Portuguese government also announced a ban on new licenses for Airbnbs and some other short-term holiday rentals
Government officials in Lisbon announced that Portugal is ending its ‘Golden Visa’ program that allowed non-Europeans to claim Portuguese residency in return for buying real estate or making other substantial investment in the country’s economy.
Officially, the halting of one of the most sought-after ‘golden visa’ schemes in Europe is aimed at “fighting against price speculation in real estate,” Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa said, adding that the crisis was now affecting all families, not just the most vulnerable.
Rents and real estate prices have soared in Portugal, which is currently ranked one of the poorest countries in Western Europe. In 2022, the monthly wages of more than 50% of Portuguese workers hardly reached €1,000 ($1,100), whereas rents in Lisbon alone surged 37%. All the while the country’s 8.3% inflation rate has only exacerbated its problems.
Along with the end of the ‘Golden Visa’ scheme, Portuguese government also announced a ban on new licenses for Airbnbs and some other short-term holiday rentals, except in some remote locations.
Portugal’s ‘golden visa’ program, which had given those who could pay residency status and access to the EU’s borderless travel zone, had attracted €6.8 billion ($7.3 billion) in investment since its launch in 2012, with the bulk of the money reportedly going into real estate.
To get Portuguese residency one had to invest over €280,000 (over $300,000) in real estate or at least €250,000 (some $268,000) in the arts. Once a person obtained residence, they were then required to spend only seven days a year in the country to maintain their right to free movement across the whole European Union.
Portugal’s decision to abolish “Golden Visas’ comes in the wake of similar measure announced by Ireland, which a week earlier had scrapped its ‘Immigrant Investor Programme,’ that used to offer Irish residence in return for a €500,000 ($540,000) investment or three years of an annual one-million-euro ($1.1 million) investment in the country.
At the same time, in Spain, a legislation has been submitted to congress to abolish its iteration of the ‘golden visa by purchase of property’ scheme, as it’s had a considerable impact on housing prices there, pushing Spaniards out of the market, especially in the big cities and most popular tourist destinations.
Introduced in 2013, the program enables foreigners to obtain a Spanish residence permit by buying real estate worth at least €500,000 in the country.
It’s not clear yet when exactly Portugal’s ban on ‘Golden Visa’ scheme will come into effect.
