Portugal's gold visa investment down 56.3% in July

Investment from Portugal's gold visa scheme fell by 50.5 percent in July compared to June, and by 56.3 percent year on year, to some 26.1 million euros, according to statistical data of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) on Wednesday.

According to the SEF data, in July the investment came only from the purchase of real estate. A total of 47 visas were granted, of which seven were for urban rehabilitation.

Since the granting of the first visa for urban rehabilitation in July 2016, 171 golden visas were granted through this investment.

In the first seven months of this year, the investment raised through the gold visa scheme amounted to some 510 million euros, which represents a 22.2 percent decrease compared to the same period of 2017.

Since the launch of the gold visa scheme in October 2012, the total investment raised amounts to some 3.9 billion euros with 6,416 gold visas having been granted.

The gold visa scheme, officially called Investment Residency Authorization (ARI), is a fast-track residency visa scheme for large-scale investors.

ARIs are available to non-European Union residents, who either buy real estate in Portugal worth 500,000 euros, or 350,000 euros if the property is 30 years old, or make capital transfers of 1 million euros, less if certain cultural or commercial investment criteria are fulfilled.