How we processed the Golden Visa of Portugal for three families at the same time at the same time
Valentin O. from Kaluga. He applied in May 2020. His goal was to obtain EU citizenship in the shortest possible time.
The peculiarity of this story was that together with Valentin and his relatives, two other families expressed the same desire. One was related to the client by family ties, the other by friendly ties. Thus, the work was conducted in parallel with three separate cases.
During the initial consultation, Valentin and the other families were offered to apply for a Portuguese Golden Visa. The reason - it is the fastest in terms of obtaining citizenship: the investor gets it already after 5 years of holding the Golden visa.
The clients' plans did not include living in Portugal. They intended to buy shares in a hotel in order to receive income while remaining in Russia. The conditions of the local program allowed such an option.
Valentin already had a French Schengen visa. Using it, he wished to visit Portugal in person to choose an investment object. The lawyers ensured that he was invited to the country during the quarantine period
Force majeure and getting out of it
At the end of June Valentin bought a ticket on the route: Moscow - Istanbul - Lisbon. But there was a hitch in Turkey: the Turkish authorities did not want to let him out. They feared that in Lisbon Valentin would be returned because of quarantine restrictions. And in this case, the Turks would have to pay for the return flight.
As a matter of urgency, the lawyers worked out two possible ways out:
- Process a real estate transaction remotely.
- Visit Portugal using a Polish work visa (which we were prepared to do).
Valentin chose the first option. In a lockdown environment, this is a method that clients use regularly.
Further stages
Work continued in July. In particular:
- A NIF (tax number) has been issued for each family;
- Millennium bank accounts have been opened;
- suitable shares in a Marriott hotel were selected and purchase and sale transactions were executed remotely (each option from €500 thousand).
In early August, the company's lawyers submitted copies of the documents to the Portuguese immigration service SEF.
In September they received a positive response from SEF and an invitation to visit Portugal to submit biometric data. In the same month, the families passed the biometrics and submitted the original documents to the SEF.
In mid-October, the residence permit cards for each family were ready. Lawyers in Portugal received them by proxy and sent them to the clients in Russia.
The work on the cases of these families took about 5.5 months. Now the clients, having a “golden” residence permit, can come to Portugal without hindrance. They receive profit from renting real estate, and are entitled to 7 days a year of free vacation in a hotel.