The non-habitual residence programme (NHR) as well as the “Golden Visa” residence permit are more popular than ever.
Since the introduction of the Golden Visa Residence program by the Portuguese government in 2012, over 22,842 permits have been granted to investors and their family members representing over €5.1 billion of investment into Portugal till the end of 2019. The main nationalities of the foreign investors are: Chinese, Brazilian, Turkish, South African and Russian. Many of these families have decided to settle here – especially the Brazillian families. 3,437 of these permits were granted in 2019 alone.
In January 2020 – March 2020, despite the COVID conditions being faced with difficulties in travel from the Far East and other countries, 628 permits have been issued.
The non-habitual residence (NHR) scheme was also introduced in 2012 – this scheme confers tax benefits on foreigners spending more than 180 days a year in Portugal. This has also led to a high number of foreigners from within the EU, especially the French, to relocate to Portugal. In total, there are around 40,000 of these residents registered by the end of 2019.