More than 500 foreign investors who have obtained Portuguese Golden Visas are preparing a class-action lawsuit against the government over a new citizenship law that extends the waiting period for applying for a Portuguese passport.
This concerns holders of ARI investment residence permits, known as “Golden Visas.” According to The Portugal News, investors believe the rule change violates their legitimate expectations, as many joined the program expecting to be able to apply for citizenship after five years of residency. Now, for some applicants, that timeframe could extend to eight or ten years.
The initiative brings together investors of various nationalities, with U.S. citizens being particularly prominent. The group’s members intend to first explore legal avenues within Portugal and then, if necessary, consider options for appealing at the European level.
The investors’ main complaint concerns the retroactive effect of the reform. Many Golden Visa holders had already been living in Portugal for several years, investing in funds, businesses, or real estate, and had planned to apply for citizenship under the old terms. In one example cited in the Portuguese press, an investor was less than two months away from completing the five-year period when the rules were changed.
The Portuguese Golden Visa has long been one of the most popular investment-based residency programs in the EU. It allowed foreigners to obtain a residence permit by meeting investment requirements and with minimal physical presence in the country, and then apply for citizenship after a set period of residence. However, in recent years, Portuguese authorities have consistently tightened their migration and investment policies.
This dispute is of significant importance for the real estate market and investment migration. If the courts rule that the new deadlines should not apply to existing investors, this will preserve some of the program’s credibility. If the state prevails, Portugal could face reputational damage among investors who viewed its rules as stable and predictable.
The changes could also affect other EU countries, where residence and citizenship programs are increasingly becoming the subject of political debate. Amid rising housing prices, migration pressure, and criticism of “golden visas,” governments are seeking to tighten conditions, but investors are demanding protection of previously acquired rights.
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has signed a revised version of the citizenship law that significantly tightens naturalization requirements for foreigners. The law will take effect upon publication in the Diário da República.
The main change concerns the length of residence required to apply for citizenship. For most foreigners, it increases from 5 to 10 years, and for citizens of EU countries and Portuguese-speaking Commonwealth states, to 7 years. Additionally, the period will be calculated not from the date of application for a residence permit, but from the date the first residence card is issued.
The reform also introduces additional integration requirements. Applicants for citizenship will need to demonstrate proficiency in Portuguese at the A2 level, pass a test on culture, history, and the rights and responsibilities of citizens, confirm their commitment to democratic principles, prove sufficient means of support, and demonstrate no serious criminal convictions.
A separate part of the reform, concerning the possibility of losing citizenship in the event of serious crimes, remains under review by the Constitutional Court. Previously, the court had already ruled unconstitutional a number of provisions related to automatic denial of citizenship and vague grounds for its revocation.
For foreigners who viewed Portugal as one of the fastest EU jurisdictions for obtaining citizenship through legal residence, the reform means a significant lengthening of the planning horizon. This could have a particularly noticeable impact on residence permit holders and investors under the Golden Visa program: the residency program itself, according to available data, remains unchanged, but the path from residency to citizenship is becoming longer.
The tightening of rules comes amid rapid growth in the number of foreigners in Portugal. According to AIMA, as of the end of 2024, more than 1.5 million foreign citizens resided in the country, which is roughly double the number from three years earlier. The largest group consists of Brazilians—more than 450,000 legal residents.
According to available estimates, the largest groups of foreigners in Portugal also include citizens of India, Angola, Ukraine, Cape Verde, Nepal, Bangladesh, the United Kingdom, Guinea-Bissau, and Pakistan. According to data cited from preliminary AIMA statistics for 2024, the number of Ukrainians in Portugal was estimated at approximately 79,200 people. Separately, regarding temporary protection, according to the Prague Process, as of February 2025, approximately 56,700 Ukrainians with temporary protection status were residing in Portugal. According to some estimates, the number of Ukrainians in Portugal could reach 300,000.
