A group of 1,260 golden visa investors has lodged a collective complaint with Portugal’s Ombudsman and hopes to meet the newly appointed office-holder, Luísa Neto, within the next 15 days.
They want her to refer the new Nationality Law to the Constitutional Court and urge the government to find a solution for people whose citizenship applications are underway or who have been waiting years for a residence card.
According to ECO, the group is calling for a transitional regime and for time to be counted from the date an application was submitted. If there is no response from the government, they will begin legal action against the state in September, potentially involving 2,000 investors.
The Nationality Law did not change the golden visa regime, but it doubled the time needed to qualify for a Portuguese passport, increasing it from five to ten years. At the same time, the publication adds, the period now starts only once a residence permit has been received, rather than when the application was submitted, as had previously been the case.
The changes also affect investors who began the process of applying for nationality through an investment residence permit — an ARI, or golden visa. Many investors were caught “by surprise” by the changes and are now prepared to take action against the state after the summer.
“We are ready to bring legal action in September if nothing happens before then,” Catarina Almeida Garrett, co-founder of AGPC, one of the law firms representing 1,260 golden visa investors, told ECO. Over the next 15 days, the group hopes to be received by the new Ombudsman.
Article originally published by ECO
