The Golden Visa program in Portugal allowed non-EU nationals to obtain residency in Portugal through real estate investment or other types of investments. However, on February 16, 2023, the Prime Minister of Portugal announced the termination of this program due to rising real estate prices and its impact on the local population.
Although Portugal no longer offers the Golden Visa program, other EU countries such as Spain, Greece, and Malta continue to offer similar programs. In addition, Latvia offers the Golden Visa program as well as multiple other programs that grant EU residency for third world country nationals.
The alternate programs to the Portugal Golden Visa program are:
- EU Blue Card
The EU Blue Card allows non-EU/EEA nationals to reside and work within the EU country that has issued the residence permit. It is a temporary residence permit in Latvia that is available for highly skilled individuals who are employed in Europe. This permit is issued for 5 years, can be renewed, and provides the opportunity to apply for permanent residence permit after the 5 years have passed.
The requirements for this program are:
- valid passport
- professional experience minimum of 5 years or higher education degree in at least 3 years programme;
- employer in Latvia;
- minimum monthly salary of 1291 EUR;
- clean criminal record.
- Share capital investment
Temporary residence permit in Latvia can also be obtained through investing in the share capital of a company. Investors who have invested at least 50 000 EUR in company’s share-capital in Latvia are eligible for temporary residence permit that is issued for 5 years with the possibility for renewal. After 5 years the person can apply for permanent residence permit in Latvia.
The requirements for this program are:
- valid passport;
- investment in company’s share-capital minimum of 50 000 EUR;
- payment of state fee in total amount of 10 000 EUR (total amount for whole family – one time payment);
- sufficient funds of living (will need to submit bank account statement confirming that the persons have at least minimum of 6000 EUR yearly savings for each adult, and at least 1800 EUR yearly savings for each children below 18 years old);
- documents to prove source of income (savings, salary, dividends, loans or any other source of income);
- clean criminal record.
- Real-estate purchase
Foreigners that have purchased real-estate in Latvia for a minimum of 250 000 EUR, are also eligible for the temporary residence permit. After making an investment in real-estate in one or more of the offered locations in Latvia, the investor can then gain the residence permit that is issued for 5 years and can be renewed. The same as for the other programs, after the 5 years have passed, the investor is eligible to apply for a permanent residence permit.
The requirements for this program are:
- valid passport;
- purchase of real-estate in Latvia for minimal market value of 250 000 EUR (market value is determined by licenced evaluator);
- payment of state fee in total amount of 12 500 EUR (total amount for whole family – one time payment);
- sufficient funds of living (will need to submit bank account statement confirming that the persons have at least minimum of 6000 EUR yearly savings for each adult, and at least 1800 EUR yearly savings for each children below 18 years old);
- documents to prove source of income (savings, salary, dividends, loans or any other source of income);
- clean criminal record.
Contact VALCORP lawyers to choose better program by contacting us in email: info@valcorp.eu or via call +372 55658650