Portugal Golden Visa mantains ruling until end of the 2020

The promised restriction to invest in real estate in the areas of Greater Lisbon, Porto and coastal regions will not be implemented until the end of 2020 in the residency by investment programme, commonly known as Golden Visa, until the end of 2020, according to Tiago Antunes, Secretary of State for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.

Tiago Antunes stated his opinion in a local broadcast radio that the changes approved by the parliament, “which are perfectly justifiable and make total sense”, should only be implemented at the start of 2021 in order to prevent any ongoing business transactions and residency applications under the Golden Visa scheme.

“We need to explain to the market that there isn’t any kind of disturbance that justifies the canceling of any ongoing business”, he said.

From 2021, real estate investment as an option to obtain a Golden Visa will be limited to the interior and autonomous regions of Madeira and Azores. So far, it is not fully clear which areas will be subjected to the announced restriction. The other eligible investment routes are not to suffer any changes.

So far no changes have been discussed on this matter and due to the pandemic, eventual drop on the real estate demand and pressure from main real estate associations many predict this law may not be ammended in 2021.

If this doesn’t happen the restrictions will not apply and investors will be able to continue to invest in Porto and Lisbon as before.