Contributed by: Raquel Cuba Martins (SRS Advogados & Associados, RL)
June 2022 to April 2023
1. Country Overview
Some political instability due to the Government’s poor performance (majority of the Socialist party in Parliament).
The Portuguese Immigration Office will be restructured, being effective on 29th October 2023.
A new entity - AIMA (Agência para a Imigração, Migrações e Asilo) will be created and there will be a segregation between administrative and police competences that belong to SEF (the current Portuguese Immigration Office).
The administrative attributions will pass on to AIMA, I.P. and the Portuguese Registry Service (Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado), while the police competences and boarders control will be attributed to the Portuguese police forces (GNR, PSP and the Criminal Police).
At present, Portugal is going through a housing crisis that results from a combination of several facts. With the intention of solving this issue, in early 2023, the Portuguese Government announced a package of measures where the revocation of the Golden Visa program is included. This is still under discussion and the final wording of the draft law, as well as the date of its entry into force, are still unknown.
2. Legislative Changes
Several amendments to the Immigration Law were approved, which include the Job Seeking Visa, Digital Nomad Visa, CPLP visa and residence permit, as explained below.
3. Business Immigration
Job Seeking Visa
To meet the increasing demand of workforce in Portugal, the creation of this visa allows its holder to travel to Portugal for the purpose of seeking a job. The job seeking visa allows one entry into Portugal, it is valid for 120 days and can be renewed for additional 60 days. Within the validity period of the visa the citizen shall execute an employment contract and apply for a residence permit.
In case the holder of the visa fails to execute the employment contract within the maximum 180-day validity period of the visa, he/she must leave Portugal and can only apply for a new visa for the same purpose 1 year after the previous visa expires.
Digital Nomad Visa
A citizen who intends to live in Portugal and remotely carry out a subordinate or independent professional activity provided to an individual or entity based abroad can apply for a temporary visa or a residence visa for such purpose, depending on the intended period of stay.
The temporary visa is valid for up to 1 year and it cannot be renewed. The residence visa allows 2 entries into Portugal and is valid for 4 months, further to which the applicant requests a residence permit which will be valid for 2 years and renewable for successive periods of 3 years.
Elimination of Labour Market test
A labour market test used to be required prior to the work visa application and employers could only hire foreign citizens in case the position could not be filled by Portuguese, EU or EEA Member State citizens or legal residents in Portugal.
This requisite has been eliminated and the certificate issued upon the market test is no longer a document required for the visa application.
CPLP Visa and Residence Permit
The latest amendments to the Immigration Law also aimed at implementing the Agreement on Mobility between the Member States of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), signed in Luanda, in 2021.
Citizens from States where this Agreement is in force who apply for a CPLP visa or residence permit are not subject to the common requirements applicable to a regular visa and benefit from a more simplified application procedure.
Specifically, visa applications are exempted from the Immigration Office’s prior opinion and shall be accepted without further consideration, unless the applicant is identified in the Schengen Information System as subject to an alert for return or refusal of entry and stay. As regards residence permits, citizens from the CPLP who hold a short-stay or a temporary stay visa, or who have entered Portugal legally, may apply for a residence permit.
In March 2023, the Portuguese Immigration Office launched a platform allowing the submission of a CPLP residence permit application. For now, only CPLP citizens with pending expression of interest filed before 31st December 2022 or with Portuguese visas issued after 31st October 2022 can apply for the CPLP residence permit through the platform.
Complementary professional activity
Since September 2022, holders of a residence permit for research, study, professional internship, or pro bono activity work can now simultaneously carry out an independent or subordinate professional activity.
Seasonal Work
Holders of a short-stay or temporary stay visa for seasonal work are no longer bound to carry out the activity for which the visa was granted. There is now greater flexibility, and they may carry out other seasonal activities at one or successive employers.
4. Residency by investment
Golden Visa
Since October 2012 and up to April 2023, 12,037 residence permits for investment purposes were granted (plus 19,600 family members) totalizing a foreign investment of €6,226,368,384.03.
Top 5 citizenships are China (5319), Brazil (1203) United States of America (635), Turkey (571) and South Africa (532).
The three most chosen investment activities remain the same from last year: (i) Purchase of real estate; (ii) Transfer of capital to a Portuguese bank account and (iii) Transfer of capital for the acquisition of units in Portuguese investment or venture capital funds, which must invest 60% of its capital in Portuguese companies.
By virtue of the amendments to the Immigration Law in August 2022, the residence permit for investment activity is now valid for 2 years and renewable for successive periods of 2 years.
As previously mentioned, the draft law that includes the revocation of the Golden Visa program is currently under discussion at the Portuguese Parliament.
5. Family based Immigration
Accompanying Family Member Visa
Family members who intend to accompany a residence visa applicant on the relocation to Portugal may now submit their visa applications simultaneously with the main applicant. This new procedure will allow families who wish to move to Portugal to better plan the relocation since they will be able to travel together and apply for the residence permit simultaneously, thus avoiding prolonged separation.
6. Residence permit validity
In general, temporary residence permits are now valid for 2 years and renewable for successive periods of 3 years, except:
Golden Visa residence permit – now valid for 2 years, renewable for 2 years.
Residence permit for higher education students – now valid for 3 years, renewable for equal periods.
7. Automatic renewal
The huge increase in the number of residences issued during the last couple of years, combined with the backlog related with the Covid-19 pandemic, resulted in several constraints for citizens wanting to renew their residence permits in Portugal.
As such, the Portuguese Government introduced the automatic renewal procedure for holders of a valid residence permit in Portugal based on an employment contract or on having sufficient income to live in Portugal (D7), or a residence permit re higher education.
Instead of having to attend a renewal appointment at the Immigration Office, the applicant only needs to register on a specific digital platform, apply for renewal and pay the respective fee. In case the renewal is approved by the Immigration Office, the residence permit is subsequently sent to the applicant’s home address.
8. Temporary protection for residents in Ukraine
In the context of the war in Ukraine, Portugal implemented a simplified procedure for Ukrainian citizens or people living in Ukraine. Applicants were granted a temporary protection certificate which includes a tax number, social security number and Portuguese health system number, and was initially valid for 1 year. In March 2023, the Government extended this temporary protection regime for an additional 6-month period.
9. British Citizens
Following Brexit the Portuguese Immigration Office implemented a procedure for replacement of the EU registration by a residence permit for British citizens, also applicable to the British citizens’ family members.
The procedure consisted of registering at a specific online platform, further to which citizens were notified to schedule an appointment to update their data and collection of biometrics.
Given the constraints related with the Covid-19 pandemic, this replacement procedure took some time to be implemented and it is still in course for family members. However, besides the Portuguese Immigration Office, municipalities are now also competent for the issuance and renewal of residence permits for British citizens.
10. Citizenship
Sephardic Jews
By the end of 2021, Portuguese citizenship was granted to 57,000 descendants among 140,000 filed applications, which represented 72% of the total number of applications filed for acquisition of Portuguese citizenship by naturalization.
Recently, the Portuguese Government considered that the exceptional regime under which Portuguese citizenship could be granted to descendants of Sephardic Jews has fulfilled its purpose.
As such, the Government filed a draft law with the Parliament proposing the revocation of this regime. Although the final wording is still unknown, in case the current version enters into force, as of January 1st, 2024, descendants of Sephardic Jews will no longer be able apply for Portuguese citizenship on this basis.
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