What do you get someone who has it all? A yacht? A private jet? A Banksy? In these times of geopolitical uncertainty, a second citizenship might be the greatest get of them all. Political instability has made people consider a plan B. Frankly, the United States, it's getting a little bit challenging from a political perspective. The Golden Visa allows those with means to essentially buy a second passport. And there's a reason why they call it golden. You've gotta make a serious investment. Half a million Euros, to be exact. The Golden Visa program really became popular during the debt crisis in Europe as a way to attract investment and boost their economies. And as uncertainty mounts around the world, you'll see more and more demand. We are seeing a huge increase from the likes of China, Turkey, South Africa, Brazil, the US, and other countries around the world trying to gain citizenship in Europe. One country in particular has seen

a large influx of applicants, especially from the United States. Portugal. Portugal. Portugal. Portugal's quality of life, and this particular program, for full EU citizenship, is frankly the most appealing citizenship program in Europe right now. In 2023, the United States took the top slot for the most Portuguese Golden Visa applicants. And while the official numbers are pending, multiple reports indicate an even larger increase in US applicants in 2024. But new restrictions have dramatically changed the price and terms of these Golden Visas, often pushing foreign investment into uncharted sectors. While the Golden Visa may be a luxury out of reach for most, those who can afford it are scrambling to obtain a Lisbon-themed escape plan before it disappears altogether. The window on this type of investment scheme is definitely closing. Between 2011 and 2019, about 132,000 people gained residency in Europe through some sort of Golden Visa program.

and have raised about 21.4 billion Euros. In Portugal alone, raised 7 billion. Portugal launched its Golden Visa program to attract money into the real estate market. It was almost too good to be true. Buy a house, get a visa. It was in 2020 that I decided to apply, so I did that. I rent the apartment, and it was easy because even you can stay just 15 days, every two years. I speak English, I speak Spanish, now I need to learn Portuguese. But a real estate boom in Lisbon has fueled a housing crisis, which in turn created local discontent for visa holders. With foreigners coming in, being not quite price sensitive, buying property, and then not living there and renting it, that takes housing away from the locals. So not surprisingly, the local Portuguese began to get frustrated with these foreigners coming and buying up housing stock. The first wave of Golden Visas were not adding actual value to the community.

They just want to have the European passport. And that's, in the end of the day, it's kind of shallow. Local populace are very often blaming these foreign investment programs on this inequality in cities, and it's misaligned. The Golden Visa properties accounted for 0.4% of the properties that were sold in Portugal, so it was not a big impact on the price. There's a big tourism boom here in Portugal that's contributed to rising property and service prices. The tourism sector accounts for about 25 billion in revenue per year, and there's a big inflow of foreign residents that moved to Portugal, not necessarily with the Golden Visa boom, but other visas, like the Non-Habitual Resident Program or through the D7 or Nomad Visa. Prices are increasing across the world, and we now live in a world where you can work remotely from anywhere. And so Lisbon, it's one of the most popular places for these digital nomads, and this is why you're seeing

an increase in the cost of living, and this massive influx of people coming to the city. But discontent for the Golden Visa goes far beyond Lisbon. There was also pressure from the EU for countries like Portugal, Spain, and Greece to end the Golden Visa programs because they think the program paves the way for money laundering and corruption. After the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the European Union found out that many Russians were applying for the Golden Visa, so they pressured countries to end this type of program. Last year, the socialist prime minister announced that his government was ending the Golden Visa for real estate purchases. This new restriction was designed to encourage a heretofore less favored pathway to EU citizenship by way of investment. What the government now is doing by suddenly changing the rules is trying to spill over some of this money into strategic sectors of the economy. The current Golden Visa program creates more wealth for the Portuguese economy as these funds have to invest in the real economy.

or in the stock market. Julian Johnson runs Tejo Ventures, a Golden Visa qualifying fund that offers investment in Portugal's solar infrastructure. We are using the Portugal Golden Visa almost as a Trojan horse for us to invest in climate. So we are at an industrial fabrication site. We installed the solar panels on their roof, 170 kilowatts of energy. There's a massive pipeline of solar infrastructure that we are essentially stepping in to finance, and that includes factories, government offices, fire stations, hospitals, warehouses, business parks. They obviously get the benefit of cheaper, cleaner energy, and our investors have the security of a collateralized energy contract for the duration of their time in the program. To align their efforts with local aspirations of sustainable development, Tejo has teamed up with Portuguese firm Cleanwatts. When we heard about Tejo, it was like a match made in heaven. What we are doing is we are creating power plants

distributed around the country. For example, here in this building, we can share this energy with the people that live in a four-kilometer radius. For us as a country, this kind of fund brings a lot of value. Some of these sectors have a lot of potential in a country that has 300 days of sun per year, or even in farmland. These are sectors of the economy that are booming, and some of these investors would probably not look at these sectors in Portugal if the Golden Visa wasn't available. Regardless of these positives, it is widely believed that the days of the Golden Visa are numbered. It seems like the door is slowly closing on this opportunity for the Golden Visa. Spain has recently announced that it's following suit with Portugal to end their Golden Visa program for foreign property buyers. Then you have the case of Greece that decided to increase the minimum threshold to get a Golden Visa from 250,000 to 400,000, and in some cases to 800,000.

The pressure on Portugal to increase at least the minimum threshold, if not end these types of programs, will happen in the next couple of years. Right now, we have a coalition government in place that really favors this program because they recognize the benefits that it brings to the country from a tax receipts perspective, but also from a talent perspective. It's good for the country. And so you should expect that the program will be around for the next couple of years at least. But there is a sense of urgency in terms of investing at this price and on these terms.

The Golden Migration May Be on Borrowed Time

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