Portugal has granted 471 'golden visas' representing sales of €306 million, according to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Paulo Portas. The share of this figure that goes to the treasury is a proportion of the property purchase tax.
Most visas were granted as the applicants purchased residential property, €272 million worth, with the Chinese continuing to lead the list of foreigners receiving the golden tax free key to Europe, followed by Russians, Brazilians, Angolans and South Africans.
The government has admitted to nine cases where the applicant was refused using the various criteria applicable such as ‘drug lord’ and ‘money launderer.’
Paulo Portas’ visa scheme is helping to sell some higher end properties but the appeal of the visa bribe is considerable for foreigners, not so much due to the allure of property in Portugal, but far more to do with gaining a foothold in Europe with unrestricted travel within the Schengen zone and with no obligation to pay any tax at all on foreign earnings for five years.
Many foreign buyers have been buying properties in prime Lisbon locations so as to rent them out, similarly in resorts in the Algarve so they are then free to travel within Europe and then set up shop where they eventually want to settle.
Portas may be crowing about the millions of euros of real estate being shifted but the effect may simply be more properties for rent, rich foreigners avoiding taxes, and a negligible positive benefit to the country beyond the property purchase tax receipts.
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See also Len Port's coverage of the scheme:http://www.algarvedailynews.com/property-news/956-golden-visas-offer-the-keys-to-europe
Comments
*Incidents such as Madre de Deus where Walter Raleigh stole ... in 1592 !!!
Entirely blanked by the Portuguese as it does not suit their version of history joining the 1588 Armada to invade Britain was technically the first breach of the Treaty of Windsor !!! By the Portuguese.
It is noticeable that ex-colonial Portuguese are often even more demonstrably anti-Brit than the more secretive locals. Do they have to try harder to be accepted by the indigenous ?
It is vital now that this hostility was secretly restarted a 100 years later - Teixeira 1990 ? - that all Brits are alerted to it.
All Brits must read up on and discuss constantly 1890 Ingles Ultimatum, Mapa Cor da Rosa etc ...
do not get turned over in ignorance !!!
British warships off the Algarve coast spurred fisherman in Olhao to go beat the crap out of the French garrison and this was the beginning of the retreat of Napoleon. The invasion and it's conclusion had a direct bearing on the status of Olivenca - it was ceded to Spain in the surrender, but as the Spaniards defaulted in the terms of Portuguese surrender, the territory had to be returned to it's previous state, something which has been upheld in the UN.
Winston Churchill claimed the Azores for the allies to use during WWII (and the yanks still have an airforce base there)
GB used the Azores under the terms of the treaty as a springboard to the Falklands.
*Incidents such as Madre de Deus where Walter Raleigh stole a portuguese ship containing cargo worth half England's treasury, whetting England's appetite for the discoveries
*The first global war - between Portugal and the Netherlands, England sided with the Dutch to grab portuguese possessions all over the planet.
*The escape of the entire Portuguese Court to Brazil, ahead of the Napoleonic Invasion cost Portugal dearly in commerce and Brazil also paid for it for decades in trade benefits.
*The British Ultimatum.
*The invasion and forced disarmament of neutral Portuguese soldiers in territories such as Angola and Mozambique and the islands in the Atlantic by Britain and her Allies (even though portuguese nationals in territories like Macau and East Timor helped the allies against Japan) during WWII
One obviously crucially fundamental difference is the secrecy that surrounds the 1890 British Ultimatum to Portugal - A national humiliation to Portugal.
It needs more publicity as it cannot be ruled out as a factor in how many Brits are treated 'badly' here for no fault of their own - as in southern Spain.
For example - If English Hedgemony is the title of a section in the standard history books here - does it encourage a Portuguese to think badly of, and justify acting badly to, a British citizen ?
All Portuguese will have learnt about Olivenza in their school rooms. As from wikipedia ....
'the issue has not been a sensitive matter in the relations between these two countries' and is now a euroregion ....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivenza
(If this is wrong alter it)
As far as The Onlooker is concerned, I think a more exact comparison is that of Olivença, now called Olivenza. Portugal has a grievance against Spain for similar reasons, and the two territories in question are but 200km apart.
expatsportugal.com
It seems that this dispute is Portugal's hidden version of Spain's more open Gibraltar grievance. An event not in British school history books but a core part of Portuguese ones !
Something all Portuguese know about ... so Brits. learn something useful today!
The consequences of the Scramble for Africa in the 1800's.