Portugal’s Golden Visa program, which grants Portuguese residency in exchange for capital transfer, real estate purchases, or job creation, brought in a capital investment of just over €50 million in November, which is up 35% from the €37 million reported the same month in 2019, Lusa reports.
In all, 86 Golden Visas were granted last month: 80 were for property investments, of which 17 were urban rehabilitation projects, and the remaining six consisted of capital transfers. Respectively, property purchases brought in €47 million and capital transfers €2.8 million.
None of the visas were for job creation.
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As for who was behind the investments, 22 from China, 12 from the U.S., nine from Brazil, five from South Africans and four from India.
Since the beginning of the year, SEF (Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras – Foreigners and Borders Service) has granted 1,133 visas through the Golden Visa scheme, bringing in €619 million in investment to the country, which represents an 11% drop in year-on-year terms, according to Lusa.
Since its creation eight years ago, the Golden Visa program has resulted in the issuance of 9,340 residency permits.
Of the residency permits approved thus far, 8,782 were via property investment, 541 were through capital transfers — and just 17 have been granted through the job creation scheme.
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Among the recipients, Chinese investors lead considerably, with 4,750 visas issued, followed by Brazilians with 986, Turkish with 450, South Africans with 391, and Russians with 355.