Portugal Golden Visa: Requirements, Application Process, and Key Updates for Residency and Citizenship

While it provides significant mobility and lifestyle advantages, the programme does not remove normal legal, administrative, or tax obligations associated with residency or investment in Portugal.

Although the programme offers substantial benefits, obtaining a Golden Visa can be administratively complex and time-consuming, particularly for citizens managing cross-border financial and tax affairs.

This article outlines the eligibility criteria, qualifying investment routes, and requirements, and provides practical advice to help applicants navigate the process efficiently and in compliance with current regulations.

What Is a Golden Visa in Portugal?

The Portugal Golden Visa programme is an investment-based residence initiative that offers non-EU, non-EEA, and non-Swiss nationals an opportunity to obtain Portuguese residency — and potentially citizenship after meeting the statutory residence and integration requirements — through qualifying investments or approved contributions.

The programme was introduced in 2012 to attract foreign capital and stimulate the Portuguese economy, and it remains particularly appealing to high-net-worth individuals and globally mobile citizens seeking to:

• Retire in a stable, warmer, and relatively affordable EU Member State.
• Spend part of the year exploring Europe by leveraging visa-free travel within the Schengen Area.
• Secure long-term access to Portugal’s high-quality healthcare, education, and lifestyle infrastructure for their families.

Until October 2023, real-estate investment was one of the most common qualifying routes. However, the Portuguese government formally removed real-estate purchases from eligibility on 7 October 2023, in response to the national housing-supply crisis.

Consequently, property acquisitions no longer qualify new applicants for residency under the programme, and investors must now choose from five remaining pathways to obtain a Golden Visa in Portugal.

What Are the Portugal Golden Visa Investment Options?

If your objective is to obtain Portuguese residency while actively participating in the country’s economic activity, you may choose from five qualifying pathways, as outlined below:

Investment-based routes

Donation-based routes

Before committing funds, investors, particularly UK and US citizens, should consider tax implications, liquidity, fund structure, and exit strategy, as Golden-Visa-linked investments typically require a minimum holding period of five years.

Which Portugal Golden Visa Requirements Must You Meet in 2025?

A qualifying investment is only one element of a successful Golden Visa application. You must also meet several personal, legal, and procedural eligibility criteria, most notably:

Because you will likely need to visit Portugal during the Golden Visa process, for identity verification, biometric collection, and residence-card issuance, you must hold a valid entry visa or visa-exempt status.

Nationals of visa-exempt countries such as the UK and US can usually enter Portugal under the Schengen 90-day rule, while other applicants must obtain a short-stay Schengen visa or any other visa that permits entry during the application period.

Portugal Golden Visa Residency Requirements

Portugal’s Golden Visa programme imposes minimal physical-presence obligations compared with most EU residence schemes.

You must meet two minimum stay criteria:

1. Spend at least seven days in Portugal during the first year after residence authorisation is granted.
2. Spend at least 14 days in Portugal during each subsequent two-year renewal. period.

These flexible stay requirements allow you to maintain Portuguese residency while living primarily elsewhere. This flexibility makes the Portugal Golden Visa particularly suitable for international investors who wish to:

• Preserve Portuguese residency while spending considerable time in their home country
• Travel across the Schengen Area without requiring additional visas
• Work toward Portuguese citizenship after five years of residence, without being required to live full-time in Portugal.

How To Get a Golden Visa in Portugal?

You can obtain a Portuguese Golden Visa by completing four principal steps:

1. Make the qualifying investment or donation.
2. Collect, translate, and legalise (apostille) all supporting documents.
3. Submit the application and attend biometrics.
4. Receive and renew your residence card.

Make an Investment or Donation

After selecting your preferred Golden Visa pathway, you may either make the investment or donation independently or appoint a legal or financial representative to act on your behalf. The latter is typically advisable because a representative can expedite two prerequisite steps:

1. Obtaining a Portuguese Tax Identification Number (Número de Identificação Fiscal – NIF): A NIF is required for all financial and legal transactions in Portugal and can be obtained either online through the Portuguese Tax and Customs Authority or in person at a Finanças office.
2. Opening a Portuguese bank account: Most banks allow non-residents to open accounts remotely or through a representative. Comparing institutions is essential, as compliance checks and transfer documentation standards vary between banks.

Both steps can be completed in a single day. In-person applications for a NIF are typically faster (often processed within an hour) compared with 3–10 business days for online requests.

Once you hold a valid NIF and a Portuguese bank account, you may transfer the required funds for your chosen investment or donation.

Always retain bank transfer confirmations, fund-subscription certificates, and payment receipts, as these will be required during the application and for future compliance verification.

Collect, Translate, and Apostille Documents

After completing your Golden Visa investment or donation, you need to prepare and legalise the documentation required for the application. Typical documents include:

• A valid passport copy.
• Evidence of the qualifying investment or donation (e.g. subscription confirmation, company registration certificate, or donation receipt).
• Criminal-record certificate (issued within the last 90 days).
• Health-insurance policy or equivalent proof of medical coverage.
• Certificate of good fiscal standing from the Portuguese tax authorities.
• Receipt for payment of the Golden Visa application fee.

If including family members, you must also collect their supporting documents (e.g. marriage certificate, children’s birth certificates, and dependency proofs where relevant).

All documents issued outside Portugal must be translated into Portuguese and legalised by apostille. The responsible authority depends on the issuing country. For example, US applicants must typically legalise documents through the US Department of State and the relevant Secretary of State office.

