Big Changes to Portugal’s Visa and Tax Regimes
Expat favorite Portugal has been busy on the legislative front in 2023. These changes come in response to widespread unhappiness amongst native Portuguese at the state of the domestic housing market.
Ted Baumann is International Living’s Chief Global Diversification Expert. He's traveled to nearly 90 countries and is a dual citizen of the United States and South Africa. Born in Washington DC, he grew up on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
As a young man he moved to Cape Town, where he attended university, earning postgraduate degrees in economics and history. For the next 20 years he worked in the global non-profit sector, specializing in urban development. From 2008 to 2013, he served as Director of International Programs for Habitat for Humanity International. After that he switched gears, writing financial and wealth protection newsletters for affiliates of Agora Publishing.
Ted has been published in international research journals, as well as media outlets such as Barrons, Forbes and Cheddar. He co-authored Where to Stash Your Cash (Legally) with his father and former U.S. Congressman, Robert Bauman.
Expat favorite Portugal has been busy on the legislative front in 2023. These changes come in response to widespread unhappiness amongst native Portuguese at the state of the domestic housing market.
Portugal’s loss is Greece’s gain. Greece continues to offer a renewable 5-year golden visa for approved real estate investments of as little as €250,000. And it is proving increasingly popular.
It's now mid-September—and the program is still open for new applications. For that, we can thank Portuguese president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who vetoed the bill on 25 August, sending it back to parliament.
I’m on my way back to Cape Town from IL’s Overseas Bootcamp in Denver, making a temporary pit stop in Florida to visit family. All this flying has given me plenty of time to think and reflect on the event.
Many readers are probably unaware that I'm following in my Dad’s footsteps here at IL. Dad started working for IL's parent company many years ago, focusing on wealth protection, including international diversification.
The State Department’s current estimated processing time is 10 to 13 weeks (about 3 months). Two factors led to this bureaucratic mess.
If citizenship by descent or investment is the best route for someone, I'll always tell them so and point them to the resources they need to do that. But in many cases, the best way to get a second passport is to find a place that you love, settle there, and do your time.
If you love what the world offers… and have found a place that you call home… protect that by getting yourself a second passport—before history turns you into a sad statistic, too.
Big news on the second passport front this month: it seems likely that the countries offering citizenship by investment (CBI) in the Caribbean region are about to lose visa-free access to much of Europe. Since the early 1980s, various Caribbean island nations have offered citizenship and a second passport in exchange for an approved investment.
The bottom line is that as tempting as it is to use a digital mailbox if you're going to be living permanently abroad, I don't recommend it. Of course, your personal affairs may make it possible for you to do so, but eventually, I predict you're going to have problems.