Portugal Suspends Golden Visas for Russians & Belarusians
Therefore, Russian citizens who are interested in Portugal’s Golden Visa scheme must be aware that the process will not be moving forwards in the near future, AtoZSerwisPlus.pt reports.
In this regard, Portugal’s Foreign Affairs Minister Augusto Santos Silva has confirmed that probably more citizens from Russia will be sanctioned in the coming days.
“SEF has suspended the appreciation of any dossier of candidacy for authorisation of residency through investment, commonly known as golden visas, for Russian citizens,” Augusto Santos Silva pointed out in this regard.
According to him, the same goes for Belarusian citizens interested in benefiting from Portugal’s Golden Visa Program, as reported by Resident.
The SEF revealed that a total of €277.8 million had been brought to the country from golden visas granted to Russian citizens since the program was launched. At the same time, the agency stressed that the golden visas granted to Ukrainians brought a total of €32.5 million to the country.
Through the golden visa scheme, internationals are eligible to obtain the golden visa, provided that they make a specific amount of money invested in any of the countries that run such schemes in order to acquire residency.
Due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, European countries, including the United Kingdom, also agreed to halt the sale of golden passports for wealthy Russian citizens, which permits them to invest in the country in exchange for citizenship.
The golden passports also allow their holders and their family members to move freely within the Schengen Zone countries.
Besides European countries, the United States and Canada also agreed to limit the sale of such passports for wealthy Russian individuals.
The decision was confirmed through a statement published by the Commission of the EU.
“We commit to taking measures to limit the sale of citizenship—so-called golden passports—that let wealthy Russians connected to the Russian government become citizens of our countries and gain access to our financial systems,” the statement of the Commission of the EU reads.
Among the sanctions imposed on Russia was also the ejection of specific Russian banks from the SWIFT banking system.
Besides, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led European Union countries to close their airspace to Russian air traffic.
During a meeting of the Council of the European Union on February 28, it was decided to add a total of 26 Russian individuals and one Russian entity to the list of persons that are subject to restrictive measures.
