Government clarifies on Golden Visa – or does it?

The Portuguese Government has made it clear this week that any applications for Golden Visas submitted after March 16 have no guarantee that they will be considered, and that when the law comes into force, the programme ends.

The Portuguese Ministry of Housing states: “The borders and immigration entity SEF can continue to accept applications until the Housing Package law comes into force, but there is no guarantee that a decision will be made. (on the application)
And from the moment that the end of the regime comes into effect in law, “All applications made after that date (16 February) have no guarantee that they will be studied and a decision taken once the law comes into force”.
Margarida Almeida Santos, a lawyer at DLAS told Negócios that the market is “in suspension”. “Potential real estate investors with a view to getting an ARI are opting for conditional reserve agreements, with the condition that they will be refunded if the programme is in fact revoked”.
Henrique Moser, from law firm Antas da Cunha, said that the Government making the cut-off point retroactive (I.e., from February 16) is illegal.
The lawyer who still has hundreds of applications being processed from investors “many of whom have already paid, and now will be left by the wayside, doesn’t have much faith in the proposal and thinks it should be examined at a constitutional level.
Nuno Oliveira Garcia of law firm Gómez-Acebo & Pombo, said that the processing of applications by SEF had been at a standstill for more than a year, showing a total divestment in the programme, but that in any case those that were already in the system were expected to be processed.
He said that the firm has clients who were already now deciding not to invest and look at other markets such as Spain.