Portugal Golden Visa
One of Europe's most popular residency by investment programs. Obtain EU residency in Portugal with minimal stay requirements, apply for permanent residence after 5 years, and become eligible for citizenship after 7–10 years under the 2026 nationality law.
Portugal's Golden Visa grants EU residency to non-EU nationals who make a qualifying investment. Since 2023, the main options are investment funds from EUR €500,000 and artistic production or cultural heritage from EUR €250,000 (direct real estate purchase no longer qualifies). With a stay requirement of just 7 days per year, holders can apply for Portuguese permanent residence after 5 years. Under Portugal's Nationality Law reform in force since May 2026, citizenship now requires 7 years of legal residence for EU/CPLP (Portuguese-speaking country) nationals or 10 years for everyone else — up from 5 years previously; applications filed before the law took effect remain grandfathered under the old 5-year rule.
- Investment From
- EUR €250,000 (cultural heritage)
- Residency Type
- EU Residency — Schengen access
- Processing Time
- 6–12mo official target (up to 36mo in practice)
- Stay Requirement
- 7 days/year minimum
- Permanent Residence
- Eligible after 5 years
- Citizenship Eligible
- After 7 yrs (EU/CPLP) or 10 yrs
Compare Other Programs
Other routes in this category that may fit your situation
Investment Options
Investment Funds
EUR €500,000The most popular current route. Invest in a qualifying Portuguese-incorporated and regulated fund for at least 5 years.
- CMVM-regulated funds only
- No direct property purchase
- Funds must operate in Portugal
Artistic Production / Cultural Heritage
EUR €250,000Support artistic production or maintenance of national cultural heritage. Lowest investment threshold available — and drops to €200,000 in low-density territories.
- Ministry of Culture approval required
- Donation or contract-based
- 20% discount in low-density territories (€200,000)
Company Investment
EUR €500,000Capital injection into a new or existing Portuguese company, plus creating or maintaining at least 5 permanent full-time jobs.
- Via incorporation or capital increase
- Requires only 5 jobs (fewer than the Job Creation route)
- A fit for hands-on entrepreneurs
Research & Scientific Development
EUR €500,000Contribute to public or private scientific research activities by recognized institutions in Portugal.
- FCT or equivalent body must endorse
- Can be institutional or direct
- Strong alignment with EU innovation agenda
Job Creation
No minimum capitalCreate at least 10 permanent full-time jobs in Portugal, or 8 jobs if investing in a low-density territory.
- Must maintain jobs for 3+ years
- Business setup required
- Low-density areas qualify with fewer jobs
Who Is This For?
- Non-EU citizens with qualifying investment in Portugal
- Clean criminal record from country of residence and country of origin
- Investment in a qualifying fund (EUR €500,000+), cultural heritage (EUR €250,000+; €200,000+ in low-density territories), or a Portuguese company (EUR €500,000+ plus creating 5 jobs)
- Can include spouse, minor children, dependent adult children (students), and parents
- Health insurance coverage in Portugal required
- No income or language test at entry — A2-level Portuguese language required for citizenship
How It Works
- 1
Investment Selection
Choose qualifying investment type: investment funds, cultural heritage donation, company investment, or scientific research. Direct real estate is no longer eligible since 2023 for Golden Visa.
- 2
Tax Number (NIF) & Bank Account
Obtain Portuguese tax identification number and open a Portuguese bank account — required before making the investment.
- 3
Investment & Documentation
Complete the qualifying investment. Gather supporting documents: passport, criminal record, proof of investment, health insurance.
- 4
ARI Application
Submit the Autorização de Residência para Atividade de Investimento (ARI) application through SEF/AIMA — the Portuguese immigration authority.
- 5
Biometrics & Residence Card
Attend biometrics appointment in Portugal. Residence card (Golden Visa) issued — valid 2 years, renewable for 2-year periods.
- 6
Permanent Residence
After 5 years of continuous Golden Visa, apply for permanent residence.
- 7
Citizenship
Under the 2026 Nationality Law, apply for Portuguese citizenship (EU passport) after 7 years of legal residence (EU/CPLP nationals) or 10 years (everyone else) — prior PR is not required. Requires A2 Portuguese and a civic-knowledge test.
Reviewed by Ramin Asadi · RCIC · CICC #R407111 Verify
Portuguese immigration and citizenship law sits outside the RCIC licence, which covers Canadian immigration. This page is maintained by ITC iLand and checked against official Portuguese sources; the residence application is filed by Portuguese counsel, with whom ITC iLand coordinates. Nothing on this page is Portuguese legal advice.
Figures on this page were last verified against their official sources in July 2026.
What changed — read this first
Most of what circulates about the Portugal Golden Visa describes a programme that no longer exists. Two changes matter more than everything else on this page, and both cut against the version you have probably read.
