A startup visa for highly qualified professionals to run a business, travel visa-free to the Schengen Area
and apply for citizenship after five years
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Portugal Highly Qualified Activity Visa is intended for entrepreneurs and professionals investing in innovation projects. The rules for obtaining an HQA visa are fixed in Article 61 of REPSAE, Portugal Immigration Act.
To get a visa, one should invest €175,000 to open a startup in collaboration with a Portuguese startup incubator and fund a research and development (R&D) project in a research facility. After that, investors may choose if they want to rule the company or take minimum participation in its work.
An HQA visa leads to getting a Portugal residence permit. The first card is issued for a year and can be renewed for two years. Meanwhile, the investor may live in Portugal or visit it just to renew the residence permit because there is no obligatory residence period for the HQA visa holders to maintain their status.
The investment amount for obtaining an HQA visa is €175,000, nearly three times less than investment in real estate or shares in a fund under the Golden Visa program. Nevertheless, startup founders enjoy the same benefits as investors do.
An HQA visa allows its holders to live in Portugal, but they are not obligated to visit the country at all. In comparison, investors with a Golden visa should spend seven days a year in Portugal, and the D7 visa holders reside there for at least 183 days a year.
You may create a safe haven in Portugal and visit the country whenever you want, even if the borders are closed to foreigners.
Cosmopolitans with Portugal residence permits may spend 90 days out of 180 in other Schengen states without visas.
To get a Portugal HQA visa, you should open a startup in collaboration with a leading Portuguese business incubator. You may decide whether you want to play an active part in the company’s development or prefer to delegate the management to the incubator.
If an investor lives in Portugal for 183 days a year, they become a tax resident and may get a 10-year beneficial tax status, Non-habitual Resident. It allows one not to pay taxes on the income earned abroad if it’s taxed in another country with a double tax agreement concluded with Portugal.
You may apply for Portugal citizenship after five years of residence there. Doing business there and the endorsement of a research facility may increase your chances of approval.
A Portugal passport allows one to travel to 187 countries and move to another EU state. Portugal recognises dual citizenship, so applicants must not renounce other countries’ citizenships.
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The primary condition for getting an HQA visa is to invest in a startup and a research project connected with the company’s activity.
The investment amount is €175,000. It includes:
The incubation period for a startup is three years. After that, an investor may develop their business further or sell it along with all intellectual properties generated during the incubation period.
Residing in Portugal is not obligatory, but for applying, you need to confirm that you have money for a year of living there, it is about €9,000. Also, an investor has to rent or buy housing in Portugal to get a registration address.
Government fees for processing the visa application are €75 or €90, depending if the visa is valid for less than a year or more. Also, the investor pays a fee for a residence permit card, which is €197.
Additional costs include health insurance, which costs €400+ for a person. Also, the investor covers legal services, government fees and their trip to Portugal to visit the immigration service.
Investors can obtain a Portugal Golden Visa by purchasing real estate, securities or other assets. The program’s requirements differ from those for the HQA visa. For example, the investment amount for the most popular options of the Golden visa is €500,000; the investors don’t need to confirm their qualifications and may include children over 18 in the application.
| HQA visa | ||
| Investment amount | €175,000 | €250,000+ |
| Obtaining period | 3—4 months | 10—16 months |
| Residence requirements | No | 7 days a year |
| Requirements for an investor’s professional qualification | Education or professional experience in the chosen field | No |
| Family composition | A spouse, children under 18, and parents over 65 | A spouse, children under 26, and parents |
| Investment retention period | 3 years is the startup incubation period | 5 years |
| Government fees for residence permit cards | €197 for each family member | €5,340 for each family member |
Get an individual calculation for your family with all associated costs and government fees
Get the cost calculationTo get an HQA visa, one should form a startup and fund an R&D project connected to the company’s activity in a Portugal university.
Usually, an HQA visa is issued for startup founders in high-tech fields, for example:
An investor may choose other fields, for example, the production of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). An applicant needs to have relevant experience and education in the chosen field.
A certified Anti Money Laundering Officer conducts preliminary Due Diligence before an investor signs a contract with Immigrant Invest. This check allows us to foresee possible difficulties and raise the investor’s chances of getting an HQA visa.
Immigrant Invest lawyers help the investor collect documents necessary for the initial application, get a Portugal tax number and open a bank account.
The investor passes an interview with a business incubator, signs a contract and transfers €175,000 to the bank account in a Portuguese bank. Then the incubator helps the investor find a research university that will take up the R&D project. The university’s endorsement is needed for the visa application.
The investor collects their original documents by the list that lawyers give them. Then the Immigrant Invest lawyers translate the documents, notarise copies and fill out the government forms.
An appointment at the consulate is booked for the investor to submit the documents. Consideration of the application and the visa issuance takes 15 to 90 days from the date of the appointment.
The investor should apply for a residence permit and give biometrics in three months after the visa is issued. The lawyers book an appointment in SEF, a Portugal immigration service, for the investor to visit it and submit the documents.
The application is usually considered in three to four weeks.
When the application is approved, SEF issues a residence card and sends it to the investor.
The first residency card is valid for two years and can be renewed for three years. After five years, the investor may apply for permanent residence or citizenship in Portugal.
New demands may arise after obtaining an HQA visa or a residence permit. For example, you might seek a beneficial tax status, wish to buy a property or apply for citizenship. Let’s talk about how we can help.
We help investors to renew their residence permits after a year and then every two years.
We prepare documents and help to apply.
We help obtain a Non-Habitual Resident status after the investor becomes a Portuguese tax resident.
We prepare an application and help to receive a new residence permit card.
We help choose a finished apartment or buy an off-plan property and follow up on the deal.
Schedule a meeting at one of the offices or online. A lawyer will analyze the situation, calculate the cost and help you find a solution based on your goals.
Zlata Erlach
An HQA visa is a Portugal startup visa for highly qualified activity. It is intended for professionals who wish to invest in a startup and an R&D project in Portugal.
A spouse, children under 18 and parents over 65 also may get Portugal visas.
Highly qualified investors who are ready to invest €175,000 in a startup and an R&D project in Portugal may get an HQA visa. The applicant should be over 18, with no criminal record or a Schengen visa refusal.
A spouse, children under 18 and parents over 65 may get visas with the investor.
The investment amount for obtaining an HQA visa is €175,000. It includes:
Not necessarily. You might not have a developed idea or a business plan. Your qualification is much more critical, and the business incubator will help you create the idea and the startup model.
To apply for an HQA visa, an investor needs the following documents:
A Portugal HQA visa allows investors:
Schedule a meeting at one of the offices or online. A lawyer will analyze the situation, calculate the cost and help you find a solution based on your goals.
Zlata Erlach
