Portugal Golden Visa 2027: Tighter Fund Rules and €250,000 Social Route

Portugal's governing parties PSD and CDS-PP have proposed stricter Golden Visa fund rules and a new €250,000 route through social care projects. Learn more about the new conditions, the parliamentary votes and what the changes mean for pending applicants

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The two parties in Portugal's minority government have proposed changing which investments qualify for the Portugal Golden Visa. According to IMI Daily, the amendment would tighten the popular fund route, open a €250,000 path through social care projects and halve the minimum for research donations.

The Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the CDS-People's Party (CDS-PP) filed the proposal on 6 November, the deadline for amendments to the 2027 State Budget bill. Committee votes are due from 18 to 23 November, so investors planning a Portuguese residence permit have only weeks to see which rules will apply.

Planning to apply for a Portugal Golden Visa while the rules are being rewritten?

A Migration lawyer on Visit World will check which investment route fits your situation, review your documents and explain how the proposed changes could affect your application. Book a consultation with a migration lawyer before you commit your funds.

What has been proposed for the Portugal Golden Visa?

Twenty-one deputies signed the amendment, led by Hugo Soares of PSD and Paulo Núncio of CDS-PP. The text now awaits a committee vote. It contains three main changes:

• stricter conditions for the €500,000 investment fund route;
• a new €250,000 route for building or restoring social care facilities;
• a lower minimum for research donations, from €500,000 to €250,000.

How would the Golden Visa fund route change?

Under the current law, an investor qualifies by placing €500,000 in a Portuguese non-real-estate fund that invests at least 60% in companies headquartered in Portugal. The amendment raises that share to 80%.

It also adds a condition: the money must reach those companies through the reinforcement of their share capital. In practice, this means the company receives new money in exchange for newly issued shares. Buying existing shares on the stock exchange would not meet the condition, because the cash goes to the previous owner rather than to the company.

The text does not mention open-ended funds. As drafted, however, shares or bonds bought on the market would no longer appear to count toward the quota, which is a problem for funds built on listed securities. In their explanatory note, the two parties say fund investment should actually contribute to the capitalisation of companies.

Jordi Vilanova of Mercan Group, which manages golden visa funds, told IMI Daily that closed-ended funds tend to be closer to this model than open-ended funds, which usually need to keep part of their portfolio liquid. He added that the practical details are still open and can be discussed with the government.

About the minimum stay, the €500,000 investment and the path to citizenship under Portugal's Golden Visa — read more at the link.

What is the new €250,000 social investment route?

The new route would accept €250,000 for building or restoring social care facilities. Eligible projects would serve:

• children and young people;
• the elderly;
• people with disabilities;
• the integration of resident foreigners and beneficiaries of international protection.

Investors would not fund projects directly. The money would go through a closed list of public bodies, public-utility foundations, misericórdias (Catholic charitable brotherhoods) and similar institutions.

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What happens to Golden Visa applications already submitted?

Pending applicants are protected: their applications would be assessed under the rules in force when they applied. Even so, Vilanova warned that if the changes took effect with the budget on 1 January, the window would be short, and argued that a transition period would matter for investors and the market.

Will Portugal's Parliament pass the amendment?

PSD holds 89 seats and CDS-PP two, a total of 91 of the 230 seats in Parliament. A majority requires 116, so the amendment cannot pass on the governing parties' votes alone. Madalena Monteiro, founder of Liberty, noted that the outcome is uncertain.

The budget cleared its first vote on 28 October because the Socialist Party (PS), with 58 seats, abstained, while Chega, with 60 seats, voted against. A repeat abstention by PS would carry the amendment.

• Chega voted against abolishing golden visas in 2022 and proposed widening them.
• PS has filed its own amendment to scrap the Tax Incentive for Scientific Research and Innovation (IFICI) and to commission a study of the golden visa's effects.

Monteiro sees the proposal as confirmation of rumours that had circulated for months. The government floated a social-investment route in its 2024 migration plan, and Minister of the Presidency António Leitão Amaro said last year that changes were being studied. In her view, the new wording is closer to other parties' political goals than the current law. Werner Gruner of Get Golden Visa added that the proposal needs clarification and is likely to be amended before final approval.

About which golden visa programmes remain open in Europe and how much they cost — read more at the link.

Key dates for the Portugal Golden Visa amendment

• 6 November — the amendment was filed;
• 18–23 November — committee votes on budget amendments;
• 24 November — final vote on the full 2027 budget;
• 1 January — possible entry into force with the budget.

What should Golden Visa investors do now?

• If you are considering the fund route, ask the fund manager whether it already invests at least 80% in Portuguese companies through new share capital.
• If you plan to apply, remember that pending applications are protected, so the filing date may decide which rules apply to you.
• Follow the committee votes and the final vote on 24 November, as the wording may still change.

Investors who see the Golden Visa as a path to a passport should also take into account the changes to Portugal's citizenship rules and timeline.

The final rules may differ from the draft, and a short window before 1 January leaves little room for mistakes. Book a consultation with a Visit World Migration lawyer to prepare your Golden Visa application on time.

We remind you! In our previous article, we compared the Portugal and Italy Golden Visa programmes, their investment conditions and costs.

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