PORTUGUESE RESIDENCY: THE ALTERNATIVE TO THE GOLDEN VISA THAT NO ONE TALKS ABOUT
Portugal has a long tradition of hosting foreigners, investors, and workers. Portuguese immigration law is committed to this tradition. Citizenship may be granted after 5 years of legally living in Portugal. In line with this tradition, Portugal launched visa programs that aim to attract foreigners interested in investing in Portugal. Investors, along with their family members, can qualify for residency through real estate investments, capital investments, entrepreneurship, or job creation.
The most popular visa program is the Residency Authorization for Investment Activity launched in 2012, commonly known as Golden Visa. However, a series of setbacks that are usually disregarded by those promoting this type of visa have discouraged many who were interested in acquiring residency in Portugal. Notwithstanding, there are much cheaper and interesting alternatives to the Golden Visa program that grant the same benefits to those interested in investing and acquiring residency in Portugal, such as the STARTUP VISA.
1. WHAT IS THE STARTUP VISA?
The Startup Visa program is relatively new in Portugal and it’s a residency visa for entrepreneurs that aims to attract talent and innovative solutions to Portugal in a cost friendly and fast paced way.This type of visa grants the same residency rights than the Golden Visa, but the costs are significantly lower, since it does not require investment in the traditional sense (property, capital investment, job creation, etc).
The program is aimed at foreign entrepreneurs, without permanent residency in the Schengen Space, who wish to develop their project in Portugal even not having a corporate structure, or to those who, already having a corporate structure, wish to exercise their activity in Portugal.
So, basically, the program applies to those who:
a) Have an innovative technological based project and want to develop their own Startup
b) Want to invest in an existing and certified Startup
c) Already have an innovative technological based Startup and wish to develop it in Portugal
2. IS THE STARTUP VISA A COMPLICATED PROCEDURE?
No. It is a two steps program:
First Step: the certification process, which is the initial process of evaluation of the Startup project by a Government certified incubator. If the project is approved, then it can move forward.
Second Step: the application process, which is the moment of submitting the project for evaluation by IAPMEI, the regulator entity.
3. WHAT ARE THE MAIN CRITERIA TO APPLY TO THE STARTUP VISA PROGRAM?
The foreign entrepreneurs who wish to apply to the Startup Visa program must meet, among others, the following main criteria or conditions:
· Intention to develop activities of production of innovative goods and services with an internationalization perspective.
· Their projects/companies must be focused on technology and knowledge, with prospects for developing innovative products.
· Potential for creating qualified employment.
· Capacity to incorporate a company, when and if applicable, during the visa program.
· Potential to reach, up to 5 (five) years after the incubation contract is in force, a turnover of more than € 325,000 a year and / or an asset value of more than € 325,000 a year.
4. WHAT INVESTMENT IS REQUIRED IN THE STARTUP VISA?
Contrary to the Golden Visa where the minimum investment in property or other options is of, at least, 2.5 Million HKD (even with the recent changes that the Portuguese Government made to the program), the Startup Visa does not require any investment other than in the Startup project and the investment amount is entirely determined by the investor. Any other associated costs (which are optional) are basically in services: the services of a multitask team to help develop, structure, and manage a Startup Project in Portugal. However, the investor can do this on its own, as this is not a requirement for the granting of the visa.
5. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THE STARTUP VISA?
The Startup Visa program has the same benefits as the Golden Visa, which are:
· No visa requirements to enter in Portugal;
· Permission to live, work and study in Portugal;
· No visa requirements for travelling within the countries of the Schengen Area (26 countries);
· Opting to become a Portuguese tax resident and have access to favorable conditions for non-habitual tax resident, provided all legal conditions are met;
· Opting to remain a non-resident in Portugal for tax-purposes;
· Family reunification;
· After 5 years, applying for permanent residency;
· After 5 years applying for Portuguese citizenship (In Portugal citizenship can be granted without the applicant having resided in the country. However the investor having acquired residency through the Startup Visa Program will need to demonstrate ties to the country and pass a basic language test and meet the requirements set out in the nationality Law).
6. WHAT ARE THE GOVERNMENT FEES FOR THE STARTUP VISA?
Portuguese Government fees for the Startup Visa program, namely, initial application fees, approval fees and renewal fees are around 1% of the fee values for the Golden Visa program. As way of example, the Government approval fees for the Golden Visa round the HKD 50 000, while the same fees for the Startup Visa are a mere HKD 650 (approximately).