Every day more and more South Africans are considering their immigration options and while Canada and Australia might be considered popular destinations South Africans have some very, very attractive options in Europe too!  Have you heard about Portugal’s Golden Visa or Investor Visa?

A life in the Mediterranean certainly sounds idyllic, a perfect climate, a property market that offers quality affordable housing and a relaxed visa-system means that Portugal is one of the best international moves South Africans could make.

Portugal is also keen on attracting as much international investment as possible.  Portugal is not a rich country and relies quite heavily on international investment.  As such the Portuguese government had the foresight to design a visa which would make such investments easy and realistically attainable.

According to the most recent study on international property prices published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development Portugal offers much more affordable house prices than most of its European counterparts.

Commonwealth countries, in particular, were found to have the most wildly overvalued property markets among the OECD countries. They include New Zealand, Australia and Canada; prices continued to power ahead in all three last year.

International cost of  living indicators show that a couple could comfortably live in Lisbon for as little as €1,800 a month, this translates to around R25 000.

South Africa is considered even slightly more expensive than Portugal when it comes to accommodation expenses ranking 65th and 67th respectively on the international cost of living listing site Numbeo.com

In Lisbon’s charming Alfama neighborhood, small studio and one-bedroom apartments list for €100,000 or ZAR 1,4 million.

As of January 2016, Portugal's Real Estate Professionals and Brokers Association reported that the visa have been issued to 2,788, mostly Chinese, Brazilians and South Africans.

What is the Golden Visa?

The Portugal Golden Visa is a golden visa program by the government of Portugal that grants residency in Portugal to people who:

• Invest in real estate with a minimum investment of Invest in real estate with a minimum investment of € 280,000.  With no limit on the number of properties a foreigner may own
• Invest in the country through Cash Deposit or Financial Investment (Bonds or Stocks) with a minimum value of € 1.000.000
• Create a new company with at least 10 permanent employees based in Portugal.

Any of these options gives the holder and their family full residence in Portugal along with all the benefits associated with residency including study and working rights.

The team at New World Immigration can give you more information about this visa including the requirements and application procedure.