Updated October 22, 2018
Portugal's SEF is now issuing residency cards for renewed ARI's with a validity of 2 years from the date of approval. This is contrary to the previous policy where cards were issued with an issuance date starting from the expiry of the previous ARI card. The previous policy was aimed at ensuing the residency period was not interrupted for any given investor, this would serve the purpose of seeking citizenship at the, recently amended, 5 year mark. The new practice by SEF may cause an interruption in the pattern of residency. Investors are hereby advised to comply with the residency obligation with the two year period starting from the date of expiry of their previous card and not the currently issued cards.
The statistics of the Golden Visa (Authorization for Residence By Investment Activity) program up to February 2018, released by SEF, present that the total investment of the program is 3.6 Billion Euros.The latest statistics show success in the revised online procedures for the submission and processing of residency applications, as approvals have increased and waiting times for initial and renewal applications have decreased.
As of February 2018, approval was given to 5, 876 investors and 9, 861 family members, where most investors chose Property as their qualifying investment.
