Current status: active

Portugal's Autorização de Residência para Investimento (ARI) remains active as of 14 September 2026. The scheme is widely known internationally as the Portugal Golden Visa, but ARI is the official Portuguese immigration term.

The program changed substantially after the 2023 housing reforms. A qualifying real-estate purchase is no longer part of the current ARI menu. Business founders and investors should focus on the investment activities that remain in Article 90-A and AIMA's current guidance rather than on older property-investment articles.

Why ARI is relevant to business founders

ARI is not a conventional entrepreneur visa. It is a special investment-residence regime with defined qualifying investment activities and a low minimum physical-presence requirement.

Two options are especially relevant to active business investors:

  1. creation of at least 10 jobs; and
  2. €500,000 or more of capital transferred for a Portuguese commercial company, combined with specified permanent-employment conditions.

Other current ARI investment categories exist, including qualifying research, cultural and non-real-estate investment-fund routes. This page focuses on business/company pathways because those are the variants most relevant to ReloTide's founder and entrepreneur audience.

Option 1: create at least 10 jobs

AIMA lists the creation of at least 10 jobs as a qualifying investment activity.

This route is fundamentally employment-creation based rather than a simple passive capital transfer. The applicant has to prove the qualifying employment and maintain compliance with the ARI regime's quantitative and temporal conditions.

Business planning should therefore model Portuguese payroll, employment-law and social-security obligations before treating “10 jobs” as a headline immigration threshold.

Option 2: €500,000 company capitalization plus employment

AIMA's current Article 90-A guidance lists a business-capital route requiring a transfer of at least €500,000 that is used either:

  • to incorporate a commercial company headquartered in Portugal, together with creation of five permanent jobs; or
  • to increase the share capital of an existing Portuguese commercial company, together with creation of at least five permanent jobs or maintenance of at least 10 jobs, of which at least five are permanent, for a minimum period of three years.

The €500,000 is therefore not a stand-alone “buy shares and get residence” number. It must be paired with the statutory company and employment conditions.

Investment through a Portuguese company

AIMA states that the qualifying investment can be demonstrated individually through a single-member limited company owned by the applicant, subject to the applicable documentary requirements.

For the company-capital category, the evidence includes bank confirmation of the required capital transfer and commercial-registry/company documentation showing the qualifying company structure or shareholding. Exact evidentiary requirements depend on the chosen ARI subcategory.

ARI does not require a residence visa first

One of ARI's structural differences from D2, D8 and StartUP Visa is that the regime allows qualifying third-country nationals to obtain temporary investment residence without first obtaining the ordinary residence visa used by those routes.

The ARI process uses AIMA's investment-residence procedure and dedicated portal framework. Applicants should not attempt to file a D2 or D8 visa checklist as though it were an ARI application.

Minimum stay: 7 days, then 14 days in subsequent two-year periods

AIMA's current ARI guidance states a minimum physical-presence requirement of:

  • at least seven days in the first year; and
  • at least 14 days in subsequent two-year periods.

AIMA's current ARI FAQ repeats the seven-day first-year / fourteen-day subsequent-two-year framework for renewal compliance.

This low minimum-presence rule is one of the principal reasons ARI is materially different from ordinary residence routes. It does not mean the investor automatically avoids tax residence or other legal consequences; immigration minimum presence and tax residence are separate tests.

How long is the ARI residence permit valid?

AIMA states that the temporary ARI permit is valid for two years from issuance, subject to the special renewal provisions.

Renewal generally requires continued compliance with the route: valid travel document, tax/contribution position, health protection, maintenance of the qualifying investment, satisfaction of minimum-stay periods, means of subsistence/accommodation where applicable, and payment of the applicable fees.

If the qualifying business or jobs are changed, sold or restructured, the effect on ARI eligibility should be assessed before the transaction rather than after renewal is due.

Investment has a five-year temporal commitment

AIMA's current application guidance asks for a declaration of commitment to satisfy the quantitative and temporal minimums for five years. The specific business-capital route additionally includes its own three-year employment-maintenance condition where the existing-company job-maintenance alternative is used.

The investment horizon should therefore be modeled as part of the business decision, not as an immigration fee that can be immediately unwound after the residence card arrives.

ARI versus D2 entrepreneur

These routes serve very different profiles.

