Portugal proposes €250,000 social-investment golden visa route

Palácio de São Bento, the seat of Portugal’s parliament in Lisbon. Photo: Einaz80 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped for display.

As first reported by IMI Daily, Portugal’s two governing parties, PSD and CDS-PP, have proposed changes to the country’s golden visa, formally the residence permit for investment activity (ARI). The headline change is a new €250,000 route for investing in social-support facilities. These are proposed amendments to the 2027 State Budget, not rules that are in force.

The amendment, 2692C-2, was first filed on 6 November. It has since been replaced by a substitute text dated 13 November, and some details differ from early reports of the original filing. This article is based on the 13 November text.

What is proposed

• A new social-investment route: at least €250,000 for building or restoring support facilities for children, young people, older people or people with disabilities, or facilities that help integrate foreign residents and beneficiaries of international protection. The money would go through a closed list of public bodies and public-interest organisations, such as public institutes, public-utility foundations, misericórdias and municipal bodies.
• A lower research threshold: the minimum investment in scientific research would fall to €250,000, the same level as the cultural and social routes.
• Tighter fund rules: the €500,000 route through Portuguese non-real-estate investment funds would require a maturity of at least five years at the time of investment, with at least 70% of the fund’s investments made through capital or quasi-capital in companies headquartered in Portugal.
• A wider review: the two-yearly assessment of the investment routes would also look at their social impact.

Who it would affect

Under the proposed wording, the changes would apply only to ARI applications submitted after 1 May 2027. People who are thinking about the fund or research routes would be most affected, along with charities and public bodies that could receive social investment. If you are planning a golden visa application, check how the final text treats your route and get independent legal advice before committing money.

Timetable

According to Parliament’s budget timetable, detailed debates and votes on the 2027 State Budget take place from 18 to 20 November, with more debates and votes on 23 and 24 November. The final overall vote on the budget is scheduled for 24 November.

What is not yet decided

None of this is law yet. IMI Daily notes that PSD and CDS-PP do not hold a majority on their own, so the amendment would need support or abstentions from other parties, and it could still be changed or rejected. The text does not say how fund managers would apply the new capital rules in practice. Until the budget is approved and published, the current golden visa rules remain in place.