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    Top Destinations:

    Whether you’re looking for fun and sun, a peaceful retirement, or the chance to earn some extra income, you’ve got a real world of opportunity open to you… In short, we’ve done our best to narrow down your best options, but only you can decide the right country for you.

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    How Much Will It Cost You To Live Overseas?

    The only honest answer is, we have no idea. And neither does anyone else. The only one who can answer that question is you. Here’s the most important thing to understand about budgeting your new life overseas…

    Super Cheap

    • Chitré, Panama
    • Santa Marta, Colombia
    • Phuket, Thailand
    • Dumaguete, The Philippines

    Cheap

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    • Boquete, Panama
    • Kyrenia, Cyprus
    • Hua Hin, Thailand
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Home Countries Portugal

The Changes To Portugal’s Golden Visa And NHR Program Explained

When Retiring Overseas, Google Is Not Always Your Friend

by Kathleen Peddicord
Sep 19, 2021
in Portugal, Residency/Citizenship
0 0
Porto, Portugal old town ribeira aerial promenade view with colorful houses, Douro river and boats

Adobe Stock/Kisa_Markiza

The Internet is perhaps our world’s greatest source of information… current and outdated… accurate and made-up.

That’s why we don’t always consider Google our friend.

Instead, we count on the network of contacts we’ve developed around the world over the past three-and-a-half decades for intelligence when we need it.

When we encounter conflicting information—online or otherwise—we reach out to someone on the ground who can give me the real deal in real time.

That’s what we’ve been doing over the past year to stay up-to-date with changes—current and proposed—to Portugal’s Golden Visa and Non-Habitual Resident (NHR) programs.

Non-Habitual Resident Program Updates

Last year the Portuguese government changed the NHR tax rate to be applied to the pension income of anyone resident in the country from 0% to 10%.

Portugal’s Golden Visa Program Updates

This year they’re increasing the minimum required investment amounts associated with some of the investment options available to qualify for Golden Visa status.

You can become a Golden Visa resident of this country by investing in real estate in qualifying markets. That option will continue… with the same minimum investment amounts, but high-density areas will no longer be an option.

However, buying property isn’t the only way to get a Golden Visa in Portugal, and the required investment amounts for the non-real estate options are increasing.

In addition to buying qualifying real estate, right now you can deposit 1 million euros in a Portuguese bank before the end of 2021 and then use that investment as the basis for your residency application.

The figure goes up to 1.5 million euros after the end of this year.

If you start a business in Portugal and hire 10 employees, you can, likewise, qualify for residency. Right now you can reduce the number of employees required to qualify if you invest at least 350,000 euros. Next year the required investment amount to be able to start your business with fewer than 10 employees will increase to 500,000 euros.

When Will These Changes Be Effective?

Search online and you’ll see that many websites indicate that the new investment requirements went into effect as of July 1.

Our legal eagle on the ground in Lisbon, however, reports that, in fact, the changes take effect starting Jan. 1, 2022.

How Has The Golden Visa Program Has Affected Portugal?

As João further explains in a recent Simon Letter overview of the current opportunities and options for becoming a Golden Visa resident in Portugal, the Golden Visa program has had a significant impact on this country’s real estate markets, especially in Lisbon and Porto.

In the early years of the program, developers in those cities renovated buildings and priced apartments in them at 500,000 euros—not coincidentally but definitely conveniently the minimum investment amount required to qualify for Golden Visa status.

An improving economy alongside an expanding pool of foreign buyers competing for limited inventory in the country’s capital soon saw those 500,000 euros buying fewer square meters—that is, smaller apartments.

The government eventually realized that they no longer needed the Golden Visa program to boost property markets in the more populated areas of the country, including and especially Lisbon, and began considering adjustments… which are now playing out.

While the investment amounts for real estate will remain the same as of Jan. 1, 2022, the locations for eligibility are shifting.

As of the first of the New Year 2022, you will no longer be able to qualify for Golden Visa residency by buying a piece of property in Lisbon.

That’s big news… but not the end of the world… or of this program. You’ll simply need to shop for your Portuguese pad elsewhere in lower density regions of the country.

I remind you often that residency programs come and go and change along the way. When you find one that fits your situation and meets your objectives, act on it. Wait too long, and you could find you no longer qualify or that the opportunity you were interested in is no longer on the table.

Meantime, don’t count on the Internet to help you navigate your options. Information on the Internet remains on the Internet indefinitely… including, sometimes, long past its use-by date… and new information can struggle to make its way to the top of a Google search.

Sincerely,
Kathleen Peddicord signature
Kathleen Peddicord
Founding Publisher, Overseas Opportunity Letter

Tags: invest in portugallive in Portugalmove to Portugalnon-habitual resident programPortugalPortugal golden visa programPortugal visareal estate in portugaltaxes in portugal
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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has reported on opportunities for Americans to live, retire, and do business overseas for 40 years. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 24, established businesses in 7, renovated and built properties in 6, and educated her children in 5.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets from the east coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland, then to Paris, France, and finally to Panama City, Panama, where she has based her Live And Invest Overseas business. Peddicord and her husband, Lief Simon, now divide their time between Panama and Paris.

Peddicord was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. She opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Waterford, Ireland; Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France. Peddicord launched Live And Invest Overseas group in 2008 and has built it into a successful multimillion-dollar business. Today, she shares her firsthand experience of expat life with more than 500,000 readers of her publications, including Overseas Opportunity Letter and Overseas Living Letter.

Kathleen has been featured often in The New York Times, MSNBC, AARP, CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, and more and writes monthly about expat matters, international real estate, and offshore diversification for Forbes and U.S. News.

Kathleen has written several books including the memoirs “At Home In Ireland” and “At Home At Los Islotes” and her latest title “At Home Abroad,” all published by Lahardan Books. Her best-selling "How To Retire Overseas: Everything You Need To Know To Live Well (For Less) Abroad” was published by Penguin Random House in 2018 and her “Buying Real Estate Overseas For Cash Flow (And A Better Life)” was published by Wiley in August 2020.

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Super Cheap

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  • Boquete, Panama
  • Kyrenia, Cyprus
  • Hua Hin, Thailand
  • The Algarve, Portugal

Affordable

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  • Cascais, Portugal
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