Portugal Golden Visa Program which generated almost 5 billion euros since its inception in 2012 had another successful fiscal year in 2019. Between 2019’s January and September, Brazilian, Turkish and American applicants increased their interests while Chinese applicants invested less when compared to the same period of 2018.
According to the data, Brazilian investors spent 46.5% more compared to the amount of the previous year. This percentage equals to 132.6 million euros. Turkish investors constitute the third biggest investing group of Portugal Golden Visa Program, and in 2019’s first three quarters 71 Turkish citizens invested in the program whose investments collectively amounted to 38.5 million euros. Following Turkish investors, Americans are the fourth most crowded group with 49 investors who invested also 38.5 million euros in Portugal Golden Visa Program. Russians, the last group of the top five investor groups of Portugal’s residency by investment program, invested 26.3 million euros in the program through a total of 40 investors.
The only investor group who spent less in the program is the Chinese investors’ which is the second largest group of Portugal Golden Visa Program’s applicants. According to the data of SEF (Portugal Immigration and Border Service), from January to September of 2019, Chinese investors spent 11% less compared to the same period of 2018. It means Portugal Golden Visa Program generated 180 million euros less from the Chinese investors.
The total amount of 4.8 billion euros generated since the beginning of the program in 2012 is constituted mainly of real estate purchases since the real estate acquisition of Portugal Golden Visa Program is the most attractive option by a margin according to the foreign investors who apply for residency through the program. Within these three quarters, January-September 2019, SEF reports that 323 Chinese and 176 Brazilian investors have been granted the Portuguese residency through Portugal Golden Visa Program.
The investment raised by Portugal Golden Visa Program in this period is almost 30% more than the amount raised in the same period of 2018. According to the numbers provided by SEF, comparatively with 2018, the most prolific month of 2019 was August in terms of the amount generated by investments. While the August of 2018 generated around 58.5 million euros for the country economy, August of 2019 saw a 41% increase which amounted to 82.5 million euros. Including the numbers of the last report SEF published, 7960 investors around the world successfully used Portugal Golden Visa Program to become Portuguese residents. With the Portugal residency, these investors took the first step towards citizenship of an EU member state.
