Portugal’s president signed the revised nationality law on May 3. The citizenship timeline for most foreign nationals has been extended from five years to ten. For EU and CPLP nationals, it is now seven. The law takes effect the day after its publication in the Diário da República.
After more than a year of parliamentary votes, a Constitutional Court intervention, and a presidential election, there is finally clarity on what happened. There is considerably less clarity on what it means for the tens of thousands of Golden Visa investors and applicants who are now recalculating their plans.
Şafak Nervo, Chief Commercial Officer at Optylon Krea, has spent roughly a decade advising investors on Portugal’s Golden Visa from Lisbon. She sat down to answer the questions her team has been fielding since the law was signed.
Has the Golden Visa changed?
“No. The Golden Visa has not changed. This is the single most misunderstood part of the whole debate. The nationality law governs citizenship. The Golden Visa governs residency. They are separate legal instruments.”
The Golden Visa remains a residency by investment (RBI) program. Its mechanics are the same as they have been: a €500,000 investment in an eligible fund, a residence permit for the investor and their family, Schengen-wide travel, the right to live, work, and study in Portugal, and a renewal cycle that requires an average of just seven days per year in the country.
“Your residency, your Schengen access, your family’s inclusion, your right to live and work in Portugal: none of that has been touched,” Nervo says. “The program is fully intact.”
What exactly changed with the nationality law?
The citizenship residency requirement has been extended. Previously, Golden Visa holders could apply for Portuguese citizenship after five years of the date of applying for residency. Under the new law, most nationals will need ten years. EU and CPLP nationals will need seven.
The residency clock now starts from the date a residence permit is issued, not from the date of application. This matters because processing backlogs at AIMA (the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum) have meant long waits between application and permit issuance for many investors.
“This is now the law,” Nervo says. “We are not speculating about what might happen anymore. We are working with what is in front of us, and advising our investors accordingly.”
What if I already have a pending citizenship application?
The law includes safeguards for applicants who have already completed the required five-year period and submitted their citizenship application with all necessary documentation. Therefore, investors who have already filed for citizenship should not be affected.
The president reinforced this point when signing the law, stating that pending processes should not be harmed by the legislative change and that state delays should not count against applicants. Those remarks are not legally binding provisions, but they carry interpretive weight, particularly for cases that may end up in court.
Can I still get permanent residency after five years?
“Yes. This has not changed at all. Five years after receiving your first residence card, you can apply for permanent residency. That status has no expiration, no additional investment requirement, and no minimum stay obligation. At the moment, the main challenge is the timeline for the issuance of the first residence card. Currently, the process is taking longer than expected, although it is anticipated that these timelines will improve and become shorter.’’
This is the detail that most of the headline coverage has missed. The five-year milestone still exists. It now leads to permanent residency rather than directly to a passport. An investor who reaches that point can exit their fund investment, hold permanent resident status, and decide on citizenship from a position of complete flexibility.
The practical effect: the investment horizon remains five years. The capital is not locked in for a decade. Only the citizenship timeline has been extended.
Is Portugal still worth it, even at ten years?
“In any case, Portugal’s Golden Visa is the only alternative in Europe that leads to a passport without the obligation to live there. That has not changed.”
Every other European residency program that offers a path to citizenship requires physical relocation, extended stays measured in months per year, or both. Portugal’s Golden Visa Program requires 14 days every two years. Across a ten-year timeline, the total physical presence required could amount to fewer than 70 days.
No other EU country offers that combination of a short stay requirement, full Schengen mobility, family inclusion, and eventual citizenship eligibility. The timeline is longer. The structural advantage is unchanged.
Does the choice of fund matter more now?
“It always mattered. But yes, the longer investors think about their capital sitting inside a fund, the more they realize the fund itself needs to perform. The Golden Visa is the reason you invest. The fund is the reason your money works while you wait.”
The Ando Europe Fund, advised by Optylon Krea and managed by Stag Fund Management, targets the hospitality sector through the Ando Living brand, Europe’s first lifestyle serviced apartment brand. At least 60% of the fund is invested in Portugal and allocated to hospitality mainly through fit-out, furniture, fixtures, and equipment, as well as food and entertainment operations secured by long-term management contracts. The remaining 40% can be allocated to international or other types of investments depending on the fund’s strategy.
The structure is a debt model with a target return of between 6- 8% per annum. are backed by operating companies and lease/management contracts that are already generating revenue.
The fund is regulated by the CMVM (Comissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários), Portugal’s securities market commission. Minimum subscription is set at €500,000, with a minimum of a five-year maturity period in Ando Europe Fund, which aligns with the permanent residency eligibility timeline.
What is the track record behind the fund?
The Ando Living Group’s property management arm manages over 2000 apartments across Portugal, has hosted more than 500,000 guests, and processed over 175,000 bookings. Its yield management system has generated €85 million for property owners. Guest satisfaction runs above 94%, and estimated gross booking value reached €50 million in 2024, representing 94% revenue growth since 2022.
Optylon Krea has structured €200 million in equity across five CMVM-regulated funds, serving over 800 investors from more than 42 countries. The combined track record exceeds €2 billion in gross development value across 38 projects. The group plans to scale to 5,000 units across seven countries by 2028, with a geographic footprint that extends from Lisbon to Istanbul, Madrid, Paris, London, and Athens.
“We launched our first Golden Visa fund in 2018,” Nervo says. “Before it was popular, before real estate was removed as an option, and before most of the firms in this market today had entered it. We have been through every legislative change this program has produced. That is worth something when the rules change again.”
What should I do right now?
“Get informed. Not from headlines, not from social media, and not from firms that are still selling the five-year story. Yes, the law has changed, and the Golden Visa program has not. These are two different things, and understanding the difference is the first step.
Even though we are on the investment side of the business, we understand that the main drivers for investors are the Golden Visa and the path to citizenship.
With this responsibility in mind, we always strive to keep our investors updated with the most relevant changes and market information. Recently, we sent the most frequently asked questions to 4 different law firms, with the aim of consolidating their legal opinions and shared a clear summary with our existing investors.
For investors weighing the Portugal Golden Visa in light of the new nationality law, Optylon Krea offers a confidential, no-obligation consultation to assess eligibility, fund structure, and timing.
