Golden Visa investors file legal suit against Portuguese authorities

Portugal Golden Visa investors have filed an amicus curiae* brief this month – a legal complaint over the government’s delays and constitutional violations.

And while a court did uphold a lack of grandfathering provisions* for current residence holders, there is still confusion over when residence starts counting towards eligibility.

The problem revolves around interpretations which the court has flagged up, particularly regarding when residence time begins counting.

Over 20,000 investors are waiting for appointments with Portugal’s Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), extending into 2026, some waiting since 2021.

One US businesswoman, who runs a successful property agency in the Greater Lisbon Region with many employees, told Essential Business over the weekend that she had only just be called for biometric testing last week after a wait of four years, and after having been legally resident in Portugal for eight years!

Parliament’s version suggests that citizenship eligibility begins when AIMA issues residence permits rather than when applicants submit requests.

Nevertheless, processing typically requires two to four years, potentially extending the effective timeline to 12-14 years if the court upheld this counting mechanism.

*An amicus curiae (Latin for “friend of the court”) is a non-party individual or organization that offers information, expertise, or perspective to a court in a pending case, usually through a written brief, to assist the court with complex legal or factual issues, especially those with broad public impact. They aren’t involved in the dispute but provide insights that parties might not, helping judges understand wider implications, and typically require court permission to file their submission (an amicus brief). 

*In Portugal, the term “grandfather clause” is relevant in legislative changes, such as the recent amendment to the Nationality Law, where many residents expected a clause to protect those who were already in the process under the 5-year rule, but the new 10-year law did not have a clear transition, generating frustration and uncertainty, although applications already submitted continue under the old law and there are debates about unconstitutionality without this clause.

Source: Investment Migration Insider