The latest data from the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF), Portugal’s immigration agency that was recently replaced by AIMA (Agency for Integration, Migrations and Asylum), shows that between January and September last year, the country received 125 million euros in investment and venture capital funds by foreign investors with the aim of obtaining Residence Permits for Investment (ARI), the so-called Golden Visa.
The increase is 45% over the entire year 2022 in funds that give the right to the Golden Visa; and 2.6 times more than the resources applied for the same purpose in 2019, 2020 and 2021 combined. Brazilians are the second most invested in the ARI program since 2012, second only to the Chinese.
The Portuguese management entity Heed Capital saw the number of interested investors increase by almost three times at the beginning of this year when compared to the end of last year. “Brazilians who invest in funds eligible for the Golden Visa seek to live in a country with more security, ease of moving around Europe and diversifying their investments”, says Gustavo Caiuby, managing partner of Heed Capital.
He explains that there are two types of applications available to those interested in the Golden Visa. “The investor can opt for multimarket funds or Participation Investment Funds. For a fund to be eligible, the main requirements are that they have at least 60% of their assets invested in Portuguese companies, the maturity is longer than five years and that the fund’s assets do not have direct or indirect exposure to the real estate sector. In addition to the diversification of the investment, with a “bonus” associated with it, the investor also invests in hard currency and dilutes the portfolio in Brazil risk”, he says.
Of the almost 2 billion reais under management and consultancy, Heed manages around 126 million reais from Brazilian investors who applied to obtain the Golden Visa. Since the program began in 2012, SEF data shows that Brazilians were responsible for 473 million reais – 86 million euros – in investments in exchange for residence visas.
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The increase in this type of investment via funds is related to the Portuguese government’s decision to cancel obtaining a visa through the purchase of real estate. Due to the increase in demand for homes in the country, property and rental prices recorded the biggest increase in three decades in January.
Previously it was possible to obtain a visa by purchasing a property worth 500 thousand euros, now the same amount can be used, but in investments in eligible investment funds.
It is also possible to apply for the Golden Visa through three other investment routes in addition to funds: creating jobs, donating or cultural investment, or investing in scientific research. However, demand for these other alternatives is not as popular.
