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Why You Should Pivot to the Portugal HQA Visa™ with Empowered Startups 

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Empowered Startups
IMI Official Partner

While the Portuguese government makes moves to all but eliminate the Golden Visa (GV), Empowered Startups is working closely with the government on policy and procedures around the highly qualified activity visa and implementation of Empowered’s HQA Visa™ program.  

Empowered Startups knows from experience in running similar programs with the Governments of Canada (Startup Visa Program), USA (National Interest Waiver program), and France (Talent Passport) that there will be three types of owners and managing partners of immigration firms when the GV is officially dead, and the dust has settled. 

  1. Those who couldn’t/wouldn’t pivot to the HQA Visa™ Program; 
  2. Those who pivoted quickly but did not follow the model presented in the information that follows; and
  3. Those who did pivot quickly and used the model as prescribed. Only those in this third group will achieve a sustained rate of revenue growth that replaces lost GV revenue and ultimately achieves successful immigration permitting results for their clients in both the short and long term.  

The new model for HNWI immigration to Portugal

Around the world, rightly or wrongly, immigrant investors are viewed with skepticism. But entrepreneurs are viewed with admiration. The equation for an immigration firm’s long-term success? Find the clients who qualify as entrepreneur-investors (accomplished businesspeople) and marry them with Empowered Startups’ HQA Visa™ program. 

This program is a government-endorsed, leading-edge startup incubation R&D program that guarantees to the government that a new innovative startup will be launched and Portuguese PhD and Masters students will benefit. It also ensures the pursuit of benefits for local business ecosystems and business stimulation outside major urban centers.  All of this is completed with a Portuguese government highly motivated to fast-track all applicants in the HQA Visa™ program category.

A superior business model to Golden Visa for law firms and for Portugal

The number one benefit Portuguese law firms report in using the HQA Visa™ program compared to the golden visa is that the client file is opened and successfully closed extremely quickly while generating as much or more revenue. Simply put, the revenue per hour on an HQA file is substantially higher than it was on a Golden Visa file. This means a firm processes its client quickly and gets paid quickly without continuing liabilities or obligations. The client loves this because they want speed, and the firm benefits because cash flow is substantial and fast. 

Firms love the HQA Visa™ because it scales. Empowered Startups has over 120 research institution laboratories, with more signing agreements weekly, with which it coordinates R&D prototype development and incubation.

For example, On February 8, 2023, Portugal’s Minister of Territorial Cohesion tasked Empowered Startups to select and land the next cohort of 50 investor-entrepreneurs for the HQA Visa™ program as expeditiously as possible. The Minister put forward the number of 50 fairly arbitrarily as there is no quota on HQA Visas and Empowered’s most recent discussions involve 150 new investor-entrepreneurs (three territories to receive 50 startups each in the next 24 months).

Co-Founder Paul Girodo

Empowered Startups concierges the whole journey with the research institution and helps the law firm’s client establish legitimate and transparent business connections, as well as integration into Portugal, which will be invaluable at the end of the journey when they need to show established ties to Portugal to receive citizenship. 

Paul Girodo, co-founder of Empowered Startups, continues to work with numerous governments to grow their entrepreneur-investor immigration incubation programs. Mr. Girodo makes himself available to law firm owners and managing partners to discuss how their firm can attain and sustain a desired rate of revenue growth. Pivot from the GV to HQA Visa™, and the loss of GV will soon be irrelevant.   

You can view the Government of Portugal naming Empowered Startups as the HQA Visa program delivery partner at this link: https://youtu.be/A8E7BzgJ5PQ