Should Portugal’s government create a Golden Visa pathway to residency through a crypto and digital assets option?

Debating Portugal’s Golden Visa and Real Estate policies

Text & Photo: Chris Graeme

Whether you agree with selling residency and a pathway to citizenship through Golden Visa programmes or not, there can be no doubt that Portugal’s Authorisation for Residency by Investment programme is one of the most successful in the world.

And it isn’t just the fact that that it has brought in around €7Bn of Foreign Direct Investment since it was set up by Portugal’s centre-right PSD-CDS-PP coalition government in December, 2012, it was the collateral effects it had on kickstarting Portugal’s flagging property market resulting in urban residential rehabilitation projects up and down the country.

Investors bought entire buildings in Lisbon and Porto city centres to be converted into AirBnB tourism accommodation, taking advantage of Portugal’s boom in tourism after years of recession, bringing in millions to local shops, restaurants, cafés and bars, and in turn this netted municipal councils with just as much in tourism taxes.

All of this, arguably, could not have been achieved without the Golden Visa programme. But then things changed. Members of the Portuguese parliament began to voice concerns over selling residency for investment.

The mushrooming AirBnBs in central Lisbon put pressure on the housing market as entire buildings with multiple flats were done up and converted into holiday lets, taking properties off the market for locals – a problem that existed to a lesser extent in downtown Porto.

Lack of supply coupled with an influx of EU and Non-EU citizens and digital nomads fuelled demand, more houses were modernized and sold or let out to foreigners. This in turn reduced supply and house prices shot up. By 2022 most appartments in central Lisbon neighborhoods were beyond the reach of Portugal’s middle class families – a problem exacerbated by a lack of affordable new build to plug the gap.

Growing disquiet forced the hand of the then Socialist PS government and it removed the property option for the Golden Visa programme and replaced with investor options through funds.

Although initially having a negative impact on Golden Visa applications, the continued popularity of Portugal among relocaters, particularly Americans, saw the revamped programme readily accepted and today Portugal’s various investment programmes are more popular than ever.

João Mira Gomes, Director of Government Advisory at Henley & Partners (H&P), a leading consultancy in the citizenship and residency by investment sector “demystified” Portugal’s Golden Visa programme which offers residency by investment at the recent Bison Bank organized conference ‘Portugal – Investment by Global Citizens’ held in Lisbon a week ago today.

This discussed programmes where residency and eventual citizenship could be achieved by a contribution to a country’s economy or through a specific investment in one or more government chosen investment paths.

“We have been debating and concluding debates in Portugal on the New Citizenship Law which obviously will impact our industry in a very direct way as it already has done for various economic agents operating in this sector,” he said, referring to changes in the Nationality Law which raises the path to citizenship from five years to 10 years.

Movement or HNWI assets and investments more fluid

João Mira Gomes also discussed the digital wealth of innovation policies and the new global investment panorama.

“People and assets have become more geographically fluid in recent years, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic and because of a sharp rise in geopolitical tensions.

“As political, geopolitical and geographical barriers are unfortunately becoming more pronounced, barriers and borders to investment are disappearing and the movement of investments are becoming more fluid”, he said.

At Henley & Partners, in addition to advising clients such as millionaires and billionaires who want to change their residences and citizenships, the advisory has a department which is very robust on research reports compiling different ones throughout the year.

An example is the company’s Crypto Wealth Report which is now in its second edition and has gauged that there are over 241,000 crypto investors who are on track to be considered millionaires of which 36 are considered to be crypto multi-millionaires and billionaires.

“This is a significant number and up 40% on 2024, representing a very large investment. And we have almost 600 million crypto users worldwide and they are no longer seen as shaky investments. It is actually a digital investment that does not respect borders and moves with great fluidity, and which governments want to attract through innovative policies”, he explained.

Increased mobility

Mobility has also become important through the concept of digital nomads with an estimated 40 million around the world, including an estimated 11% of the US labour market considered digital nomads who can relocate within the country and overseas with great ease – something governments want to capitalise on.

With regards to global mobility, H&P has recently published its Private Wealth Migration Report and its Passport Index which refer to the mobility of High Net Worth Individuals with a high patrimonial value.

Portugal 7th in HNWI attraction ranking

Interestingly, despite the current US policy on immigration, the US continues to be the top country to attract rich relocaters because it is a country where business flourishes and overseas investors want to invest.

In terms of investor exits, the United Kingdom comes top of countries in the index because of the recent policies introduced by the Chinese and Indian governments as well as the proposed wealth tax on properties – the Mansion Tax – threatened by UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

And the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Italy are the top countries which received the most millionaires this year.