The Portuguese Parliament has once again approved a revision of the citizenship law, which tightens naturalization rules; however, the new provisions have not yet taken effect and must still undergo further procedural steps. This was reported by Portuguese media and international publications covering the repeat vote following previous remarks by the Constitutional Court.
According to published reports, the new text of the law was approved on April 1, 2026. It is a revised version of the reform that Parliament had already approved in October 2025, but some of its provisions were subsequently challenged through constitutional proceedings. As a result, lawmakers revisited the document and voted in favor of the amended version.
According to specialized legal reviews and publications on the reform, the key idea behind the changes is to increase the residency period required to obtain citizenship from five to ten years for most foreigners. For citizens of CPLP countries—the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries—a more lenient requirement of seven years was discussed. The reform also includes stricter integration requirements and changes to the rules governing the loss of citizenship in certain cases.
It is important to note, however, that even after this new parliamentary approval, the law is not yet in effect. As before, the bill must go through the remaining formal stages, including presidential review and publication in the Diário da República. Until then, the current rules remain in effect in Portugal, under which the standard path to naturalization for most applicants remains five years.
Thus, the information that the Portuguese Parliament has approved a new citizenship law is generally confirmed. However, it is more accurate to speak not of the new rules coming into force, but of the re-approval by Parliament of a reform that remains in the final stages of formalization.
According to the project Relocation.com.ua, citing data from idealista with reference to Banco de Portugal, foreigners invested €3.905 billion in Portuguese real estate in 2025, setting a new record and exceeding the 2024 level by 10.4%. Against this backdrop, the total inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Portugal, conversely, fell by 34.9% to €8.51 billion, while the share of real estate in total FDI rose to 45.9%, or nearly half of all foreign capital.
The geography of this capital remains fairly predictable. The largest volume of accumulated foreign investment in Portugal is concentrated in Greater Lisbon—€113.2 billion, followed by the North of the country—€37.2 billion, and the Algarve—€21.7 billion; together, these three regions account for 80.5% of the total foreign investment stock.
Among the countries from which capital flowed in 2025, Luxembourg stood out—€1.1 billion, the United Kingdom—about €900 million, and Germany—€800 million. At the same time, Banco de Portugal itself notes that jurisdictions such as Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Spain often serve as intermediary platforms, so the ultimate sources of funds may differ from the country of the direct counterparty.
But if we look not at investment capital but at actual real estate transactions, the picture becomes clearer. The latest detailed official breakdown from INE shows that in 2024, foreign families purchased 38,552 houses and apartments in Portugal, which is 6.7% more than in 2023 and 19.2% higher than the 2019 level. That said, foreigners still remained a minority in the market: in total, families purchased 134,540 properties, of which 95,988 were bought by buyers of Portuguese origin. Among foreign buyers, Brazilians led the way with 7,694 transactions, followed by Angolans with 4,054 and the French with 4,016. Separately, INE noted a rapid increase in the number of Americans: the number of their purchases rose from 537 in 2019 to 1,707 in 2024.
If we broaden the picture and look at all major foreign groups residing in Portugal, it becomes clear that the market demand is much broader than just traditional buyers from Brazil, France, or the United Kingdom. According to AIMA, 1,543,697 foreigners were residing in Portugal as of the end of 2024.
The largest community was Brazilians—484,596 people, followed by Indians—98,616, Ukrainians—79,232, Nepalese—58,086, and British—48,238.
The mortgage market adds a distinct dimension to this picture. According to Banco de Portugal, in 2024, 10.1% of people who took out a mortgage for their primary residence were foreigners. Brazilians again led the way, accounting for 38% of all foreign borrowers; they were followed by Angolans and British nationals. In terms of loan amounts, Brazilians accounted for 30% of foreign mortgage volume, the British for 7%, Americans for 6%, and the French and Italians for 5% each. This shows that in Portugal, foreign demand has long been driven not only by purchases with personal funds but also by full-scale lending.
