Portugal Golden Visa Process: From First Call to Residency Card

Eight stages, who does what at each one, what lands on you personally, and how long each has actually been taking in 2026.

Most people who reach this point already know what the Golden Visa is. What they want now is the order of events: what happens first, who does it, and how much of it lands on them. The honest answer is reassuring. Your own workload is small, most of the process can be done from home, and for most families it involves a single trip to Portugal before the card arrives.

This guide walks through the Portugal Golden Visa process in the eight stages we work through with every family, from the first call to the residence card and the years after it. For each stage it sets out who acts, what you do yourself and a realistic time range. Those ranges are illustrative and current as of September 2026, because processing times at AIMA, the immigration agency, have moved a great deal since 2023. One point before the stages: we coordinate every step, and we never hold, handle or transfer client money. The €500,000 goes from your own account to the fund you choose.

How long does it take?

From first call to first residence card, allow around 14 to 24 months in 2026. Preparation takes two to four months. AIMA then takes roughly a year to eighteen months, sometimes longer, and the wait for a biometrics appointment is the longest single stage.

The legal deadline and the real wait are different numbers. Portuguese immigration law gives AIMA 90 days to decide a residence application, yet Golden Visa files take far longer. In October 2025 the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, told Parliament that outstanding Golden Visa cases had been left until last on grounds of social fairness, and that AIMA would work through them during 2026.

Two figures matter for a file submitted now. Across 151 completed files published by one Lisbon practice in July 2026, the median time from submission to decision was about 415 days. Practitioners separately report the wait for the biometrics appointment alone at six to twelve months. Our read on AIMA processing times explains what sits behind those figures.

Nobody can promise you a date. Not us, not a lawyer, not a fund manager, and a consultancy that promises one is guessing, however confident the brochure sounds.

The eight stages at a glance

Every applicant who invests through a fund follows the same eight stages. The first five move at your pace. The sixth belongs to AIMA and moves at AIMA’s.

Timings are illustrative, drawn from practitioner data, the AIMA fee table in force from 1 March 2026 and Portugal’s immigration law, and current as of September 2026.

Stages 1 and 2: the first call and one document collection

The first two stages are the fastest, because almost everything in them is in your hands and ours, and neither needs a trip.

The first is a single video call of about 45 minutes. We explain how the programme works, listen to your family’s circumstances and answer whatever you want to ask, including how we are paid. Whether the investment suits you is not something we assess, because we are an immigration consultancy rather than a regulated financial adviser, so that judgement stays with you and your own adviser. The question we hear first, more often than any other, is how many times you have to fly to Lisbon. For most applicants the answer is once, and you do not need to prepare anything for the call.

The second stage is onboarding. Every bank, fund manager and lawyer involved is legally required to run identity and source of funds checks, known as KYC, and left to themselves they would each ask for the same papers. We collect the set once and, with your written consent, share it with the lawyer, the bank and the fund manager you choose. The core set is your passport, a criminal record certificate, proof of address, evidence of where the €500,000 comes from, and marriage and birth certificates for any family applying with you. Our guide to source of funds covers that part in depth.

Two things in this stage take real time. Foreign public documents need an apostille, the certificate that confirms a document is genuine for use abroad, and anything not in Portuguese needs a certified translation. We order both; you sign, scan and post. It usually takes three to six weeks, most of it spent waiting for apostille offices. One pattern we see repeatedly is that the document most likely to expire while a file waits is the criminal record certificate, commonly treated as valid for 90 days, so we time its order rather than requesting it on day one.

Stage 3: the shortlist, your choice, and who gets paid

This is the stage to read most carefully, because it is where you choose the fund, engage a lawyer and find out exactly who earns what.

The shortlist comes first. A qualifying fund is regulated by the CMVM, Portugal’s securities regulator, and confirms that it meets the investment criteria in Portuguese immigration law. We assemble a shortlist of funds whose managers have confirmed those points, each with a factual, manager-sourced summary of strategy, fees, term, liquidity and reporting. Before we share any material that mentions returns, you confirm in writing that you are a high net worth individual in your jurisdiction or otherwise eligible to receive it. That is a legal safeguard rather than a formality. Our guide to evaluating a fund shortlist sets out the questions worth asking every manager.

Then you choose. The managers present to you by video call, you ask your questions and you decide, ideally with independent financial advice. We do not recommend, rank or pick a fund, and any investment in a qualifying fund carries risk, including the loss of some or all of your capital.

Your lawyer is engaged at the same point: an independent, qualified Portuguese lawyer who is not employed by us. You sign an engagement letter and a power of attorney, the document that lets the lawyer act for you in Portugal. It usually has to be signed before a notary and apostilled, which makes it the one piece of paperwork here that cannot be handled by email.

And the money question, in plain words. Elite Golden Visa receives placement or introductory fees from some funds, and a separate client service fee from you, and both are disclosed before you commit to anything. Ask every firm this before you accept any shortlist, because the answer tells you whether the list was built for you or for the firm. The whole stage runs remotely and takes two to six weeks, depending on how many managers you want to hear from.

