One of the quickest and most tax-efficient ways to apply for the Golden Visa Portugal program is through the investment option. By investing €350,000 in a Portuguese fund, you can start the process to obtain your Portuguese Golden Visa in a week while having the relative security of keeping your capital safe. With many qualified investment funds available, it’s important to know exactly what a qualified investment fund is.
What is a qualified investment fund?
Although there are many investment options available, not all of them are qualified investment funds. In order to make your Golden Visa Portugal Fund process successful, it’s essential to understand which funds count as qualified investment funds.
Related article: What are the Tax benefits for a Golden Visa in Portugal
The Golden Visa Portugal program defines qualified investments funds as meeting 4 essential criteria:
1 – They are approved and regulated by the CMVM – Portuguese Securities Market Commission:
The CMVM is the Portuguese authority that regulates investment funds. To be sure that your prospective investment meets this criteria, you should check with the investment house directly to see if they are approved;
2 – At least 60% of the capital is headquartered from inside Portugal:
The Portuguese government set up the Golden Visa Portugal program specifically to inject capital into the Portuguese economy. For this reason, you need to check the prospectus of any investment vehicle to make sure that at least 60% of the capital is invested in Portuguese companies.
3 – The minimum time to exit has to be at least as long as the Golden Visa Portugal program:
The Golden Visa Portugal process takes 5 years from the moment you obtain your residency card to permanent residency or passport. During this time you need to maintain your investment, which in turn means that you can’t invest in a qualified investment fund that allows for an exit before this time. It’s also worth noting that at the end of your Golden Visa Portugal application, should you wish to keep your capital in the fund, and the fund allows for this, then you can.
4 – The fund can’t guarantee investors a stable dividend:
The final rule is that the fund cannot guaranty a consistent and fixed dividend return for the duration of your investment.
Does this mean they are all the same?
Even with the narrow definition of what counts as a qualified investment fund, there is still a wide range of options for investors to pursue.
As with any investment, there will be different instruments on the market depending on your perception of performance, risk and reward. While some qualified investment funds are designed to be low risk vehicles for Golden Visa applicants to keep their money safe in real estate investments, others act more like typical venture capital or private equity funds and go for risky investments in emerging tech or industry.
Related article: Golden Visa Portugal Fund: What is it
How do I choose the right qualified investment fund?
With over 40 years of experience in the Portuguese market, Lince Capital Team can help Golden Visa Portugal applicants to invest in the right qualified investment funds according to their investor profile.
As experts in securing Portugal Golden Visas through the Investment Fund option, we can carefully navigate you through the process. Depending on your investor profile, Lince has two standout funds to consider which are still open to subscription.
Lince Innovation Fund
The Lince Innovation Fund is focused on research and development projects across a wide range of sectors such as health, IT and industrial. The minimum investment in this fund is €100,000 and the term lasts for 8 years.
Lince Navigator II
Lince Navigator II is exclusively focused on real estate development projects in the high-value central Lisbon area. The minimum investment for this fund is €100,000 and the term lasts for 7 years.
If you would like more information about Golden Visas or would like to explore how to invest in Portugal, please feel free to contact us.