That is precisely why the Portuguese market should now be viewed from two perspectives. In the first, foreign capital has indeed set a record and continues to fuel the real estate market even after the abolition of “golden visas” for housing. Second, the composition of actual foreign demand is becoming increasingly diverse: as before, Brazilians, Angolans, French, British, and Americans are the most active buyers, but within the country’s demographic structure, the role of Ukrainians, Indians, Nepalese, and other new communities is becoming increasingly prominent. For the market, this means one thing: the foreign presence in the Portuguese housing market is not weakening, but changing form.
https://relocation.com.ua/foreigners-break-record-in-portugals-housing-market/
Following a meeting with Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko announced the country’s first contribution to the Energy Support Fund for Ukraine in the amount of EUR600,000.
“During the meeting, the Prime Minister of Portugal announced the first contribution to the Energy Support Fund for Ukraine in the amount of EUR600,000. We highly appreciate this step by our partners,” the Telegram message said.
The parties also discussed Portugal’s defense support for Ukraine, in particular through the PURL and SAFE mechanisms, as well as the Build in Ukraine and Build with Ukraine initiatives, which have significant potential for developing cooperation, particularly in the field of joint drone production.
In the context of preparations for the next Conference on the Reconstruction of Ukraine, the parties agreed to work on the conclusion of an intergovernmental agreement (G2G) to promote the involvement of Portuguese business and investment in the Ukrainian market.
“I also emphasized to the Prime Minister that Ukraine is grateful to the leaders of the European Union for their decision to provide Ukraine with EUR 90 billion in funding over two years — this is incredibly important assistance for Ukraine,” the Prime Minister stressed.
Portugal officially collects and publishes statistics on real estate transactions involving foreign buyers, but the publicly available data is usually aggregated by group (Portuguese buyers, EU residents, non-residents/non-EU), without a detailed breakdown by nationality. Detailed rankings of buyer countries are usually provided by specialized analytical companies and media based on real estate network databases.
According to data from the Portuguese National Statistics Institute (INE), in 2023, foreigners accounted for about 7.6% of all home purchases in the country, but provided approximately 13% of the total value of transactions. At the same time, buyers from non-EU countries pay an average of around €405,000 per property, while foreigners from the EU pay around €277,000, and the average market price is around €200,000.
In some regions, the proportion of foreigners is much higher. In the Algarve, they account for about 27% of all transactions and up to 38% of the total sales value, with 4 out of 5 properties there being purchased by non-residents. In cities, primarily Lisbon and Porto, the share of foreign transactions is smaller, at around 4-6%, but it is in the capital that the most expensive purchases are concentrated.
Private analysts provide a detailed picture by nationality. In Lisbon, according to Confidencial Imobiliário, 4,750 apartments and houses worth €2.22 billion were sold in the Urban Rehabilitation Area in 2023, of which 1,580 properties (about a third) were bought by foreigners. Buyers from North America led the way (approximately 16% of all “foreign” transactions), followed by the French (13%) and the British (9%). Chinese, Brazilian, and German investors also had a significant presence.
In the Algarve, according to estimates by Engel & Völkers, British buyers predominate, but there is also an active presence of citizens from Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands; interest from Americans is growing noticeably.
Based on this data and market reviews, we can identify a conditional “top 10” of the most active foreign buyers of Portuguese real estate (by number of transactions and total investment volume):
Investors under the previous “golden visa” scheme (primarily from China, Brazil, Turkey, the US, and South Africa) are listed separately, but following the reform of the program, their share is gradually being redistributed in favor of “regular” transactions.
Thus, Portugal publishes official data on the share and prices of transactions with foreigners, but a detailed map by nationality is based mainly on research by specialized agencies and market analysts. Taken together, they show that demand is primarily driven by investors from Western Europe, North America, and Brazil, while the role of buyers from Eastern Europe and the CIS remains niche.
