Russian applications for Portugal’s Golden Visa hit new record

Russia has returned to the top three countries for the number of citizens applying for the Portugal Golden Visa, hitting a new record with 248 issued in 2024

It puts Russian applications in third position for Authorisations for Residency for Investment (ARI) according to the report Migrations and Asylum 2024 published by the Agency for Migrations and Asylum (AIMA) .

However, the largest number came from the US (406) and China (296).

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022, the issuing of Golden Visas were suspended for all Russian passport holders because of European sanctions placed on Moscow.

However, after legal complaints from Russian citizens filed at European courts, it was decided to suspend the ban and allow Russian citizens to once again apply for Portugal’s Golden Visa programme and other programmes practised within the European Union.

“They (the Russian citizens) alleged that the countries that had applied the sanctions had violated the fundamental right to free circulation and were also being made co-responsible for acts of war that they (the applicants) were not responsible for” according to lawyer Pedro Madeira Froufe, a professor from the University of Minho’s School of Law who spoke to the news source Jornal de Notícias.

In other words, they argued successfully that they should not be subject to the main consequences and bans placed on those linked to the circle of government figures and oligarchs close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.