But potential alone doesn’t build schools, fund hospitals, or make homes affordable.
Instead of focusing on these urgent issues, Parliament has spent its time rewriting the citizenship law, tackling the wrong problem, in the wrong way.
And in doing so, it risks something far bigger: undermining Portugal’s image abroad and discouraging the foreign investment that could help solve the very crises we face at home.
A law that missed the point
The newly approved nationality changes double the required residency period for citizenship and start counting only once a residence card is issued, not when the application is filed.
To most people, that sounds administrative.
But, in reality, it penalizes thousands of families who trusted Portugal’s system, invested here via Portugal Golden Visa program, and waited years because the administration couldn’t process their files on time.
It’s a perfect example of getting the priorities wrong: rather than fixing the system, the government just changed the rules.
Redefining the rules rather than repairing the system isn’t reform. It signals that big capacity problems remain.
The human and national cost
Over the past decade, Portugal invited families from across the globe to invest and settle here.
People from all around the world responded in good faith, bringing billions of euros into the economy, creating jobs, and contributing to the tax base that funds public services.
Those resources could have strengthened the areas every Portuguese citizen depends on most: education, healthcare, and housing.
Instead, the Portuguese government collected fees while applications faced processing times of years, and now risks turning goodwill into embarrassment.
The tragedy isn’t that Portugal attracted these families; it’s that it failed to manage their trust.
What should have been a symbol of Portugal’s openness has become a story of administrative backlog, one now drawing international attention.
And when a country starts making global headlines for administrative delays and policy shifts, investors take note.
Foreign direct investment is not just about profit; it’s about confidence. Lose that, and capital, which is the lifeblood of jobs and public revenue, quietly flows elsewhere.
The cost of lost focus
Portugal’s real challenges are structural.
Education: With too few teachers and too little funding, schools are stretched to their limits; furthermore, they lack essential renovations.
Housing: With the unaddressed imbalance between construction supply and demand, real estate prices rose nearly 9% last year, with rents climbing even faster.
Healthcare: The SNS faces severe staff shortages and growing waiting lists. Hospitals desperately need rehabilitation and renovation.
These are the problems that deserve Parliament’s attention.
Instead, we have a citizenship debate that solves none of them and risks damaging the economic engine needed to fix them.
When governments lose focus, opportunity slips away, first in confidence, then in growth.
Competence as the missing policy
Portugal’s economy has thrived when it has been managed professionally and predictably.
According to AICEP, in 2024, foreign direct investment reached €13 billion, supporting industries far beyond real estate. That progress was not a coincidence; it was the fruit of competence.
But perception follows performance.
If the State continues to appear uncoordinated, collecting fees without delivering outcomes, and changing laws mid-process, Portugal’s reputation as a reliable place to live, work, and invest will suffer.
It’s easy politics to paint every investor as part of the problem.
But most of the families affected by this law aren’t speculators; they played by the rules and invested in Portugal in good faith.
Turning that into resentment may win applause, but it costs the country in credibility and growth.
The smarter path is to welcome capital while guiding it responsibly, so that investment builds schools, homes, hospitals, and opportunities for everyone.
What responsible leadership could still do
Portugal doesn’t need grand speeches; it needs some practical focus:
Protect those already in process: families who applied under previous rules should be treated under those rules.
Modernize AIMA: invest in staffing, technology, and accountability to clear the backlog.
Use program revenues transparently: channel the millions already collected into hiring teachers, supporting hospitals, and funding affordable housing.
Those steps wouldn’t just fix one policy; they’d show that Portugal can manage success, not just announce it.
Sources:
INE — House Price Index 2024 (+9.1%). INE
AICEP — FDI 2024 (€13.2bn, +19% y/y). AICEP
Government of Portugal — Citizenship reform note (clock from residence permit; longer residency). Portugal Government
Reuters — Government move to double residency requirement; added integration conditions. Reuters
OECD/EC, Health at a Glance 2024 — EU-wide health workforce shortages (context for SNS strain). OECD
Banco de Portugal — Economic Bulletin (Oct 2025) ~1.9% 2025 growth (if you choose to mention). Banco de Portugal
Get Golden Visa is an advisory firm specializing in global investment migration. Opinions reflect the author’s analysis and not necessarily the views of the publication or Get Golden Visa.
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We came here to Portugal 4 years ago, and bought a house. We became residents. We've been vontinuously attending Portuguese language classes, and learning Portuguese history and culture. We've spent out monthly American pensions hiring Portuguese plumbers, painters, electricians, etc. We buy our groceries from Lidl, Pingo Doce, and the talho in our village. We've literally spent thousands on trees, bushes, and flowers from our local viveiro. We pay for our own private health insurance. We eat and drink regularly at Portuguese restaurants and cafes. We stay at Portuguese hotels when we travel - frequently. We love Portugal, and the Portuguese people. But we were really planning on getting our citizenship here after 5 years. Not after 10. We are pretty disappointed in the new law....
By Phillip from Other on 30 Oct 2025, 13:29
It's curious how every article I've read about this recent fiasco goes out of its way not to call out the true driver of these retrograde policies. Portugal's governance, past and present, have played Whack-The-Immigrant to attract votes.
Caught in the middle aren't only 'Golden Visa' immigrants, but several Dx-visa category immigrants, too, who are way larger in number than GVers, and who've not only had countless days a their lives wasted by AIMA/SEF/etc ineptitude (a deliberate choice by both sides of Government to not adequately fund them), but now the ultimate rug-pull (after a series of previous rug-pulls: the new GV rules, abolishing NHR, etc): Citizenship for non-EU immigrants has been doubled from 5 years to 10 (plus a typically 3 years processing time), with no accommodation made for those already in-process.
