Portugal Golden Visa through an investment fund: residence for EUR 500,000 without property

A collective investment undertaking set up under Portuguese law, without property, with a maturity at the time of investment of at least 5 years and at least 60% of its investments in commercial companies based in Portugal. The fund and its depositary operate under CMVM supervision. Compliance is confirmed by the management company's declaration, which AIMA checks.

Yes. AIMA allows units in several qualifying funds if the total is at least EUR 500,000 and the money arrived by international transfer. Each fund must meet the legal criteria on its own: a maturity of 5 years or more and 60% in Portuguese companies.

The units are your property, and on the fund's terms the capital comes back on exit or liquidation, with a gain or a loss. The state guarantees nothing: this is an investment with market risk, not a deposit. Units can be sold before 5 years, but that puts the renewal of the permit at risk.

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. The 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.

7 days in the first year and 14 days in each subsequent 2-year period, consecutive or not. 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. The fund's own fees are counted separately per its prospectus.

No. The law prohibits directing the investment, directly or indirectly, into real estate, and the route is expressly called 'non-property funds'. Funds with residential, commercial or hotel assets are a ground for refusal even if they are sold 'for the golden visa'.

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 years away, not part of the Golden Visa.

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. Income from the fund is taxed under the rules of your country of tax residence and of Portugal; preferential regimes such as IFICI are not granted to permit holders automatically. We run the tax calculation before you buy the units.

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.

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 liquidation terms before buying, and prepare a reinvestment into another qualifying fund in advance in case of an early event.

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.

It does not: EUR 500,000 in the fund is one investment for the whole family. 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.