Portugal

The Agency for Integration, Migration, and Asylum (AIMA) accelerated its efforts to cut the backlog of pending applications by opening 20 centers across Portugal, capable of assisting 4,000 immigrants daily, aiming to resolve approximately 400,000 pending cases by June 2025, said Minister António Leitão Amaro. He further criticised the delays and emphasized the need for…

To expedite pending backlog of cases, AIMA has already processed 250,000 pending applications on residence visas, family reunification or residence permits for investment (ARI) in one year. In 2024, Portugal Government established a framework to resolve the more than 400 000 pending cases of – mostly – labour migrants, awaiting regularisation by the Portuguese Agency…

Invest in Portugal’s Cultural and Artistic Golden Visa. Choose between a non-refundable donation to cultural heritage or a refundable investment in artistic production. Minimum investment of €200,000 in low density regions. Government approval and legal representation required.

Portugal has announced important changes to residence permit for Community of Portuguese Language speaking Citizens (CPLP) to legally stay in the territory of Portugal, approved by national assembly and government. The important change made is the law now allows CPLP uniform residence permit to holders, now can enjoy visa free movement in EU countries, ending…

The Institute of Registries and Notary (IRN) announced a New Nationality Platform going live on Oct 1, a coordinated effort to modernize the processing of citizenship applications, expedites processing capacity of nationality requests by 50%. The platform will use AI to scan and digitally extract identification data and automatically classifies based on request received. The…

The Chinese government has granted visa free entry to Portuguese nationals for a limited time from Oct 15, 2024 to Dec 31, 2025, the Foreign Ministry announced on Sept 30 in an effort to boost tourism, trade and business and foreign investment with European countries . Portugal passport holders are eligible to stay in China…

Portugal has made changes on the eligibility and criteria for inclusion of family members under the golden visa program (ARI). Applicants for Portuguese golden visa program must note that only certain categories of family dependants are allowed to be included in the golden visa family application ( family unification residence permit). Carefully note age limit…

The Portugal golden visa program has yet another attractive benefit. From now on golden visa investors who receive Portuguese citizenship after five years, can now apply for E-1 and E-2 visas to enter United States. The E-visas facilitates faster and easier business pathway to become a permanent resident of United States (Green card). The U.S. Embassy…

Portugal has a huge backlog of 410,000 pending immigration applications according to the new president of AIMA Portugal. To clear the backlog of cases, the government will be introducing several measures to clear the pending applications by next June 2025. The Portuguese government presented on 3 June its action plan for international migration, built around regulated…

IRS frequently publishes list of banks and financial institutions in Portugal,  with a Global Intermediary Identification Number (GIIN), in accordance with FATCA regulations. The following banks are FATCA compliant, for golden visa purpose, might be use for americans and expats investing in Portugal. Top Banks in Portugal The following are the popular banks among foreigners…