How Petrus and Martha’s life has changed
After obtaining resident permits in Portugal, Petrus and Martha began to see their son more often. Sometimes, they come to Germany — and do not waste time getting visas. Sometimes, their son and his wife come to Portugal to relax in the villa, swim in the pool, have barbecues and go to the seaside together.
The spouses learned to feel safe on the streets and started to walk every day, which is also beneficial for their health.
Portugal Golden Visas need to be renewed every 2 years. When the time comes, we will remind Petrus and Martha of this procedure and help them through it.
Immigrant Invest is a licensed agent for government programs in the European Union and the Caribbean.
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