Real estate no longer qualifies
The property route — the reason the programme became famous — was removed in October 2023. Buying a house or apartment in Portugal, at any price, does not qualify anyone for a Golden Visa today. Any agent or article still presenting Portuguese property as the route is working from a pre-2023 script.
Citizenship now takes ten years, not five
Portugal's 2026 Nationality Law, in force from 19 May 2026, raised the residence period for naturalisation from five years to ten for most applicants, and to seven for nationals of EU and CPLP (Portuguese-speaking) countries. The qualifying clock also now starts when the residence card is issued rather than when the application was filed — which, given the processing delays described below, is a second and separate extension of the real timeline.
Applications already pending before 19 May 2026 are grandfathered under the old five-year rule. If you are starting now, you are not.
If a five-year Portuguese passport was the plan, that plan needs revisiting. The programme remains a strong residency proposition — the stay requirement is among the lightest in Europe — but as a citizenship route it is now a decade-long commitment for most applicants.
What actually qualifies now
Five routes remain. The fund route has become the default for most applicants since property closed, because it is passive, regulated and does not require running anything.
| Route | Minimum investment | What it involves |
|---|---|---|
| Artistic Production / Cultural Heritage | EUR €250,000 | Drops to €200,000 for projects in low-density territories |
| Investment Funds | EUR €500,000 | — |
| Research & Scientific Development | EUR €500,000 | — |
| Company Investment | EUR €500,000 | Capital injection into a new or existing Portuguese company; must create or maintain at least 5 permanent jobs |
| Job Creation | No fixed minimum | 10 permanent full-time jobs (8 in low-density territories), no minimum capital |
Funds, in practice
At EUR €500,000, a qualifying fund must be Portuguese-regulated and cannot be invested in real estate — a restriction introduced precisely to stop the closed property route being rebuilt through a fund wrapper. Beyond that, funds vary enormously in strategy, fee load, lock-up and track record.
The EUR €250,000 cultural and artistic heritage route is the lowest threshold, dropping to €200,000 in low-density territories. It is a donation rather than an investment: the money supports a qualifying cultural project and does not come back. For applicants whose objective is the residence permit rather than a return, the lower certain cost sometimes beats the higher uncertain one.
A qualifying fund is not a vetted fund. Approval confirms it meets the Golden Visa criteria; it says nothing about whether it is a good investment. Diligence the fund as an investment on its own merits, separately from the immigration question, and ideally with someone who has no stake in your immigration file.
The stay requirement — the real attraction
Portugal asks for 7 days in year 1, then 14 days in each subsequent 2-year renewal period.
That is close to the lightest presence requirement in Europe and is the programme's genuine selling point. It lets someone hold EU residence, travel freely in the Schengen Area, and keep their life and tax residence entirely where it already is.
It also creates the trap in the next section. The days that keep the permit alive are nowhere near the days that lead to citizenship.
From permit to permanent residence to citizenship
Three different statuses with three different tests. Confusing them is the most expensive mistake made on this programme.
| Timeline | What it actually requires | |
|---|---|---|
| Keeping the permit | Ongoing | 7 days in year 1, then 14 days in each subsequent 2-year renewal period. |
| Permanent residence | 5 years | Requires A2-level Portuguese; investment and stay conditions must have been met throughout. Investors may liquidate the qualifying investment once PR is granted. |
| Citizenship | 10 years | Raised from 5 years by Portugal's 2026 Nationality Law reform (in force 19 May 2026) — 7 years for EU/CPLP nationals, 10 years otherwise. The qualifying clock now starts at residence-card issuance, not application date. Applications already pending before 19 May 2026 are grandfathered under the old 5-year rule. Also requires A2 Portuguese, a civic-knowledge test, and a clean criminal record; prior PR is not required — citizenship can be applied for directly. |
Note what the table implies. Seven days a year keeps the permit. Citizenship requires A2 Portuguese, a civic-knowledge test, and ten years of qualifying residence counted from card issuance. An applicant who does the minimum every year for a decade arrives at year ten having satisfied the permit and still needing the language and the test.
Processing: the official target and the actual wait
The official target is 6–12 months. The reality in 2026 is that AIMA — the agency that replaced SEF — carries a substantial backlog, and realistic end-to-end timelines from application to residence card have been running at 18–36 months.
This is not a footnote, because of how the new nationality law counts time. The naturalisation clock starts at card issuance, so every month of backlog is a month added to the ten years, not absorbed into it. A two-year wait for the card means a twelve-year path to citizenship in practice.
Plan on the observed timeline rather than the published one, and treat any promise of a faster outcome with suspicion — the delay is administrative capacity, and no agent has a lever on it.
What it costs beyond the investment
The qualifying investment is the headline. These are additional, and several recur annually:
- Government application and residence-card fees, charged per family member, at initial grant and at each renewal.
