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The latest Portuguese citizenship legislation updates

Launched in 2012, the Portuguese programme has been a popular programme amongst investors because of its low stay requirement, affordable investment options and the opportunity to acquire citizenship status after year six (if investors comply to the regulations set up for the Golden Visa programme).

As of recent, the Portuguese Immigration department (SEF) are planning to update its citizenship legislation by amending the length of years an applicant can obtain a Portuguese passport. Previously, as stated above, an applicant could opt to apply for settlement in Portugal after the sixth year of their Golden Visa. However, with the new citizenship legislation, the Portuguese programme has dropped this period down by one year. Applicants can now apply for a Portuguese passport after just five years as opposed to the previous six years.

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Moldova Programmes

Alongside Malta and Cyprus, Moldova is set to be the third country in Europe to offer a citizenship by investment programme in the coming months. Compared to its older counterparts, the Moldova programme is offering the most affordable route to citizenship in European region.

The financial requirements of the programme are for approved applicants to make one of the following contributions:

-€100,000 contribution in to the Moldovan Public Investment Fund

-€250,000 contribution in to an area of strategic development such as real estate or government bonds

The primary reason for the Moldovan government offering such reasonable and affordable contribution options is heavily dependent on the fact that Moldova is still not a member of the European Union. In contrast to the other two citizenship by investment programmes who are in the European Union significantly alters the pricing difference. However, the programme is not without its benefits as though applicants who are approved can relish in visa-free travel to over 120 countries including the Schengen Area. Additionally, investors contributions will drastically help the citizens of Moldova (including themselves) as the Moldovan government’s fundamental objective is to create long-lasting societal value for the Moldovan people. The government recently announced that the investment programme will help provide “valuable foreign direct investment that will enhance the daily lives of all Moldovans”.

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Montenegro Programme

The government of Montenegro have officially approved the launch of the nation’s citizenship by investment programme as of 1st October 2018. The programme is capped at 2000 applicants, granting those approved with a full Montenegrin citizenship in exchange for a secure investment in to the country. The programme is set to offer non-EU countries the opportunity to invest in a citizenship over the course of the next three years.

Perks of the programme are yet to be finalised with some benefits already confirmed, such as, visa-free travel to over 125 countries (including the Schengen area) and an accelerated application processing time that is confirmed to process citizenships at a given period of six months.

There are two routes of investment, which are the following:

– €250,000 investment in a government approved project in an under developed region of Montenegro

-€450,000 investment in a government approved project in a developed region of Montenegro

As the programme is still preparing for its launch, there may be slight amendments and/or adjustments. If so, we will keep you up to date with the latest news about the Montenegrin citizenship by investment programme.

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Garth William Coates

Garth is one of the experts we use regularly. He is a solicitor and runs his own immigration law firm in central London. He has over 25 years’ experience of immigration law and has previously worked for the UK Immigration Department.

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Michele Martin

Michele is one of the external experts we use. She has been working as a British Solicitor in the UK since 1994. She has extensive experience of all aspects of second citizenship and golden visa programmes.

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Celemet Yener

Celemet has developed good working relationships with Identity Malta (the official citizenship department in Malta) and SEF (the immigration department in Portugal). He has extensive knowledge of all types of Golden Visa applications.

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Christine Phillips

Christine is our senior consultant and has been with the company since its establishment. Christine is responsible for citizenship applications, having extensive knowledge of both naturalisation and second citizenship programmes. As a fluent Turkish speaker, she assists all our teams with queries from Turkish nationals who are looking to obtain a Golden Visa or a second citizenship.

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Leqa Al Habib

After excelling in her academics and achieving a First-Class Honours in LLB Law, Leqa moved on to gain extensive experience in conducting complex cases on European Golden Visa’s and Citizenship by Investment programmes. She has worked with high profile clients, well-known country experts, and other highly reputable professionals within her field. With her extensive immigration experience in, Leqa is positioned as one of our legal consultants who primarily works with our Arabic speaking client base as she speaks Arabic fluently. Leqa has direct connection to our Dubai office and has travelled on various occasions out to the U.A.E to deal with client’s cases.

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Leila Mansouri

Leila is our Attorney and Business Development Consultant as well as a U.S. licensed immigration attorney with almost a decade of experience. She has extensive experience dealing with Iranian nationals as well as being invited to speak on many media platforms and conferences.