The D2 entrepreneur route has no universal fixed statutory investment floor. It is based on a real or intended Portuguese investment/business and the credibility/relevance of the operation. It is usually more proportionate for founders who want to live in Portugal and operate a conventional company without committing ARI-level capital or jobs.

ARI is for an investor who can meet one of the precise Article 90-A investment activities and who values the special investment-residence framework, including its low minimum-stay model.

Compare the D2 entrepreneur route.

ARI versus StartUP Visa

StartUP Visa is designed for innovative, scalable projects admitted into a certified-incubator framework. Its current personal funds benchmark is far below ARI's €500,000 company-capital option, but it has innovation, incubation and project-growth criteria that ARI does not share.

ARI's business qualification is based on statutory investment/job conditions rather than an IAPMEI startup evaluation.

Compare Portugal's StartUP Visa.

Family reunification is materially more favorable under the current route-based exception

Lei n.º 61/2025 introduced general waiting periods for family reunification, but Article 98 specifically exempts family members of holders of residence permits under Articles 90, 90-A and 121-A from the general two-year route-based wait.

ARI is Article 90-A, so it falls within that statutory exception. AIMA also states that an ARI family-reunification application can be submitted simultaneously with the investor's ARI application, although the family approval remains conditional on approval of the investor's main application.

Family eligibility, relationship evidence and other requirements still apply. The exception removes the general waiting-period barrier; it does not eliminate the need to qualify as a family member.

Permanent residence after five years of temporary residence

AIMA's Article 80 guidance says that permanent residence generally requires at least five years holding temporary residence, together with the other conditions, including basic Portuguese, subsistence, housing, tax/Social Security compliance and the relevant criminal-record standard.

AIMA also provides for an ARI permanent residence title for qualifying ARI holders and family members who meet Article 80, with special treatment of certain absence rules.

The investment should not be assumed to disappear automatically at exactly five calendar years. The investor should verify the relationship between the qualifying investment, the ARI renewal cycle and any permanent-residence approval before divesting.

Citizenship: older five-year Golden Visa claims are stale

AIMA's ARI page correctly says that an investor may request Portuguese nationality when the separate Nationality Law requirements are met. It does not itself promise citizenship after a fixed ARI period.

Portugal's Ministry of Justice currently states that the ordinary adult legal-residence naturalization route generally requires at least 10 years of legal residence. This changed in 2026, so older Golden Visa material promising a five-year citizenship timeline should not be used as current guidance for a new investor.

Other nationality bases and transitional provisions can produce different outcomes; nationality deserves a separate assessment.

Real estate is not a current qualifying ARI investment

The current AIMA ARI page lists job creation, research, cultural, qualifying non-real-estate investment-fund and business-capital routes. It does not list the old real-estate purchase route as a current qualifying activity.

Buying Portuguese property can be relevant to an investor's personal or commercial plans, but it should not be described as a current ARI qualification strategy.

Tax and corporate structuring are separate from immigration approval

ARI qualification does not answer:

  • whether the investor becomes Portuguese tax resident;
  • how dividends, salary or capital gains are taxed;
  • whether the investment vehicle has corporate-tax obligations;
  • how shareholder loans versus equity should be structured;
  • employment-law cost of the required jobs; or
  • whether a fund/company investment is economically suitable.

The immigration threshold should therefore be modeled alongside independent legal, tax, corporate and investment advice.

ARI business-investment preparation checklist

Before using ARI as a founder/investor strategy:

  1. choose the exact Article 90-A qualifying investment activity;
  2. confirm the quantitative threshold and employment conditions against current AIMA guidance;
  3. structure the Portuguese company/investment vehicle so the required transfer and ownership can be documented;
  4. model employment, payroll and maintenance periods before creating jobs solely for immigration purposes;
  5. document lawful source and transfer of investment funds;
  6. plan the five-year investment commitment and renewal evidence;
  7. track the seven-day/14-day minimum-presence requirement; and
  8. separately review family, tax, permanent-residence and nationality consequences.

Verification note

This route was verified on 14 September 2026 against AIMA and the current Portuguese Immigration Law. ARI is active; qualifying real-estate acquisition is not part of the current route list. This page has not been reviewed by a Portuguese immigration or investment lawyer and is not investment advice.

Official and supporting sources

Related routes in Portugal