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Two European Union Member States have ended their Residency by Investment programs, last week, and a third one might soon follow.
On February 14, Ireland became the first EU country to end its Golden Visa scheme in 2023, followed by Portugal only a day later, on February 16, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
On the same week, the leader of a political party Más País, submitted a bill to the Congress to terminate the Spanish Golden Visa by purchase of real estate, which soon might make Spain the third country to end its Golden Visa, though partially.
While Ireland claims that it has ended the program due to its “appropriateness and suitability of this programme for cultural, social and economic use”, the other two have a similar reason behind the move, which is the housing crisis.
Announcing the ending of the Golden visa in Irelandthe country’s Minister for Justice, Simon Harris, said that the program had initially been created in order to stimulate investment in Ireland during a time when the country was going through economic difficulties.
While he did not give a specific reason why the program is ending, he mentioned a number of reports and findings by EU Commission, Council of Europe and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on similar investment programs to have been taken into account, before making the decision to scrap Golden Visas once for all.
“However, it is important that we keep all programmes under review including any implications for wider public policy, such as the continuing appropriateness and suitability of this programme for cultural, social and economic use,” he said.
On the other hand, the decision to end the Golden Visa Program in Portugal was taken as a part of a wider package of measures to address the housing crisis in the country.
Presenting the package, the Portuguese Council said that it had decided to no longer grant new Golden Visaswhile permitting “the existing ones to be renewed, if they are real estate investments, only for own and permanent housing or if it is placed on the rental market for a long time.”
The government has, however, clarified that it is aware that the program is not amongst the main factors for rising housing costs in Portugal, claiming that the decision has been taken in order to combat real estate speculation.
As per Spain, the leader of the left-wing political party Más País, Íñigo Errejón, has submitted a bill to Congress, through which he wants to terminate the possibility of obtaining a Golden visa by buying a house or other types of real estate in Spain.
While the bill has not been discussed at the Congress yet, if it is approved then articles 63 and 64 of Law 14/2013 will be modified, thus eliminating the purchase of real estate as a way becoming a resident in Spain.
>> Greece Sees Sharp Surge in Golden Visa Applications Ahead of Price Increase
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