- Fund subscription, management and performance fees where the fund route is used — over a ten-year horizon these compound into a substantial figure and deserve modelling, not a glance.
- Portuguese legal representation and power of attorney.
- A Portuguese tax number (NIF) and bank account for each applicant.
- Document translation, notarisation and apostille for every applicant.
- Travel to Portugal for biometrics, and for the minimum stay days in each renewal period.
Government fees are set in Portuguese law and revised periodically, so this page does not quote them. The number worth modelling carefully is not the fees but the fund's total expense ratio over ten years — on a €500,000 subscription, the difference between a cheap fund and an expensive one can exceed every other cost on this list combined.
Who you can include
One qualifying investment covers the family. Dependants generally include a spouse or legally recognised partner, dependent children — including adult children who are genuinely dependent and in full-time study — and dependent parents.
Each family member is a separate applicant for fees and for documents, so a family of four multiplies the administrative cost even though the investment is made once. Each also has their own path to permanent residence and citizenship, with their own language requirement where applicable; children who grow up partly in Portugal may reach fluency naturally, while an adult who visits seven days a year will not.
Residence, tax residence, and the difference
Holding a Golden Visa does not make you a Portuguese tax resident. Tax residence generally follows physical presence — broadly, more than 183 days in a year, or maintaining a habitual home there. An investor spending seven days a year in Portugal is a Portuguese resident for immigration purposes and remains tax resident wherever they actually live.
This is usually exactly what the applicant wants, and it is worth stating plainly because the two words are the same and the consequences are not.
If you do intend to relocate properly, the analysis changes completely and Portugal's treatment of new tax residents has itself changed in recent years. That is a question for a cross-border tax specialist before you move, not for an immigration page.
Treat any pitch that bundles the Golden Visa together with a specific tax outcome with real caution. They are separate regimes with separate tests, they have both been amended recently, and the immigration adviser selling you the first is generally not qualified on the second.
Who this suits — and who should look elsewhere
Portugal still makes sense for someone who wants EU residence and Schengen mobility without relocating, can commit the capital for a long horizon, and treats eventual citizenship as an option rather than the plan. As a low-presence route into Europe it remains one of the best available.
It is the wrong route if
- You want an EU passport on a defined timetable. Ten years from card issuance, plus an 18–36 month wait for the card, plus A2 Portuguese and a civics test.
- You wanted to buy property. That route closed in October 2023 and has not returned.
- You need certainty on timing. The AIMA backlog is outside anyone's control, including ours.
- You are unwilling to learn any Portuguese. A2 is modest but it is not optional at the citizenship stage.
- You want the money working hard. The cultural route is a donation; the fund route is constrained by what it is permitted to invest in.
Country Location
Why ITC iLand for This Program?
ITC iLand has guided over 100 families through global citizenship and residency by investment programs — from Caribbean second passports to European Golden Visas. We work with government-authorized agents in each jurisdiction and bring 25+ years of international immigration expertise to ensure your application is compliant, complete, and processed without delays.
Frequently Asked Questions
As of October 2023, direct residential real estate purchase no longer qualifies for the Golden Visa. Qualifying options now include investment funds (EUR €500,000+), cultural heritage (EUR €250,000+; €200,000+ in low-density territories), a Portuguese company investment (EUR €500,000+ plus creating 5 jobs), and scientific research. Real estate in interior regions and the Azores/Madeira may still qualify in some cases — consult our advisors for the latest rules.
Golden Visa holders must spend a minimum of 7 days in Portugal in the first year and 14 days in each subsequent 2-year renewal period. This is among the lowest stay requirements of any residency program.
The official target is 6–12 months, but AIMA's (Portugal's immigration agency) application backlog means the realistic timeline from starting your documentation to holding a residence card often runs 18–36 months in 2026. Set your expectations accordingly, and track your case progress with ITC iLand.
After 5 years of holding the Golden Visa (with minimum stays met), you may apply for EU permanent residence. You will need basic Portuguese language skills (A2 level).
Portugal's Nationality Law reform, in force since 19 May 2026, extended the required period: 7 years of legal residence for EU/CPLP (Portuguese-speaking country) nationals, or 10 years for everyone else — up from 5 years for all nationalities previously. The clock starts from the residence-card issuance date, not the application date, and prior PR is not required. Applications filed before 19 May 2026 remain grandfathered under the old 5-year rule. You'll also need A2-level Portuguese, a civic-knowledge test, and no criminal record.
Yes. Dependent children included in the Golden Visa are eligible for Portuguese citizenship alongside the main applicant once they meet the required residence period.
Holding a Golden Visa does not make you a Portuguese tax resident. If you become a tax resident (183+ days/year), Portugal offers the Non-Habitual Resident (NHR) tax regime with favorable rates for 10 years.
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