Over the last few days, the leader of the free world suggested mass evacuation of a warzone to turn it into a real estate bonanza, a known rapper declared his admiration to Hitler and started selling Swastika-branded shirts on his e-commerce website, and 20 year olds working for the excentric wealthiest person in the world were claiming access to government payroll systems. A few months earlier, on the other side of the Atlantic, the most stable governments have been falling like flies, whilst one of the most stable countries in Asia, South Korea, needed to remove a president who declared martial law.
Perhaps it is a post-pandemic response and perhaps it is the fault of social media or inequality or Chinese and Russian hackers or who knows what, but what seems to be clear across the board is that the world has gone mad.
On that backdrop, it is not hard to understand why so many people want to create more options for themselves.
Many people have romantic ideas about moving to a different country, but moving is hard. It is a process of financial, social and emotional adjustment. Entering a different culture can be rewarding but it’s not for the faint hearted. The simple truth is that moving to another place is hard and many people give up and end up moving back.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, it is no surprise that so many people are now interested in Golden Visas. Residency by investment programmes offered by various countries offer the best of all worlds. They are the cake that you can eat and still have. A Golden Visa lets a person become a citizen of another country without actually moving, have the option but not necessarily use it. A Golden Visa is the perfect solution forthe plan B people.
Indeed, in Portugal we have seen a huge rise in Golden Visa applications. Portugal no longer offers a real estate option but it remains the most popular golden Visa due to the shortest stay requirement. Portugal understood what other countries failed to understand – what Golden Visa people want is to have the cake and eat it, and that is what Portugal provides – a path to residency and citizenship that requires (almost) only a financial investment.
There is another reason that makes Portugal shine so bright amongst other options – it is normal. Portugal is not short of problems. It’s bureaucracy is terrible, it is slow and inconsistent, it is a small country and not a major superpower, but as hard as one may look,nothing is crazy. Things move slowly, but they eventually work out. People are genuinely nice and helpful. The weather is pleasant, the landscape is nice. It’s moderate, it’s calm, it’snormal.
Portugal’s relative normality was under threat last year, with a populist left-wing socialist government that started cancelling tax benefits, investment options and messing up real estate regulation and with a significant vote to a populist right-wing party with a racist past, but the party that emerged is a centre-right party that heads a minority government that cannot do much but also cannot break much. For at least 3 more years, Portugal assures no major drama and no huge swings to one side or another. Normality and stability.
People who are worried about the political climate where they live should seriously consider having the cake and eat it and applying for a Golden Visa. That is what forward-looking people are doing and this option will be available over the next 3 years. After that, who knows.
