Portugal citizenship by investment: there is no such programme, and the golden visa now takes ten years

The search is for a passport bought with money. The answer, for Portugal, is that there is no such thing and never has been. There is a residence permit for investors, the golden visa, and there is naturalisation by residence, which any lawful resident can reach. The investment buys the first. Time buys the second, and since May 2026 it buys it more slowly.

Every figure on this page is taken from our Portugal pages, each of which quotes the instrument it rests on: the Nationality Act, Lei 37/81, as amended by Lei Orgânica 1/2026 of 18 May 2026; the Immigration Act, Lei 23/2007, articles 3 and 90-A; Lei 56/2023, which repealed the property routes; and the AIMA fee table in force from 1 March 2026.

Does Portugal offer citizenship by investment?

No. Portuguese nationality is acquired by attribution — by descent or birth — or by acquisition, which for an investor means naturalisation under article 6 of Lei 37/81. Article 6 contains no investment route and no fast track for investors. An investor is naturalised on the same terms as anybody else who has lived in Portugal lawfully for long enough.

The phrase "Portugal golden passport" describes the golden visa plus those years, sold as one product. It is two different legal acts, under two different statutes, decided by two different authorities.

What the investment actually buys: the golden visa, a residence permit

The golden visa is a residence permit for investment activity under article 90-A of Lei 23/2007. The qualifying investments are listed in article 3(1)(d) of the same act, and five of the original eight survive:

Property is gone. Article 53 of Lei 56/2023 repealed both property options and the €1.5 million capital transfer, and article 3(5) separately bars any investment aimed at real estate directly or indirectly, which closes the fund-that-holds-housing workaround. No property tier of any amount survives.

The fees come on top. AIMA charges €842.80 to consider the application, €8,418.90 to issue the permit and €4,210.30 at each renewal, from 1 March 2026 — about €13,470 for one applicant from filing to the first renewal. The full breakdown, with the family figures, is in the Portugal golden visa guide.

How long Portuguese citizenship takes through the golden visa: ten years

Lei Orgânica 1/2026, in force since 19 May 2026, rewrote article 6(1)(b) of the Nationality Act. Naturalisation now requires legal residence of:

• seven years for nationals of EU member states and of Portuguese-speaking countries;
• ten years for everybody else.

It was five years for everyone before. An American, British, Chinese, Indian or Brazilian... no — a Brazilian is a national of a Portuguese-speaking country and needs seven. An American, British, Chinese or Indian investor needs ten.

The same law added three conditions: knowledge of "a língua e a cultura portuguesas, a história e os símbolos nacionais" — language, culture, history and national symbols — knowledge of the rights and duties of a Portuguese citizen and of the political organisation of the state, and a solemn declaration of adherence to the democratic rule of law. No language level is written into the statute; the A2 everyone quotes is administrative practice.

Why ten years can mean thirteen: the waiting time no longer counts

Between March 2024 and May 2026, article 15(4) of the Nationality Act counted the time from the moment a residence permit was requested, once it was granted. Article 5 of Lei Orgânica 1/2026 repealed it. What remains is article 15(1): legal residence means regularised status under a title, visa or authorisation — something that exists, not an application that is pending.

On a route where AIMA takes one to three years to issue the first card, that difference is the gap between a ten-year plan and a thirteen-year one. A file already pending on 19 May 2026 is decided under the old text, under article 7(2) of the new law; anything filed after it is not.

Article 15(3) adds one thing in the investor's favour: the ten years need not be continuous, but must fall within a window of twelve years.

Do you have to live in Portugal for the golden visa to count towards citizenship?

Naturalisation counts years of legal residence, which is a matter of holding a valid title, not of nights spent. The golden visa keeps its famously light presence requirement. But the naturalisation file is decided on the applicant's ties as well as his paperwork, and the new knowledge conditions — language, culture, history, the political system — are hard to meet from abroad. Ten years of a permit held from elsewhere is a weak file, and we do not suggest planning on it.

Which countries do sell citizenship by investment

None of the EU states this site covers. Malta's citizenship-for-investment regulations fell after the Court of Justice's judgment in case C-181/23 of April 2025, and that story is in the Malta residence guide. Outside Europe, Argentina announced in October 2026 a programme granting citizenship for a non-refundable US$350,000 to the Treasury, under a decree that an Argentine court has declared void and the government has appealed; what is known about it is on the sources page.

Portugal golden visa or another Portuguese residence route

Every Portuguese residence route leads to the same ten years. The golden visa does not shorten them; it only asks for less time in the country while you wait.

For someone who intends to live in Portugal, the D7 or D8 reaches the same passport for a fraction of the money. The golden visa makes sense for someone who wants the permit without moving, and for that person the passport at the end is the part least likely to arrive. The income routes are in the D7 guide and the D8 guide.

Frequently asked questions

Where this sits in the rest of the site

The five surviving golden visa routes, their conditions and fees are in the Portugal golden visa guide. The nationality law, article by article, is in Portugal's nationality law in 2026. How long each country takes to citizenship, and what counts towards it, is in the naturalisation clock and the golden passport comparison. The one programme in the set that does sell citizenship, for US$350,000, is in Argentina citizenship by investment. Every figure is traced on the sources page.

If you are weighing the golden visa for the passport

We do not sell investments and we do not give legal advice. What we do is put a person who knows what they are asking in front of a licensed adviser in Portugal. If the passport is the reason, the questions to bring are not about the fund. They are when your clock actually starts, whether your file could be pending before a cut-off that has already passed, and whether you will live in Portugal enough to pass the tests at the end. Send them through the enquiry form. We take no part in the fee.

Sources: where each figure comes from

• Naturalisation by residence, seven and ten years, the knowledge conditions and the solemn declaration: Lei 37/81, article 6, as amended by Lei Orgânica 1/2026 of 18 May 2026, in force 19 May 2026; the repeal of article 15(4): article 5; the transitional rule: article 7(2); legal residence and the twelve-year window: article 15(1) and (3). As recorded on our page on Portugal's nationality law.
• The golden visa: Lei 23/2007, articles 3(1)(d), 3(5) and 90-A; the repeal of the property routes: Lei 56/2023, article 53; the AIMA fees in force from 1 March 2026. As recorded on our Portugal golden visa page.
• The D7 and D8 thresholds: Portaria 1563/2007 and Decreto Regulamentar 84/2007, with the 2026 minimum wage of €920. As recorded on our Portugal residence and D8 pages.
• Malta: CJEU, case C-181/23. Argentina: the Ministry of Economy announcement of 2 October 2026 and the electoral court ruling of 30 June 2026, as recorded on our sources page.
• Not published here: how AIMA or the Registos e Notariado weigh physical presence in a naturalisation file, which no statute states.