Portugal:the fund-and-company golden visa

Who this suits

Portugal's residence permit for investment (ARI) suits a reader who does not want to own property, can spend a fortnight in the country every two years, and is thinking in decades rather than years about a European passport. It is the one open programme with no property route, and its presence rule is the lightest of any that still leads towards naturalisation.[1][3] It does not suit anyone who wants a home as the asset, wants a passport inside five years, or needs a processing date they can plan around.

What you invest

Five routes qualify under article 90-A of Lei 23/2007, and none may be directed at real estate, directly or indirectly.[1][2] The fund route is €500,000 in units of a non-real-estate collective investment undertaking under Portuguese law, with a maturity of at least 5 years and at least 60% invested in companies headquartered in Portugal. The research route is €500,000 applied to research at institutions in the national scientific and technological system, €400,000 in low-density territory. The culture route is €250,000 to artistic production or the recovery of national heritage through qualifying bodies, €200,000 in low-density territory, and it is not returned. The company route is €500,000 to incorporate a Portuguese company creating 5 permanent jobs, or to raise the capital of an existing one that creates 5 or keeps 10. The job-creation route has no capital minimum: 10 jobs, or 8 in low-density territory, are the requirement.[1][2]

Whichever route you choose, the investment must be held for at least 5 years, declared on honour.[1]

What you get

The permit is a temporary residence permit valid for 2 years and renewable while the investment is held, and it asks for 7 days of presence in the first year and 14 days in each subsequent period.[1][2] Permanent residence is available after 5 years of legal residence under article 80, and a specific permanent ARI permit is issued.[2] Family reunification under article 98 covers a spouse or a partner of at least 2 years, minor children and dependent adult children in education, and dependent parents; it can be requested with the main application and rides on it.[2]

Citizenship is possible but distant. Under Lei Orgânica 1/2026, in force since 19 May 2026, naturalisation requires 10 years of legal residence for most third-country nationals (7 for EU and CPLP nationals), counted from the grant of the permit rather than from the application, with Portuguese at A2 level and a knowledge test. Applications already pending on 19 May 2026 continue under the previous 5-year rule.[4] The 2026 law did not change the golden visa itself.

What it costs beyond the investment

Government fees are set by Portaria 307/2023 and revised since.[5] Figures published by legal advisers in 2026 for what AIMA charges range from about €6,300 to €6,950 per person for the application and the first card, and about €3,000 to €3,800 per person for each renewal; treat these as a range and confirm the current tariff with AIMA before budgeting.[6] Fund subscription fees, legal fees and the cost of the health insurance the permit requires are not published by any authority and are not estimated here.

What people get wrong

The property route ended on 7 October 2023 with Lei 56/2023, together with the €1.5 million capital transfer, and any page still quoting a house purchase as a route is out of date.[3] The 5-year citizenship count of the old nationality law is also gone for new applicants: it is 10 years now, and the clock starts at the permit grant, not the day you file.[4] A third error is to assume the culture route is an investment; the dataset marks it as not returned, so €250,000 is the price rather than the stake.[1] Eligibility is stricter than brochures suggest: no conviction for a crime punishable in Portugal by more than one year, no entry ban or Schengen alert, recognised health insurance, a certificate of no tax or Social Security debt issued within 45 days, and lawful entry and stay at the time of biometrics.[2]

AIMA has carried a backlog since 2023; the government undertook in October 2025 to clear pending golden visa files during 2026, and renewals have been possible online since 16 February 2026. No processing-time estimate is published here because none can be sourced.[1]