The Portuguese Association of Residential Tourism and Resorts (APR) believes that the end of golden visas announced by the government could lead to an immediate suspension of investments worth more than 600 million euros and 1,000 jobs.
In a note published this Wednesday, the organization said the cancellation of the ARI (residence permit for investment, better known as the golden visa) “for tourism units in particular is a misguided and impromptu measure that appears just a year after the last review and only three or four months after it was rejected in Parliament.”
According to the organization, this measure, included in the government’s Mais Habitação plan, could lead to the “immediate suspension of investments of more than 600 million euros and therefore the creation of more than 1,000 jobs, which some of the partners APR had a forecast for the next two years “.
At the same time, according to APR, this measure could lead to “the loss of the contribution of each new foreign investor to the Portuguese economy, which after 5 years is about 6 times the value of its initial investment.”
According to data released by the association, last year, when “it was no longer possible to invest in ARI for housing in urban centers, 534 million euros of investments were attracted, that is, a potential of more than three billion euros up to five years,” he pointed out, guaranteeing that “this equivalent to 1.3% of GDP [Produto Interno Bruto] national” and 18% of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).
APR understands that “the complete disappearance of ARIs would be a measure with serious economic and reputational consequences” for a country “disconnected from the reality of the country and its regions and improvised”, adding that “it would be worse to stop abruptly and completely with ARIs.”
“It is possible that we will potentially deal an irreparable blow to the main sectors of Portugal that are in need of foreign private investment – among others, tourism, energy, health, logistics – in the medium term, since the state is not able to respond, not even with a PDP,” – he warned.
At the same time, “given the recent introduction of recent changes to the regime, the vast majority of investments made since its entry into force are still under development and / or construction”, and the introduction of the announced immediate change “will make it unfeasible or, according to at the very least, entail a large loss of income in many of these projects that are still under development.”
The APR reviewed a preliminary version of the proposed law and, while acknowledging that it is subject to change, warned that the government’s intention to apply these measures retroactively could render “invalid concession requests submitted after 16 February from 2023.”
“In the understanding of the Asia-Pacific region, such a requirement turns out to be excessively burdensome and, of course, unconstitutional,” the organization said.
According to the association, “The transitional rules of the proposed law mention that the renewal of a residence permit is subject to proof by the investor that the property is being rented for residential purposes for a period of at least five years, or that it is intended for the investor’s own and permanent home or the home of a single from his descendants” and, to associate with these changes, “the assumptions required by the law in force at the time the investors made the respective investments are radically changed to the middle of the period of time required by the state to obtain the residence permit they applied for”.
On the other hand, without distinguishing between the application of this limitation to the various types of properties that are the subject of an ARI investment, it “makes it impossible for investors of properties intended for non-residential purposes (including but not limited to other residential tourism) to benefit from the exclusion from renewal restrictions,” he said.
Last week, Pedro Fontainhas, chief executive of APR, told Lusa that the organization did not agree with the announced abolition of golden visas and asked the government to “think” about conducting research, as well as several other alternative measures.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.