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What are the requirements for capital investment when applying for the Portuguese Golden Visa program?

I understand that for the capital investment option under the Portugal Golden Visa program, the investor has to transfer a total of 1 million euros into Portugal. What are the timelines for the deposit? Can I transfer the total amount part by part in a window of half a year? Do I need to open an account under my name in a Portuguese bank? What kind of documentation do I need to obtain from the bank?


Answers
  • NEXT/Gali Macedo & Associados
    August 30, 2018

    There are general requirements and investment requirements when applying for the Portuguese Golden Visa program through the capital transfer with a value to or above 1 million euros. General requirements for the main applicant are: a passport; criminal Record of the country of origin or country of residence in case the applicant has lived in another country for over one year (this document must be translated into Portuguese, certified by a Portuguese diplomatic entity and the ministry of foreign affairs of the country of issue and must have been issued within the prior three months to the application); affidavit, whereby the applicant declares on his / her word of honor that he / she shall comply with the minimum quantitative requirements and maintain the investment for a minimum period of five years; and up-to-date declarations issued within the prior 45 days by the Portuguese tax authorities and by the Portuguese social security confirming the absence of any debts to those authorities. For investments by way of capital transfer with a value equal to or above 1 million euros, the applicant must prove that an investment in the minimum value was made, either as an independent entrepreneur, or as proprietor of a single member limited company, by delivering a supporting document of an actual international bank transfer, according to the type of investment. These are the types of capital investment: international transfer equal to or above 1 million euros into Portuguese bank account; purchase of Portuguese public debt instruments, namely treasury bonds, savings certificates and ordinary treasury bills; purchase of book-entry securities; purchase of securities held individually deposited with a safe keeper; purchase of securities held individually and not integrated in a central securities depository; purchase of securities integrated in a central securities depository; purchase of share capital not included in the former items; investment in a single member limited company. There is no timeline for the deposit, seeing that the application at the Portuguese immigration entity for the Golden Visa can only be submitted after the investment has been made. The transfer can be made in different parts. The bank account must be open under the investor’s name in a Portuguese bank. In order to open a bank account in Portugal, you need a Portuguese tax number. The required documents to obtain a Portuguese tax number are: a copy of the first page of the passport (page with personal data, signature and picture); abd proof of address in country of residence. Adding to the Portuguese tax number the other necessary documents to open a bank account are: copy of the passport (as above); proof of professional activity (in order to justify the origin of the capital).

  • Miranda & Associados, Sociedade de Advogados R.L.
    September 04, 2018

    Pursuant to your question below, I hereby inform you that in order to apply for the Golden Visa scheme through the capital investment modality, in short, it is mandatory that you transfer to a Portuguese bank account under your name, from a foreign bank account under your name, the amount of 1 million euros or above. Regarding your specific questions: "What are the timelines for the deposit? Can I transfer the total amount part by part in a window of half a year?" The transfer needs to be performed in one single transfer in the amount of 1 million euros since it cannot be done in several transfers. Kindly note that this balance needs to be verified for each renewal of the visa and you need to maintain an average balance of 1 million euros per each quarter of each year. "Do I need to open an account under my name in a Portuguese bank?" As mentioned above, you need to open a bank account under your name in Portugal. "What kind of documentation do I need to obtain from the bank?" You need to obtain a statement from the bank stating that you performed a bank transfer in the amount of 1 million euros and that money was transferred from a bank account under your name in a foreign country.

  • October 10, 2018

    The Golden Visa application based in the financial deposit is one of the straight options of investment available in the current law. The minimum amount corresponds to 1 million euros and can be transferred in installments with no maximum deadline between them. Naturally, it is mandatory to open a bank account in Portugal for such a purpose in the name of the main applicant. The proof of investment will be made through a bank statement that the Portuguese bank issues confirming the dates and amounts of such transfers, the current balance of the account free of burdens or charges, the name and personal data of the owner of the bank account, and that all that amounts were transferred from abroad to Portugal by transfer.