As of my last knowledge update in January 2022, visa requirements can change, and it's always best to check with the official authorities or embassy for the most current information. Generally, Namibian passport holders were required to obtain a visa to visit Portugal.
Housing groups said the measures would mean little if the government continued to promote other policies to attract wealthy foreigners to Portugal, such as the "Digital Nomads Visa" introduced in October, which gives foreigners with high monthly income from remote work to live and work from Portugal without paying local taxes.
The Socialist government announced over the weekend a range of guidelines for its second term in office, one of them outlining plans to review the programme with the intention of spreading investment across the country.
Government schemes to trade citizenship or residence rights for investment have been applied in at least 10 European countries that are part of the Schengen free-movement area: Austria, Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Hungary and Switzerland.
Low salaries, a red-hot property market, policies encouraging wealthy foreigners to invest and a tourism-dependent economy has for years made it hard for locals to rent or buy, housing groups say. Portugal's 8.3% inflation rate has exacerbated the problem.
Portugal is one of the poorest countries in Western Europe. More than 50% of workers earned less than 1,000 euros per month last year while rents and house prices have skyrocketed. In Lisbon alone, rents jumped 37% in 2022.
Chinese investment through the golden visa programme dropped 11% in the first nine months of 2019, in line with a slowdown in foreign direct investment from China across Europe. In contrast, investment from Brazilians rose by 46.5%.
The "Authorisation of Residence for Investment Activity" policy, commonly known as the golden visa programme and aimed at foreigners ready to invest 250,000-500,000 euros in Portugal, has attracted 4.8 billion euros ($5.3 billion) of investment since its launch in 2012.
Portugal's golden visa programme, which offers EU passports to non-EU nationals in return for investments including in real estate and has been criticised for sending house prices and rents up, will end, Costa said.
"The goal was that by 2024 all Portuguese would have access to quality housing - it doesn't look like that will happen," she said. "The situation is dramatic." ($1 = 0.9354 euros) (Reporting by Patricia Rua, Catarina Demony and Sergio Goncalves; Editing by Aislinn Laing and Sandra Maler)
The European Commission is due to publish by the end of the year a report on so-called golden visa schemes run by EU states. A spokesman said on Monday the report would offer "guidance" to EU countries on how to apply the programmes.
The Maltese scheme, for instance, requires applicants to make financial contributions of at least 650,000 euros ($800,000) and an investment in selected stocks, bonds or special purpose vehicles of at 150,000 euros to be held for a minimum period of five years. ($1 = 0.8116 euros) (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio editing by Mark Heinrich)
LISBON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Portugal announced on Thursday a 900-million-euro package of measures to tackle a housing crisis, including the end of its controversial "Golden Visa" scheme and a ban on new licenses for Airbnbs and other short-term holiday rentals.
New investigative reports release by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a media consortium, showed cases of poor governmental scrutiny over individuals who were granted EU passports or residence permits.
BRUSSELS, March 5 (Reuters) - Programmes run by some European Union countries to sell visas and citizenship to wealthy individuals could undermine the bloc's free-movement area as they are vulnerable to abuse and graft, two anti-corruption watchdogs said on Monday.
The commission should at least set guidelines on due diligence, according to Rachel Owens of anti-corruption group Global Witness. These programmes "pose systemic and high corruption risks across Europe," she said.
His office did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Costa has previously said there was no justification to keep the scheme because it had fulfilled the role it had been intended to fulfil, without elaborating.
"As soon as you put a deadline on something, it gets people rushing," Nuri Katz from another advisers, Apex Capital Partners, told Reuters. "There's absolutely nothing as good as a deadline in this business."
"People aren't interested in investing in anything beyond houses," she told Reuters. "It's too risky, they don't see potential for growth in sectors beyond tourism. They are doing this for the visa for them and their children, not for the investment."
Under the scheme, applicants have various investment options, including putting 250,000 euros into arts and culture, 350,000 euros into scientific research, or simply creating 10 jobs in Portugal through investing in a local company.