Surprisingly, or perhaps not so, Portugal comes in 7th place in the ranking with a positive balance of 1,400 millionaires relocating in 2025, up 62% on 2024.

And the study indicates that the total net value of these relocaters is over €8Bn, representing a significant amount and some of this is being invested through funds on projects in Portugal, including those managed by Portugal’s development bank, Banco de Fomento.

“If we focus on talent and people, and Portugal produces this in abundance, Portugal could convince people to move. Crypto and digital wealth are increasingly a new vector for wealth, and for those governments with a vision for the future and the legislation to attract that wealth, it becomes equally attractive for both investors and the country to attract this level of liquidity for society,” argued João Mira Gomes.

Banks exploring virtual asset services

Take the case of Bison Bank. This is one of the few banks in Portugal – and the first to get a licence in 2022 – to provide virtual assets services.

And Portugal now has clear tax rules that govern applicable tax on individuals on profits made from cryptoassets.

Portugal could, argues João Mira Gomes, become like Singapore and build an infrastructure for cryptoassets such as crypto ATM cash machines.

A digital assets residency by investment option?

And Singapore, along with Hong Kong, the United States, Switzerland and the Emirates have extremely active residency by investment programmes whereby visa holders can become permanent residents in these countries.

He says that the US has had the EB5 programme running for some time, but is now legislating for a more direct visa – Trump Gold Card – that will enable investors to become immediate residents in the US through a direct contribution to the US State rather than investment in companies as is the case now with the EB5.

“If this goes ahead, it would once again change the panorama of the US’s attractiveness regarding residency by investment, and this goes for other countries with a vision for the future that want to attract digital wealth by creating tailored residency by investment programmes”.

There are currently around 10 reputable citizenship by investment programmes, five of them in the Caribbean – Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Lucia with H&P having helped the governments to design these programmes which contribute towards the GDP of these island countries.

And there are around 26 residency by investment programmes, including Portugal and H&P believes that there is an increasing trend for these residency by investment programmes that will become increasingly standardised.

“We are starting to see the same forms, the same investment options, relatively similar investment amounts, at least within the same region, and processing times, so these programmes will become increasingly standardised.

Citizenship and residency programmes – a financial asset

Currently, tens of thousands of people obtain one or more citizenships annually, including their dependent family members, through these citizenship programmes.

João Mira Gomes says that these alternative residency and citizenship cards or passports are increasingly seen as a financial asset, protecting them, their businesses and investments from sudden geopolitical, political or tax changes that are excessively damaging for those who have over a certain amount of wealth.

And gave the example of the CEO of Nvidia in the case that China invades Taiwan. “I hope he has a plan B prepared for himself and his family rather than being trapped in a war zone”.

Nevertheless controversial

And here lies the crux of the matter. On the one hand, residency and citizenship by investment programmes bring HNWIs and all the benefits of their investments to countries like Portugal, boosting the economy directly and indirectly through funds invested in companies and projects, or simply buying a house (important in the past), hiring lawyers and accountants, signing up to private health insurance and paying VAT, thereby sustaining jobs and the local economy.

It also attracts dynamic entrepreneurs and investors who can make a significant contribution to the wealth of the country, providing jobs and technological know-how.

But on the other hand, wealth buys security and safety in an increasingly unstable world where the affluent can flee and transfer their assets to to another country far from wars and political upheavals or oscillating tax policies.

It’s not fair, of course, when the average Joe on the average income doesn’t have this recourse, but then who ever said life was fair?

Portugal – a programme with clear rules and a vision

Either way, those countries that design the most attractive and clear programmes will attract more applications and with the latest trend in digital assets, more governments with a vision for the future thinking of investments in funds with an option for digital assets or startups, only stand to win.

Portugal’s residency by investment programme is considered one of the most successful in the world and that was achieved not just because of the exceptional characteristics that Portugal offers as a country, but also because its investment options are clear, transparent and well-defined with a clear path to citizenship.

But since investors don’t like instability and sudden chops and changes, this requires the government to be careful not to make sudden or retroactive changes when taking into account millions and millions of euros of overseas investment.

Of course, there has to be regulation to protect against market manipulation, but also to protect the agents and intermediaries in this market.

Digital wealth and digital nomads and policies geared towards the future are vectors that can create new frontiers for global investment.

The example of Portugal shows how a country can surf these waves, helping global investors to develop a technology-friendly environment while ensuring these investments align with Portugal’s economic needs.

Above all, Portugal’s success requires agile policies and tax innovation which combined with its lifestyle qualities provide a competitive advantage for global investment.