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Portugal’s Cultural Golden Visa Investments Grow 165% in 2024, Totaling €22 Million Since Launch

The cultural option grew rapidly in 2024, collecting nearly €12 million in investments—€7.5 million more than the €4.5 million raised in 2023.

Portugal’s Cultural Heritage Golden Visa option has quietly accumulated €22.15 million in investments since its inaugural application approval in 2020, according to Madalena Monteiro of Liberty Legal, who obtained the numbers from the Centro Português das Fundações.

The program witnessed marked growth in 2024, collecting nearly €12 million in investments—a 165% increase from 2023’s €4.5 million. This surge represents the highest single-year growth.

The cultural investment pathway has “demonstrated exceptional growth throughout 2024-2025, accelerated by the scrapping of the real estate option,” according to Monteiro.

The first quarter of 2025 has already recorded €850,100 in cultural investments.

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Monteiro points to Portugal's legislative changes as the key catalyst, noting that applications surged markedly at the end of 2023, when Portugal's new legislation, which scrapped any real estate-based investment option from the Golden Visa, took effect.

The investment option has funded 38 cultural projects across Portugal. Private law foundations holding public utility status manage 37 of these projects, while a public institute oversees just one.

These cultural investments primarily support two categories of projects:

  • 23 focused on the restoration or maintenance of national cultural heritage sites
  • 15 dedicated to artistic production

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The cultural heritage option requires a minimum investment of €250,000, making it the most affordable pathway to Portuguese residency through the Golden Visa program.

This threshold drops to €200,000 when investors commit funds to low population density areas—regions with fewer than 100 inhabitants per km² or with a GDP per capita below 75% of the national average.

A single investor pioneered the cultural heritage option in 2020, making the inaugural €250,000 contribution after the pathway had remained dormant since the program's 2012 launch.

Since then, "applications have increased threefold, generating over €20 million in contributions to certified Portuguese cultural foundations," Monteiro notes.

The investor demographics show a global pattern. Monteiro observes that the applicant pool is "diverse, but I would say that the biggest nationalities are American, Indian, and Canadian."

Monteiro believes market growth in this sector demands new projects to meet increasing investor interest.

She says this major change "requires new high-quality projects to meet and capitalize on the growing demand for cultural investments."

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