Portugal's 'golden visa' scheme that attracted many wealthy Indians likely to end

Portugal has said that it may end its much-vaunted 'golden visa' programme which was known to give wealthy immigrants residence rights in the country, the country's prime minister Antonio Costa said on Wednesday. Costa said that various schemes offered by Portugal are currently being re-evaluated and that golden visa was one of them. He was speaking at Lisbon's Web Summit.

As reported by Reuters, Portugal would scrap the programme as it has already fulfilled its function. The scheme, known officially as Portugal Golden Residence Permit Program, has been heavily criticised in the home country because many believe the programme was responsible for pushing up housing prices and rents, and the European Commission had called for the end of such national schemes. 

As per Reuters, the scheme has attracted 6.5 billion euros in investment, primarily from countries like Brazil, China, and South Africa, with the majority of the funding going towards the real estate sector. Costa has said that several visa programmes in Portugal are currently being reevaluated and that the 'golden visa' was one of them.

The minimum investments in real estate for the Greece Golden Visa Program have been increased from €250,000 to €500,000.

Here are 5 key benefits that Wealthy Indians get under Portugal’s 'golden visa' scheme

1. Through the residence permit, Indians have the right to live, work, and study in Portugal
2. The scheme allows visa-free travel in Europe’s Schengen Area
3. Indians are only required an average stay of just seven days a year in Portugal during the first year of resident, which can also count towards citizenship eligibility after five years
4. Non-European nationals can keep other citizenship(s) while applying for a Portugal citizenship under this scheme
5. Family can be taken along.

How can you qualify for the Golden Residence Permit Program
People applying for the 'golden visa' scheme in Portugal must qualify for certain investment options such as transfer of money for certain programmes, property acquisition or business investment.

Here are all the details on the Portugal Golden Visa.  https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/eu-golden-visas/portugal-golden-visa/ 

Also read: If you have the moolah, you can now stay in this island paradise for 10 years

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