How Portugal’s ‘golden visa’ system helped boost the country’s moneyed Chinese population
The system, introduced in 2012, gives foreign investors a number of immigration advantages
Unlike other European countries where their populations tend to coalesce in “Chinatowns”, Portugal’s Chinese community spread out across the southern European nation.
But while their geographical spread might be out of the ordinary, like the Chinese diaspora across the world, business is at the heart everything they do.
Portugal’s Chinese immigrants are best known for their discreet presence and the plethora of bargain shops they run in the nation, that until 1999 had run a tiny enclave on China’s south coast – Macau – for the best part of five centuries.
But that 500-year relationship is a mere footnote in the story of a fast-growing Chinese population hungry for success.
While many go in search of riches, others take riches with them, along with the intention of making even more.
The European Union nation became an even more attractive location in 2012, when the Portuguese government launched a fast-track immigration programme for large-scale foreign investors, known as the “golden visa”.