BT issue 16 VF - Flipbook - Page 21
ISSUE 16
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Other ways for qualifying for a Golden Visa included:
transferring a minimum of €1 million to a Portuguese
bank account; purchasing a minimum of €1 million
worth of shares; investing at least €1 million in a
Portuguese company; or creating a minimum of ten
new jobs for Portuguese citizens.
for the economy in Portugal, it may have been at the
expense of the country’s denizens.
This could ultimately prove to work to their advantage,
however, if it pushes the government to focus on
directing the wealth that has come into Portugal as
a result of schemes like the Golden Visa back to local
residents.
It’s easy to see why the program was so successful; it
gave expats looking for a way to live or work in Portugal
an easy way to obtain a visa, while ensuring large
investments in the Portuguese economy, bolstering
businesses, real estate, and creating new jobs, while
protecting Portuguese culture and investing in the
future development of science and technology.
Wealth that is invested in the development of domestic
industrial infrastructure, enabling the country as a
whole to rise as a stronger, wealthier country among its
European neighbours.
Yet it hinged on foreign investment and, inevitably,
resulted in a lot of real estate being bought and
developed by foreign parties. While the property market
boomed, local residents struggled to keep up. So, while
the Golden Visa has arguably done a great deal of good
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