Portugal’s Agency for Integration, Migration, and Asylum (AIMA) has announced a shift from a paper-based application system to a fully digital platform for its golden visa program. This transition aims to streamline the process for investors and address a backlog of 45,000 to 50,000 pending applications, according to data provided by AIMA. Applicants will now have the opportunity to transfer their cases to the online system.
This development is expected to be beneficial for investors, according to Bettino Zanini, an immigration lawyer at Lisbon-based FiO Legal. Having participated in multiple discussions with AIMA, Zanini highlighted that the digital transition is designed to accelerate processing times, following legal pressure from investors who have faced years-long delays. Many applicants have waited extensively to schedule their biometric appointments, a mandatory step where fingerprints and other personal data are collected. Under the new system, AIMA will automatically schedule these appointments within 30 to 90 days after an application is submitted online. Additionally, the agency will now accept documents in English, Spanish, and French without requiring translation.
Portugal’s golden visa program, launched in 2012, requires participants to spend only about seven days per year in the country and has attracted over €7 billion ($7.2 billion) in investment. Most applicants come from China, Brazil, and the United States. A surge in immigration following the Covid-19 pandemic led to significant processing delays, coinciding with a broader increase in Portugal’s foreign population. Since 2018, the number of non-European residents has more than doubled, now surpassing one million, which accounts for approximately 10% of the country’s total population.
While Portugal ended its real estate-based golden visa option in 2023, non-European nationals can still obtain fast-track residency through alternative investment routes, including a minimum €500,000 investment in eligible funds. Meanwhile, Spain has announced plans to discontinue its golden visa program in April, while Greece and Italy continue to offer similar residency-by-investment schemes.
