Programme overview
Portugal's Golden Visa is the public name for the ARI residence permit. It gives qualifying non-EU investors a Portuguese residence route, with family reunification and a pathway to permanent residence or citizenship if the separate legal conditions are met.
The programme is still active after the 2023 housing reforms, but its centre of gravity changed. New filings can no longer use direct real estate acquisition or simple capital-transfer routes.
| Indicator | Figure or status | How to read it | Primary source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Programme name | Autorizacao de Residencia para Atividade de Investimento | Usually called ARI or Portugal Golden Visa | AIMA ARI page |
| Launch | October 2012 | Created as a residence-by-investment route for non-EU investors | SEF archive |
| SEF-era beneficiaries | 33,142 | 12,718 investors plus 20,424 family members through Q3 2023 | SEF Sep 2023 |
| Approved investment | €7.3B+ | Rounded cumulative investment across official ARI reporting | SEF Sep 2023 |
| 2024 ARI permits | 2,081 | AIMA activity-report figure for investment-activity residence permits | AIMA RMA 2024 |
| 2024 ARI family permits | 2,909 | AIMA family-reunification permits granted under the ARI route | AIMA RMA 2024 |
| Current route mix | Funds, company capitalisation, culture, research, jobs | Real estate and simple capital-transfer routes closed to new applications in October 2023 | AIMA ARI page, Law 56/2023 |
Investment and routes
The old programme was driven by real estate. The post-reform programme is built around regulated funds, company capitalisation, scientific research, cultural support, and job creation.
| Route or metric | Figure | Interpretation | Primary source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real estate routes | €6.451B | 11,383 ARI permits and about 88.2% of cumulative investment through September 2023 | SEF Sep 2023 |
| Capital-transfer bucket | €867.1M | 1,312 ARI permits across capital-transfer subroutes through September 2023 | SEF Sep 2023 |
| Former simple capital transfer | €594.5M | The old passive capital-transfer subroute within the broader transfer bucket | SEF Sep 2023 |
| Fund subroute | €260.8M | 723 ARI permits through September 2023, about 3.6% of cumulative investment | SEF Sep 2023 |
| Job creation | 23 ARI permits | Historically marginal before the 2023 reform | SEF Sep 2023 |
| Current fund route | €500,000 | Qualifying non-real-estate collective investment undertakings with at least five-year maturity and 60% invested in Portuguese commercial companies | AIMA ARI page |
| Culture route | €250,000 | May fall to €200,000 in eligible low-density contexts | AIMA ARI page |
| Research route | €500,000 | May fall to €400,000 in eligible low-density contexts | AIMA ARI page |
| Period | Investment | Main investors or permits | Family members | Comment | Primary source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2012-Sep 2023 | €7.318B | 12,718 main ARI permits | 20,424 family permits | SEF cumulative checkpoint before the post-reform reporting reset | SEF Sep 2023 |
| 2022 | €654.3M | 1,281 ARI permits | 1,588 family permits | SEF annual map; the United States led the annual nationality table | SEF 2022 |
| 2024 | Not published in the same table | 2,081 ARI permits | 2,909 ARI-linked family permits | AIMA reports permit counts, but not the old full route, nationality, and investment split | AIMA RMA 2024 |
Investor demographics
China remains the largest cumulative investor nationality. The United States became more prominent in later years, but public 2024 AIMA reporting does not support a precise official nationality table for the post-reform year.
| Nationality | Main ARI permits | Share | Trend | Primary source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | 5,407 | 42.5% | Largest cumulative investor nationality in the September 2023 SEF table | SEF Sep 2023 |
| Brazil | 1,256 | 9.9% | Second-largest cumulative source market | SEF Sep 2023 |
| United States | 781 | 6.1% | Third-largest cumulative source market by September 2023 | SEF Sep 2023 |
| Turkey | 613 | 4.8% | Fourth-largest cumulative source market | SEF Sep 2023 |
| South Africa | 574 | 4.5% | Fifth-largest cumulative source market | SEF Sep 2023 |
| Other nationalities | 4,087 | 32.1% | Long tail across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas | SEF Sep 2023 |
2023 reforms
The Mais Habitacao law removed the routes that shaped most of the historical statistics. For new applicants, the statistical baseline after October 2023 is a smaller and more specialised investment-route menu.
