Breaking News: Portugal is about to change its political regime! Now the Door is Closing!

During the last period of time, I believe everyone has been swept up by the policy changes of various European countries, and the news of Portugal’s golden visa shutdown is also flying around! Yesterday, the Prime Minister of Portugal announced the closure of the Golden Visa, and our team was very shocked and regretful after receiving the news. At the same time, in order to ensure that the interests of our clients are not affected by this change in policy, our executives held a meeting to discuss a series of follow-up measures. Today, our Portuguese Real Estate Project Department will analyze the specific news content and the Group’s follow-up measures in response to this news!

News details

On February 16, 2023, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced the closure of the Golden Visa program in a live broadcast press conference, which focused on initiatives to “crack down on real estate speculation”. Stop issuing new golden residency status! More details of the closure of the program, including the specific termination date and buffer period, will be discussed in Parliament in a month’s time and will be released when Parliament has decided! For the renewal category, the property must be owner-occupied or be placed on the rental market as required by the regulations! The validity of non-residential properties and investments in financial, technical, labor or cultural assets is also subject to discussion and confirmation!

 

Policy analysis

The specific details of the planned closure (including a specific ending date and buffer period) were only proposed by the Prime Minister and were not mentioned in yesterday’s press conference, also mentioned that the legal issues would be discussed in Parliament on March 16. Referring to Greece and Ireland’s previous practice of announcing the New Deal within the past 1 year, they gave a buffer period of 10 months and 3 months respectively. According to Portugal’s past history of political changes, Portugal has not had a direct cut-off policy so far, and it is reasonable to assume that the Portuguese government will give a buffer period to formally implement the new policy.

 

Globevisa Action

For the protection of our universal clients, the program department had an in-depth communication with the real estate developer in the early morning yesterday to get the best protection measures for our clients. During the buffer period, Globevisa will prioritize the protection of clients’ interests, submit cases as soon as possible, and take the maximum risks. Specific measures include:

(1) For clients who are in the process of filing their applications: Globevisa Portugal Program Department and the Portuguese lawyer team will cancel all their paid leave with immediate effect and work with our clients to expedite the filing of their cases as soon as possible in order to help them catch the last train of the old policy.

(2) Confirmation of renewal projects: This change in policy has also put forward requirements for the renewal of the Golden Visa. The daily rental model of airbnb has been cancelled, and the requirement is that it must be a residence where you live for a long time, or a long-term rental property. Globevisa’s Portuguese lawyers went through all the projects sold by Globevisa and confirmed that they all meet the requirements of the new policy.

(3) Globevisa assurance clause: Globevisa has communicated with the developer urgently, and has proposed an assurance clause for clients who have signed a contract with Globevisa and did not submit on February 16: If the final submission is not successful, Globevisa will refund all the immigration agent service fees and reimburse the third-party expenses related to immigration, and the developer also promises to refund the house payment and bear the attorney fees and taxes involved in the property transaction.

Regardless of the policy changes, our company hereby makes a solemn promise that if clients cannot catch up due to the policy shutdown, our company and the developer can provide a full refund of the relevant fees or switch to another project for customers. We will continue to pay attention to the subsequent changes of the Portuguese immigration policy and will announce them at the first time.