The Portuguese have legit grievances with both sides of their elected leaders, but call it what it is: politicians on both sides have whacked immigrants as the sole cause of every Portuguese person's woes, but never moreso than when the centre-Right, now emboldened by the far-right Chega thugs, spend, as you say, their days focussed on irrational factors. They do it because it works.
That the Portuguese, who have been emigrating all over the world for better fortunes for the past half-century, are now the ones to be calling foul on immigrants of all types is merely a thick layer of hypocrisy on the steaming pile of anti-immigrant bile that's washed over the populace.
By Anthony from Lisbon on 30 Oct 2025, 14:16
The Golden Visa and its consequences have been a disaster for this country.
I'd rather have Portuguese youngsters who want to stay and invest their future in our country, rather than wealthy foreigners who treat our country like a playground or use it simply for property speculation.
The argument of increased government revenue is irrelevant when no amount of money in the states coffers can ever remedy the damage done to a generation who have lost all hope in ever being able to build a life for themselves in their own country.
By Q. Ferreira from Lisbon on 30 Oct 2025, 16:10
I have a severe sciatic back pain and a herniated disc from the hard work and the first time I went to the hospital the staff sayed there’s no doctor right now, they couldn’t even offer a basic treatment which I was surprisingly shocked, the second day no doctor 3rd day no doctor or any basic treatment, I had to decide to go to my country to have treatment and indeed I got treatment there, but as of now I still can’t work because I couldn’t take the rest for such long time to heal, so I had to leave my country to move back to Lisbon as I can’t stay in my country longer than 6 month, still having difficulty to even consult to a doctor as of now im unemployed, the government should focus on fixing the system n invest more into education system, and healthcare and have more focus on creating job, thanks
By Tanvir A from Lisbon on 30 Oct 2025, 16:44
If a country lost of reputations what else can be trust ? we like Portugal culture and history , so where I did golden visa four years ago year 2021 most difficult situation Time for whole world, I spend €800,000 bought a apartment, waiting for more then a year and half to get the resident card , It’s very heart to get I have to fly to another small island to make appointment and sign up for all documents and waiting for other 10 months ( ?) rest and card cost the most €3000 for two years , my card expired at August this year still waiting for renew the new resident card , it is cost other around €3000 and the Lawyer fee ….property tax , so far we already paid most hundred thousand euro …..
The bank frozen our bank account because resident card expired. We’re still waiting for approve for the rcard. We do know how long ……so far I can not use my banks cannot to pay my apartment service fee and other bills…
This is for frozen my bank account second time in this year because I’m foreigner I have to update information which based out notice they frozen my bank account most four months , Now again , I’m not quite sure because of my resting card expired or because I’m foreigner ?they can just frozen any time they wanted without and notice …….
Bank need update information my information because I am a foreigners , even I have provided three time non-criminals certificate already still is I am a foreigner, they needed to translated it and also The Hague notary certificate in Portuguese languageto Bank reopen my account two months ago , now frozen again even every time renew the card we have Nan criminal .
I don’t know why still need to update our information …..I have to asking Lawyer to do all the document to provide
By Ming from Lisbon on 30 Oct 2025, 17:34
Here we go again with the globalist leftist propaganda. Fighting Muslims is not the same thing as fighting Swiss. The latter do not try to subvert the Portuguese culture.
By Marco Madureira from Other on 30 Oct 2025, 17:58
I came here after brexit. I wanted to retire peacefully and bought a house and spent over 20,000 euros on updating it. The Portuguese rules on inheritance are archaic and cause most of the housing problems not migrates. As English people we are discriminated against as Portuguese people think we are rich but actually we are mainly pensioners living on a budget,like you. The government need to tackle house prices by changing inheritance laws and taking control of low income areas in the country. UK citizens are no longer interested in propping the housing market up by buying ruins that should never been allowed to disintegrate into
Rubble. It is not migrants fault that you have a housing crisis it is yours
By Carole from Other on 31 Oct 2025, 00:21
@Q. Ferreira, I understand your frustration that house prices are inaccessible, now even to well paid Portuguese, which is a shame, but you are blaming it on the wrong causes.
Golden Visa property transactions were the region of 1-3% of all property transactions, and generally at the top end (500k+). In any case, no new property transactions have been eligible for Golden Visa since the end of 2023, yet property prices have continued to go up at the same rate.
The reason is that Portugal, and Lisbon in particular are viewed as attractive places to live. The same has happened to many other places: Madrid, London, Paris, Sydney, New York City. The key to solving this is building more and we both know Lisbon has a lot of derelict properties.
By Alex from Algarve on 31 Oct 2025, 07:52
(from imidaily.com) Leitão Amaro admited that the government deliberately placed golden visa holders last. The minister framed the approach as a moral hierarchy. Authorities first processed the poorest and most vulnerable immigrants, then citizens from the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), then those with expired cards unable to visit families. The Portuguese government just admited they hate investors. What they did is a breah of contract, trust, and so much more. Portugal is not our friend. A good friend will always stab you in the front – Oscar Wilde.
By Vanessa from Lisbon on 31 Oct 2025, 08:42
Portugal’s leadership misidentified the issue: the problem was not an excess of foreigners or lax citizenship rules; it was administrative incapacity, bureaucratic inertia, and political cowardice. Yet instead of fixing the machinery, they rewired the dashboard to look efficient, thus punishing and betraying those who trusted the system most.
By Amy Ben from UK on 02 Nov 2025, 09:09