Complete the Application Process

The Golden Visa application process involves two steps:

1. Online application
2. In-person biometric appointment.

Applications are submitted via the ARI portal, managed by Portugal’s immigration authority — Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo (AIMA). You or your representative will upload all required documentation and pay the corresponding fees.

Processing typically takes at least 90 days, but AIMA continues to face significant administrative backlogs in 2025, meaning real timelines can extend to 6–12 months or longer.

If your application is successful, you will receive pre-approval and an invitation for an in-person appointment to:

• Present original documentation.
• Provide biometric data (fingerprints).
• Have photographs taken for your residence card.

After this appointment, final approval and residence card issuance may take 6–18 months, depending on case volume and verification times.

Obtain Your Residence Card

Once approved, you will be asked to pay the residence card issuance fee, currently €8,063.20 per applicant (to be verified with AIMA’s latest fee schedule). After payment and final checks, your Portuguese residence card will be issued, allowing you to reside, work, and travel within Portugal and the Schengen Area under the Golden Visa conditions.

The total timeframe from initial investment to residence card issuance typically ranges from 12 to 24 months, depending on administrative capacity. Working with a qualified legal or immigration representative can significantly reduce procedural errors and delays.

What Are the Benefits of a Portugal Golden Visa?

Although the application process may be lengthy, the Portugal Golden Visa programme delivers several substantial advantages for international investors:

• Flexible entry levels: Certain qualifying routes, such as arts and cultural-heritage contributions, begin at €250,000. In some low-density regions, specific thresholds may be reduced by up to 20 %, depending on the type of investment and current regulations. Applicants should verify regional eligibility before committing funds.
• Portuguese residence status with Schengen mobility: A Portuguese residence permit allows visa-free travel within the Schengen Area and provides a recognised pathway to apply for permanent residence and, after the required residence period, citizenship.
• Family reunification rights: The main applicant may include eligible family members — typically a spouse or legal partner, dependent children, and in some cases dependent parents — in the same application. Each approved family member receives a separate residence permit with rights to live, study, and work in Portugal.
• Access to public services: Golden-Visa residents enjoy access to Portugal’s healthcare and education systems on broadly the same basis as other legal residents.
• Lifestyle and relocation flexibility: The programme’s minimal stay requirements (seven days in the first year and fourteen in each subsequent two-year period) make it well-suited to UK, US, and other citizens who wish to retain residency while living primarily elsewhere.
• Tax incentives for new residents: Investors relocating to Portugal may qualify for Portugal’s new incentive regime replacing the former NHR, which can offer reduced tax on foreign-source income for a limited period. Independent tax advice is essential before relying on this.

Tax and residency planning should form part of your overall strategy. Golden Visa residence does not automatically make you tax-resident, but if you relocate permanently, Portugal’s tax treaties and incentive regimes may affect how your income and pensions are treated.

Titan Wealth International can help you integrate these considerations into your long-term cross-border exit and wealth strategy.

How To Transition From a Portugal Golden Visa to Citizenship?

After holding your Golden Visa for a minimum of five years and maintaining your qualifying investment, you may become eligible to apply for Portuguese citizenship by naturalisation, subject to meeting several additional criteria:

• Portuguese language proficiency: Demonstrate at least A2-level Portuguese under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
• Integration into the community: Show genuine and demonstrable ties to Portugal, which your period of legal residence under the Golden Visa can help establish.
• Clean criminal record: Have no convictions punishable by three years or more under Portuguese law.

Before applying for citizenship, you must also be registered with Portugal’s tax and social-security systems. Specifically, you need a Social Security Identification Number (Número de Identificação de Segurança Social – NISS), which can be obtained through Portugal’s Social Security offices or website.

Once all conditions are satisfied, you can apply for citizenship through the Institute of Registries and Notary (Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado – IRN), either online or in person. The approval process typically takes six to twelve months, although timing varies depending on administrative workload. You may continue to renew your residence permit while awaiting a citizenship decision.

Important for UK and US Citizens

Achieving Portuguese citizenship also provides access to EU citizenship benefits, including the right to live and work in any EU/EEA Member State, rights that UK nationals lost following Brexit.

However, dual-citizenship recognition depends on each applicant’s home-country law; for example, both the UK and US permit dual nationality, but reporting and tax obligations continue under home-country rules.

What Are the Portugal Golden Visa Program Changes in 2025?

On 23 June 2025, the Portuguese government announced a package of reforms to the country’s immigration and nationality laws. Under the proposed regime, foreigners, including Golden-Visa holders, may face longer residence requirements before becoming eligible for citizenship.

The key proposed amendments include:

• Extending the required residence period from five to seven years for Portuguese-speaking nationals and to ten years for all other applicants;
• Starting the residence-period calculation from the date of residence-card issuance, rather than from the date of the initial application;
• Introducing formal tests of Portuguese language, civic knowledge, and constitutional principles.

Legislative status as at 10 November 2025:

• The Portuguese Parliament approved these amendments on 28 October 2025, but the law has not yet been promulgated by the President.
• The Constitutional Court struck down parts of an earlier immigration-law package in August 2025, particularly around family-reunification restrictions.
• A revised draft addressing those concerns was resubmitted in late September 2025 and is still under review.
• The effective date remains uncertain, and the final wording may differ materially from the version approved by Parliament.

Applicants should therefore verify the legal framework in force at the time of their citizenship application, as future changes could alter eligibility timelines or documentation requirements.