PORTUGAL – Golden Visa Corruption to Cause Processing Delays
Portuguese police have recently arrested several officials due to a suspicion of corrupt activities in granting residence visas under Portugal’s Golden Visa program, which allows non-European investors to obtain permanent residency in exchange for investing in business, financial instruments, and real estate within Portugal. Under this program, applicants who invest €500,000 in real estate are allowed to obtain temporary residency for five years. After this period of temporary residency, they become eligible to apply for permanent residency. Currently, these officials, including even the director of SEF (Servico de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras) are being detained for questioning. As the investigation continues, significant delays are expected in all immigration processing at the Immigration and Border Service (Servico de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros).