Below you will find some quick updates on immigration news from Portugal.
Golden Visa – There were unconfirmed reports, rumours the new Portugal government would extend the residency period from 5 to 10 years tightening genuine ties to country. As a result of this, a number of clients have completed investment for Portugal golden visa under investment fund route. A increasing number of foreign investors taking the fund path, compared to artistic/cultural donation route.
Backlog update – AIMA has analysed over 440,000 pending applications, of these 23,000 applications rejected, 130,000, still need to be processed and decided upon, 170,000 were archived due to a lack of response, said Pedro Gaspar, President of AIMA. He said AIMA will be increasing the human capacity of 25-30% this year.
Online Petition– A petition to the Portuguese Parliament given demanding compliance with the legal deadlines for granting Portuguese citizenship, which by law should be 90 working days but currently exceed three years.
Luxury real estate – UK’s introduction of non-domicile tax regime and high inheritance tax expected to have a direct impact on Luxury real estate market in Portugal. An estimated 142,000 millionaires are expected to relocate in 2025 globally according to the Wealth report.
AIMA Appointments – AIMA has revised its online registration review and scheduling policy for ARI (Golden Visa) applications to prioritize older submissions and process grant applications electronically. ‘UNDER REVIEW’ has been updated to ‘AWAITING SHIPMENT’, making it possible to update the order documents. AWAITING SHIPMENT’, will be possible to submit new documents, update the validity of those previously submitted and correct any formalities.
More Staff – The Portugal government will extend AIMA’s mission structure until December 31, 2025, to speed up the regularization of immigrants, despite cutting the team by 50%. The decision aims to prevent service disruptions, amid criticism over delays and poor communication. The measure is still pending official approval. AIMA is deploying the additional human resources that has already been announced! On May 1, 20 new employees will start work to increase the Agency’s response capacity.
Integration of Migrants – AIMA inaugurated another Local Support Centre for the Integration of Migrants (CLAIM) at the Nasce e Renasce Association in Musgueira. The opening of another CLAIM in Lisbon, one of the municipalities most sought after by immigrants, continues AIMA’s strategy of promoting the integration of migrants by targeting the specificities of each region, thus strengthening local and, consequently, national response capacity. This CLAIM will provide a free service with reception, information and support functions for migrant citizens, including immigrants and applicants for international protection.
