Portugal ranked top golden visa scheme
Photo: Chris Yunker
Portugal has been ranked as having the top golden visa scheme in the world by Henley & Partners. The specialists in residence and citizenship planning have released their annual report, comparing 19 residence-by-investment and seven citizenship-by-investment schemes around the world.
The report analyses a range of factors, such as immigration law, tax, and quality of living, as well as transparency, risk and compliance issues.
Out of the 19 residence programs reviewed, Portugal's scheme is ranked as the best, ahead of Austria and Belgium.
The programs were ranked according to 10 indicators: Reputation, Quality of Life, Tax, Visa Free Access, Processing Time and Quality of Processing, Compliance, Investment Requirements, Total Costs, Time to Citizenship and Citizenship Requirements.
Out of the 10 indicators measured, Portugal ranked highest on the Total Costs indicator, due to the fact that the total investment requirement is significantly lower than other residence programs.
It shared first place with Malta, Monaco and the United Arab Emirates for the lighter tax burdens placed on residents on both personal and corporate levels. Portugal was joined by fellow Schengen area countries Malta, Monaco, Switzerland, Latvia, Austria, Spain, Belgium and Greece in first place for the Visa Free Access it provides to 25 countries. In terms of Processing Time and Quality of Processing, Portugal also shared the top spot with Malta, Switzerland and Austria, for their straightforward and efficient processing procedures.
Under Reputation, a factor which places reliance on the perceptions of investors and advisors regarding the image of countries in which they invest, Switzerland narrowly beat Canada to first place while Austria came in third. However, Austria emerged as the leader in Quality of Life, ahead of Canada in second place followed by Switzerland. Austria continues to dominate in the Investment Requirements category, followed by Belgium and Malta respectively.
Citizenship Requirements, the indicator that analyzes the requirements needed to qualify for naturalization after the required minimum time is fulfilled, was led by three non-European Union countries, namely Australia, Canada and the US.
The figures follow a booming period for Portugal's property market, thanks to the boost provided by the golden visa scheme. Deputy Prime Minister Paulo Portas has previously reported that €1.27 billion has been invested in the country's real estate through the program.
However, the scheme's success has not been entirely untarnished: at the end of last week, Portugal's former interior minister Miguel Macedo for his role in a money-laundering scandal linked to the scheme. He resigned in November last year, after 11 arrests were made as part of an investigation into the alleged articial hiking of investment values to help foreign buyers secure residence permits.
"The prosecution has called for [Macedo]'s immunity to be lifted so he can be indicted," a spokesman told the AFP.