Buying Nationality: A Booming Business in Portugal
The Coronavirus pandemic has increased the demand for investment citizenship programmes - in Portugal, the famous Golden Visas - by the wealthy, who in the face of the new international context caused by Covid-19 seek to guarantee conditions of mobility and security.
According to a study published by CNN, the pandemic has led the world financial elite to bet on the acquisition of passports different from their nationality of origin. "People are looking for the security of an alternative citizenship, which gives them a plan B," says CNN Travel Dominic Volek, of the residence consulting firm Henley & Partners. During the last few years, the main motivations for resorting to the so-called CIP (Citizenship by Investment Programmes) have been freedom of movement, tax benefits and lifestyle, but these factors are now joined by the response to the pandemic and the quality of the health services. The same company reveals that it registered an increase of 49% in consultations about these programmes in the period between January and June of this year, and the number of people who filed a request following a consultation increased 42% in the comparison to the period between the last quarter of 2019 and the first quarter of 2020.
At stake are large investors on a global scale who tend to have assets between two million and 50 million dollars, and who wish to maintain a high mobility and an equally high quality of life, and, at this time and for the future, security in the face of this or other pandemics that may arise.
Portugal is one of the targets of interest. The explanation is not difficult: it has a programme that guarantees the investor and his family freedom of movement within the European Union.
A country like Portugal is one of the most attractive because the price, between 350 thousand and 500 thousand euros, is accessible to the wealthy. They give access to the Schengen space, and open the way to obtaining Portuguese citizenship after five years of residence provided one speaks basic Portuguese.
An estimated value of 294 thousand euros is enough to access the programme in Portugal.