Housing groups said the measures would mean little if the government continued to promote other policies to attract wealthy foreigners to Portugal, such as the "Digital Nomads Visa" introduced in October, which gives foreigners with high monthly income from remote work to live and work from Portugal without paying local taxes.
The Socialist government announced over the weekend a range of guidelines for its second term in office, one of them outlining plans to review the programme with the intention of spreading investment across the country.
Government schemes to trade citizenship or residence rights for investment have been applied in at least 10 European countries that are part of the Schengen free-movement area: Austria, Belgium, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, Spain, Hungary and Switzerland.
Low salaries, a red-hot property market, policies encouraging wealthy foreigners to invest and a tourism-dependent economy has for years made it hard for locals to rent or buy, housing groups say. Portugal's 8.3% inflation rate has exacerbated the problem.
Portugal is one of the poorest countries in Western Europe. More than 50% of workers earned less than 1,000 euros per month last year while rents and house prices have skyrocketed. In Lisbon alone, rents jumped 37% in 2022.
Chinese investment through the golden visa programme dropped 11% in the first nine months of 2019, in line with a slowdown in foreign direct investment from China across Europe. In contrast, investment from Brazilians rose by 46.5%.
The "Authorisation of Residence for Investment Activity" policy, commonly known as the golden visa programme and aimed at foreigners ready to invest 250,000-500,000 euros in Portugal, has attracted 4.8 billion euros ($5.3 billion) of investment since its launch in 2012.
Portugal's golden visa programme, which offers EU passports to non-EU nationals in return for investments including in real estate and has been criticised for sending house prices and rents up, will end, Costa said.
"The goal was that by 2024 all Portuguese would have access to quality housing - it doesn't look like that will happen," she said. "The situation is dramatic." ($1 = 0.9354 euros) (Reporting by Patricia Rua, Catarina Demony and Sergio Goncalves; Editing by Aislinn Laing and Sandra Maler)
The European Commission is due to publish by the end of the year a report on so-called golden visa schemes run by EU states. A spokesman said on Monday the report would offer "guidance" to EU countries on how to apply the programmes.
The Maltese scheme, for instance, requires applicants to make financial contributions of at least 650,000 euros ($800,000) and an investment in selected stocks, bonds or special purpose vehicles of at 150,000 euros to be held for a minimum period of five years. ($1 = 0.8116 euros) (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio editing by Mark Heinrich)
LISBON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Portugal announced on Thursday a 900-million-euro package of measures to tackle a housing crisis, including the end of its controversial "Golden Visa" scheme and a ban on new licenses for Airbnbs and other short-term holiday rentals.
New investigative reports release by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a media consortium, showed cases of poor governmental scrutiny over individuals who were granted EU passports or residence permits.
BRUSSELS, March 5 (Reuters) - Programmes run by some European Union countries to sell visas and citizenship to wealthy individuals could undermine the bloc's free-movement area as they are vulnerable to abuse and graft, two anti-corruption watchdogs said on Monday.
The commission should at least set guidelines on due diligence, according to Rachel Owens of anti-corruption group Global Witness. These programmes "pose systemic and high corruption risks across Europe," she said.
His office did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Costa has previously said there was no justification to keep the scheme because it had fulfilled the role it had been intended to fulfil, without elaborating.
"As soon as you put a deadline on something, it gets people rushing," Nuri Katz from another advisers, Apex Capital Partners, told Reuters. "There's absolutely nothing as good as a deadline in this business."
"People aren't interested in investing in anything beyond houses," she told Reuters. "It's too risky, they don't see potential for growth in sectors beyond tourism. They are doing this for the visa for them and their children, not for the investment."Under the scheme, applicants have various investment options, including putting 250,000 euros into arts and culture, 350,000 euros into scientific research, or simply creating 10 jobs in Portugal through investing in a local company.