Portugal Golden Visa: residence by investment from EUR 250,000 — every route in 2026

It is the residence permit for investment activity (ARI) under article 90-A of Lei 23/2007. Until autumn 2023 the most common route was buying property. Lei 56/2023 removed property and plain capital transfer from 7 October 2023; funds, research, culture and business with jobs remain. Permits issued earlier for property are renewed under the old rules.

Five: the creation of at least 10 jobs; EUR 500,000 in scientific research; EUR 250,000 in support of artistic production or national cultural heritage; EUR 500,000 in units of a non-property investment fund (maturity of 5 years or more, at least 60% in Portuguese companies); EUR 500,000 in setting up a Portuguese company with 5 permanent jobs or in the capital of an existing one. For jobs, research and culture the threshold is 20% lower in low-density territories.

7 days in the first year and 14 days in each subsequent 2-year period, consecutive or not. It is the lightest stay requirement among European residence-by-investment programmes: you do not have to live in the country.

Under the AIMA table in force from 1 March 2026: EUR 842.80 to receive and analyse the application, EUR 8,418.90 to issue the permit and EUR 4,210.30 per renewal — per applicant, family members included. Permanent residence for an ARI holder: EUR 11,786.70. Payment is by DUC through the portal; cash is not accepted.

No. Property purchase has not been a route since 7 October 2023, and the law expressly prohibits directing the investment, directly or indirectly, into real estate. Funds holding residential or commercial property do not qualify either. If someone offers you a 'fund with apartments for the golden visa', check the fund's documents.

The AIMA site gives no deadline for ARI decisions, and the agency runs a dedicated plan to clear its backlog. In our practice and research a renewal takes about 2.5 months; a first issuance takes longer and depends on the biometrics queue. This is not a statutory term, and we will not promise 'four months'.

No. ARI is residence, not citizenship: your Indian passport stays as it is. Only naturalisation — after 10 years under the 2026 law — would mean acquiring a foreign citizenship, and since India does not allow dual citizenship, the Indian passport would then have to be surrendered. That is a separate decision many years away, not part of the Golden Visa.

Outward transfers by resident Indians run through the Reserve Bank of India's Liberalised Remittance Scheme, currently USD 250,000 per person per financial year, and larger remittances attract tax collected at source above a threshold. A family investment is therefore planned across family members, financial years or funds already held abroad. The Portuguese bank must confirm the money arrived by international transfer.

The permit itself does not make you a tax resident. If you spend more than 183 days a year in Portugal or keep a permanent home there, residence has to be assessed separately. Preferential regimes such as IFICI are not granted automatically to permit holders: profession, employer and the legal basis of the relief all matter. We run the tax calculation before the move, not after.

Permanent residence after 5 years of temporary residence with basic Portuguese; the PR card is issued for 5 years and the status itself has no expiry. Citizenship under the law of 18 May 2026 after 10 years of legal residence (7 for EU and Portuguese-speaking-country citizens), with a language and culture test. The rule counting time from the date of the residence application has been repealed; applications filed before 19 May 2026 are decided under the previous rules.

Yes. According to AIMA, an ARI holder has the right to live and work in Portugal. There is no obligation to work: the minimum requirements are the stay and keeping the investment.

AIMA states plainly that selling or changing the investment on which the permit is based can jeopardise renewal while the status depends on that investment. That is why we check the fund's maturity and exit terms before buying units and prepare a replacement basis in advance if an early event occurs.

The application is filed online through the ARI portal, and you travel to Portugal for biometrics on a short-stay Schengen visa or another legal basis — no residence visa is needed. Police certificates are required from the country of citizenship and from every country where you lived for more than a year, no older than 3 months, translated into Portuguese and certified. Indian documents carry an apostille from the Ministry of External Affairs; UAE documents are legalised through the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Yes. According to AIMA, family members are the spouse, minor children, unmarried dependent children up to 25 who are studying, and dependent parents of the applicant or spouse. They may apply with you or later; under Lei 61/2025 ARI holders do not need 2 years of residence before reunification.

The investment is one per family: EUR 250,000 or EUR 500,000 depending on the route. Only AIMA fees change: EUR 842.80 for analysis and EUR 8,418.90 for issuance per person, EUR 4,210.30 per renewal. A couple with two children pays EUR 37,046.80 in fees at issuance. Everyone needs insurance, and adults need police certificates.

Yes. If the application is refused through the fault of our team or an error in building the case, we refund the company's service fee less a minimal retention for costs actually incurred. Refund terms, the payment schedule and the rules on retaining service costs are fixed in the contract before work begins. Before we start, we check your documents and risk history free of charge and tell you about any risks in advance.