Is Portugal’s Golden Visa Still Worth It?

A few years ago, this was a much easier question to answer.

Portugal’s Golden Visa was one of the most attractive residency-by-investment programs in Europe. You could buy a property, spend very little time in Portugal, and still work toward citizenship after five years.

Now, that equation looks very different.

The big issue is citizenship. Portugal’s government announced plans to increase the residency period for naturalization from five years to 10 years for most foreigners. This means more renewals, more legal and government fees, more trips to Portugal if you are mainly staying outside the country, and of course a much longer wait for that all-important passport. On top of that, Portugal’s wider immigration system has had serious delays: Reuters reported a backlog of more than 400,000 applications.

And realistically, even “10 years” would not mean 10 years in the neat, tidy way people imagine. At the very best, if the system improved dramatically, you would probably still be looking at several extra months at the beginning to get the residence card in hand and around a year at the end for citizenship processing.

So the big question is: is it still worth it?

The answer is yes for some people, no for others, and much more dependent on your actual goal than it used to be.

As a Plan B?

This is still probably the strongest case for Portugal’s Golden Visa.

If things go badly in your home country, you can still get on a plane, come to Portugal, and live here full-time because you already have residency here.

That is what makes it such a strong Plan B.

Unlike a visa like the D7, which is generally built around actually living in Portugal most of the year (around eight months per year on average), the Golden Visa gives you the option to stay outside Portugal while keeping your residency alive. Then, if you ever need to activate that Plan B, you can move here properly.

Even if you move here properly, you don’t need to live here 365 days of the year if you don’t want to. While you wouldn’t be able to spend as much time as you want in the Schengen Area, you could spend 90 in every 180 days there and the remainder of the time in Portugal. Or perhaps some time in non-Schengen countries like the UK, Ireland, or Albania.

So yes, as a Plan B, it still works.

For Citizenship?

Surprisingly, I would still say yes. But only if what you want is citizenship without having to spend much time in Portugal.

That is the key tradeoff.

If you are willing to actually move to a country, there are other places in Europe that may offer a faster path to citizenship. Portugal’s advantage is no longer speed.

Most countries do not offer anything like this. They may offer a route to residency, but if your end goal is citizenship, they usually expect you to actually live there, become tax resident there, and build your life there. For many people, especially those working in countries with lower taxes and higher salaries, that is a major downside.

Portugal still stands out because the Golden Visa remains a low-stay residence route to citizenship: spend an average of seven days per year in the country and after ten years, apply for citizenship.

So the choice becomes something like this:

• If you want citizenship in five or six years, choose somewhere else but actually move there.
• If you’re willing to wait ten years, consider Portugal and enjoy the flexibility of not having to move there.

That is why I would still say yes, it can still make sense for citizenship. Not because it is fast, but because it is one of the few ways to pursue EU citizenship without fully relocating.

For Minimal-Stay Residency

Again, yes.

If your goal is minimal-stay residency and you like the idea of having the option to move later, Portugal is still very strong.

• Where it becomes less clear is if citizenship is not part of your long-term plan.
• If you simply want residency with minimal stay requirements, other countries like Greece or Malta are worth looking at.

However, the problem with most other EU golden visas is that while they allow minimal stays for residency if you want to apply for citizenship, you’ll typically need to spend five or more years living there before you can apply.

For Residency In Portugal

If you are actually planning to move to Portugal and live here most of the year, the answer is much more mixed.

You can absolutely move on the Golden Visa. Portugal’s official rules still give Golden Visa holders the right to reside and work in Portugal for 365 days of the year if you want to. But if you are genuinely willing to move full-time, then the Golden Visa is often not the cheapest or most sensible route, especially now the property option is gone.

For many people, a D7, Digital Nomad, or another visa would be more practical. Those visas usually involve much lower government and legal costs, and they do not require a €500,000 investment or €250,000 donation.

The Golden Visa still makes sense if you do not qualify for the D7 or another route and you have the money to justify paying for flexibility. But a lot of people who think they need the Golden Visa could potentially qualify for a D7 by restructuring their finances, for example through passive income, investments, or rental income.

So if your real goal is simply to live in Portugal, the Golden Visa can work, but it is often more expensive than it needs to be.

And while Portugal’s visas are some of the most attainable in Europe, if you could qualify for Portugal’s Golden Visa, there’s a chance you could qualify for residency in another country. Spain, for example, has an NLV visa, which is similar to the D7. Other countries have other visas for passive income holders or investors.

For Travel or Moving Countries Later

Yes, with some caveats.

For travel, it still works the same. Portugal’s ARI rules still allow visa-free movement around the Schengen Area.

In reality, this isn’t a big deal for a lot of people. Those from the US, UK, or Canada, for example, don’t need to apply for a special Schengen Visa—they might be restricted by Schengen Rules, but getting the right to visit the Schengen Area is fairly automatic. However, if you’re from a part of the world where the Schengen Visa involves a formal and lengthy application, the Golden Visa would make life a lot easier.

It’s important to note that the 90/180 rule still applies: while you don’t need a visa to travel within the borderless Schengen Area, you would still be restricted to 90 days in every 180 days. Time spent in Portugal would not count in this calculation.

As for moving to another EU country later, that is where things become more complicated.

In theory, there may still be longer-term options through the EU long-term residence permit after several years, which could potentially make it easier to relocate elsewhere in Europe. But this is not the same thing as having an EU passport, and it is not simple or automatic.

Risks and Uncertainty

This is the biggest negative.

Portugal’s Golden Visa is still probably one of the best Golden Visa-style options in Europe. The program still allows you to live and work in Portugal, travel in Schengen, and maintain the permit with very limited physical presence. And you can apply for citizenship at the end of that.

But Portugal has damaged trust.

Moving from five years to 10 years for citizenship is one thing. Moving in that direction without grandfathering in current investors is another.

Golden Visa applications have also historically had very long delays, often much longer than standard visas: while a D7 visa was often processed in 3-6 months, a Golden Visa applicant could be waiting 18 months or even longer.

There have already been lawsuits. There may well be more. Some may succeed. But the broader point is that investors now have to think not just about whether Portugal is flexible, but whether it is dependable.

Closing Thoughts

A few years ago, Portugal’s Golden Visa made perfect sense for a lot of people.

You could buy property at €280,000, €350,000, or €500,000, get residency through the Golden Visa program, meet minimal stay requirements, and aim for citizenship after five years. It was easy to see the appeal.

Now, it is different.

Today, the mainstream route is usually a €500,000 fund investment, and the citizenship side is slower and more politically exposed than it once did.

So, is it still worth it?

If you want a Plan B, yes.
If you want minimal-stay residency, yes.
If you want citizenship without relocating full-time, surprisingly, yes.
If you want fast citizenship and are willing to live full-time in another country, probably not.
If you are happy to move to Portugal full-time and qualify for a visa like the D7 or Digital Nomad Visa, probably not.

The unfortunate reality is that it is still worth it to some people and much less worth it to others. That is why there is no black-and-white answer anymore.

The best thing you can do is speak with an immigration expert and figure out if the Golden Visa makes sense for you.