nigel.b

Interesting link:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ong-applicants

Red Eric

From the article :

I wonder if that's the "Inglês" who posts on here?

Pulaski

It's the same in the US - permanent residency (EB-5 visa) for you, your spouse, and your dependent children in exchange for an investment of $500,000-$1,000,000 (depending on where the investment is located) plus about $60,000 of legal fees. After five years permanent residency can be upgraded to citizenship.

A citizen can sponsor their parents for permanent residency fairly easily, taking 1-2 years - but siblings and adult children can take 15-20 years. The process is terminated if the sponsor dies.

GeniB

I thought it would attract such people right from the get go. I'm not sure that Brazilian citizens would have had too much of a problem though? Don't a lot of them have Portuguese passports anyway ,dual citizenship?
Angola has a long history of corruption. The presidents daughter channels money through many Portuguese banks that she either owns or has shares in ,and I believe owns or has major shares in the Epic Sana group of luxury hotels.
This happens in every country really. We only have to look at London if we want to find dubious Russians

Red Eric

Presumably you have to actually reside in the US with that visa though, don't you? Portugal's scheme gives right of residency but no obligation to do so - just a couple of weeks or so per annum as a visitor will do. It also confers the right to travel freely within the Schengen Area.

Loafing Along

[QUOTE=GeniB;12341190]I thought it would attract such people right from the get go. I'm not sure that Brazilian citizens would have had too much of a problem though? Don't a lot of them have Portuguese passports anyway ,dual citizenship?

No they don't ! Can tell various stories of Brasilian citizens being turned-away, held in airport for hours until relatives turn up to vouch for them, even of one getting married in a hurry to a Portuguese citizen to avoid having to leave after 90 days. Only legal way to ensure residence is to trace and document Portuguese grandparents and similar family links.
Curious really but is what actually happens unless, of course , they have the money and go the "Golden Visa" route.

Red Eric

Up until now - from now on, they have the "contract / promise of a contract of work" route, as does everybody else in the world.

Pulaski

In theory "yes", but some people manage to skate by for many years with an annual visit "to keep their permanent resident status". I used to work with someone who lived and worked in Argentina but had managed to hold on to his green card for seventeen years! I lost contact with him about four years ago but I would be surprised if he hasn't extended his run to 21 years.

The only thing you cannot do if you spend most of your time outside the US is turn your permanent residence into citizenship.

Red Eric

Sure - but that's maintaining the status after having gained it and (presumably) actually having properly based oneself in the US for some specified period of time.

The Portuguese scheme actually allows people who have no intention of ever having any proper relationship with Portugal to buy a visa which also gives the holder rights in other countries. And, of course, never having to pay a penny in tax despite the nominally resident status. I don't disagree with people being allowed to come and go and keep their options open to a certain extent after a decent interval of actual residence but this Portuguese scheme does seem to be pushing it a bit, to put it mildly.

Pulaski

Nope, the EB-5 investment visa is designed for people who have never lived in the US.

The differences between the Portuguese visa you describe and the US EB-5 program is that the US requires its permanent residents to pay tax on their global income (subject to tax treaty relief from dual taxation), and the residency rights don't transfer to other countries.