Stages 4 and 5: tax number, bank account and the subscription

These two stages move the money into place. The subscription itself takes days; getting the two accounts ready is the slower part.

Stage 4 begins with the NIF, the Portuguese tax number issued by the tax authority. You need it to open a bank account or sign a contract in Portugal. Applicants living outside the EU usually appoint a fiscal representative to receive tax correspondence, and the lawyer obtains the number under the power of attorney in one to two weeks. The Portuguese bank account follows. The bank runs its own checks from the document set already shared, most banks that work with Golden Visa applicants open the account remotely, and it usually takes two to six weeks.

The transfer is yours to make. The €500,000 moves from an account in your own name at home to your new Portuguese account, also in your name, because anti-money-laundering rules require the bank and the fund manager to see the money arrive from the applicant. If your savings are in pounds or dollars, the exchange into euros happens before the subscription, and the rate on the day sets what the €500,000 costs you. That is a fact about timing, not advice on when to exchange.

Stage 5 is the subscription. The fund manager completes its own checks, you sign the subscription form, the money moves to the fund and your units are issued. Your application then needs two documents from this stage: a declaration from the fund manager confirming that the fund qualifies and that you hold units in it, and a declaration from the bank confirming that the €500,000 arrived by international transfer. We coordinate the timing, the signatures and the chasing, and the money never passes through us. After that it stays put, remaining in place for as long as your residence depends on it, with five years as the legal minimum.

Stages 6 and 7: the application, biometrics and your card

These are the government stages. Your lawyer files, AIMA decides, and you make one trip. This is where the waiting happens.

Stage 6 is the application, which the lawyer submits online through AIMA’s portal for the investment residence permit, known by its legal abbreviation ARI. Since 2025 the file has had to be complete at submission, so the two declarations, the apostilled and translated documents and proof of health insurance all go in together, along with the analysis fee of €632.10 per applicant under the AIMA fee table in force from 1 March 2026. Our breakdown of the full cost sets out every fee alongside it.

AIMA then assigns a biometrics appointment, the in-person visit where it records your fingerprints and photograph, and this is the long wait. You cannot book your own slot; AIMA chooses the date and the office. Every applicant attends, family members included, and it is normally your only trip to Portugal before the card is issued, with the days counting towards your stay requirement. Our guide to the biometrics appointment covers what to bring and what happens on the day. A decision has been following one to six months later.

Stage 7 is the card. On approval, the issuance fee of €6,314.20 per applicant falls due, the card is printed by the state mint and delivered two to eight weeks later, and it is valid for two years from issue. It is then renewed for further two-year periods for as long as the investment is held.

Two dates on that first card matter more than any others. The issue date starts the citizenship count: since 19 May 2026, holders become eligible to apply for Portuguese citizenship after ten years of legal residence, or seven for nationals of the EU and the CPLP, the community of Portuguese speaking countries, counted from the day the first permit is issued rather than the day you applied. Our guide to the citizenship law explains the change. The expiry date drives renewal, which your lawyer files online and is best started about three months ahead. The stay requirement throughout is seven days in the first year and fourteen in each later two-year period, and our guide to the renewal process covers each round.

Stage 8: the years after the card

The eighth stage is the longest by far, and the one most firms do not offer. Once the card is in your hand there is very little paperwork left, and what remains is the difference between holding a permit and having a life in the country.

Fund updates, renewals and settling in carry on for as long as you hold the permit. The fund manager reports to investors, usually each quarter, and we pass every update on with the dates and any next steps. We track the renewal calendar, from card expiry to stay days to document validity, and prompt you and your lawyer well before each deadline. And our team in Lisbon helps with schools, registering with a doctor, utility accounts and the many small tasks of settling in, as much or as little as you want.

This stage has limits, and we would rather state them than blur them. We do not advise on whether to stay in the fund, when to exit or on tax, at home or in Portugal. Those questions belong to the independent professionals we work alongside. The programme works best when each role stays separate, and ours is coordination.

Where to start

The shape of this process has not changed since Portugal moved the programme from property to regulated funds in October 2023. What has changed is the wait at AIMA, which nobody outside AIMA controls. Knowing the sequence lets you plan around it: the single trip, the timing of the exchange into euros, the short life of a criminal record certificate, and the issue date on the first card.

If you would like to talk through where your family would sit in this sequence, get in touch. There is nothing to prepare and no pressure, and our residency page sets out how we coordinate the whole process. For clarity on how we are paid: Elite Golden Visa receives placement or introductory fees from some funds and a separate client service fee, and we never hold or handle client money.

Elite Golden Visa provides immigration consultancy services. We do not provide financial or legal advice. All legal services are delivered by independent, qualified immigration lawyers. All investment decisions should be made with independent financial advice.

This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice or an offer to invest. Any investment into a qualifying Golden Visa fund carries risk, including the potential loss of capital. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Prospective investors should seek independent financial advice before making any investment decision. Elite Golden Visa does not manage, advise on, or promote specific investment funds.