| Route | Minimum | Status | Notes | Primary source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Investment funds | €500,000 | Active | Units in qualifying regulated non-real-estate funds. The legal route requires at least five-year maturity and at least 60% investment in Portuguese commercial companies. | AIMA ARI page |
| Company creation or capitalisation | €500,000 | Active | Company creation or share-capital reinforcement combined with creation or maintenance of at least five permanent jobs for at least three years. | AIMA ARI page |
| Job creation | 10 jobs | Active | Direct job-creation route remains available; the threshold can fall to 8 jobs in eligible low-density areas. | AIMA ARI page |
| Scientific research | €500,000 | Active | Capital contribution to qualifying research activity. The threshold can fall to €400,000 in eligible low-density areas. | AIMA ARI page |
| Cultural heritage | €250,000 | Active | Reduced threshold can fall to €200,000 in eligible low-density areas. | AIMA ARI page |
| Real estate acquisition | Formerly €500,000+ | Closed to new filings | Removed by Mais Habitacao from 7 October 2023. | Law 56/2023 |
| Capital transfer | Formerly €1.5M | Closed to new filings | Also removed for new ARI filings by the 2023 reforms. | Law 56/2023 |
ARI programme launches
Portugal opens a residence-by-investment route with real estate, capital transfer, and job-creation options.
Early peak and pullback
SEF annual maps show €921.3 million of ARI investment in 2014 and €465.3 million in 2015, so the early peak was uneven rather than a steady €900 million-per-year run.
Geographic restrictions start
Most residential real-estate routes in Lisbon, Porto, and parts of the Algarve are closed for new ARI property applications.
Mais Habitacao reform takes effect
Real estate and simple capital-transfer routes are removed for new applications. Funds, culture, research, and jobs remain.
AIMA reports 2,081 ARI permits and 2,909 ARI-linked family permits
The first full post-SEF reporting year shows Golden Visa processing continuing while AIMA clears inherited backlogs.
What the statistics mean for 2026 applicants
The historical ARI totals are useful for understanding demand, but they should not be used as a shortcut for today's route choice. Most of the €7.3 billion historical total came from real estate, and that route is no longer available for new Golden Visa filings.
- Treat 2024 as a processing and transition year, not as a clean public ranking of the new post-reform routes.
- For fund-route applicants, the practical questions are eligibility, source-of-funds evidence, fund term, regulated status, and the rule that qualifying funds cannot be directly or indirectly dedicated to real-estate investment.
- Compare culture, research, company capitalisation, and job creation on documentation burden and fit, not only on the headline minimum investment amount.
Methodology and caveats
Golden Visa statistics are easy to misread because SEF, AIMA, media commentary, and adviser summaries do not always count the same thing. We keep main applicants, family members, permits, and investment value separate.
Do not compare every ARI number directly
SEF's historical tables separate main investors and family members. AIMA's 2024 report gives ARI permit and ARI-linked family-reunification counts, but not a full public split by route, nationality, investment value, and main applicant in the same form.
Avoid unofficial approval-rate claims
Some market summaries cite very high approval rates, but AIMA's public 2024 reporting does not publish a simple approved-versus-refused ARI table that supports a precise public approval-rate claim.
Route eligibility changed
Pre-7 October 2023 applications generally continue under the law in force at filing. New applications must use the post-reform routes.
Sources
This page uses official ARI, migration, and legislative sources first. Secondary market reporting is treated as context, not as an official substitute for AIMA or SEF data.