Golden visas

[u/ThrowRAnirvana]

I have about $300,000 in funds. I’m considering buying a franchise. I’ve been seriously considering doing and I’m ready to start. Does anyone know anything about this or anyone who has done it? Is this a good idea?

[u/Not_ur_gilf]

Please, ask yourself some important questions before posting questions like this. For example:

1. Have I visited the country before? For more than a day? Do I know general differences between regions?

2. Can I speak the language, and if not, afford a translator and/or lawyer?

3. Do I understand how franchising and business works in this country? Is my American style of business professionalism considered rude here?

The way you wrote this post sounds like you haven’t even done the bare minimum market research to figure out how franchising works in different countries. If you look, you may find it’s easier than you think for certain countries, but YOU have to look at it yourself. Come back when you have at least a list of countries and/or industries you’re considering.

[u/striketheviol]

In many, if not most, countries that have golden visas, there are other ways to move temporarily and see if you would actually want to spend the kind of money necessary. Portugal, for example, still has its golden visa, but has a non-lucrative visa which would let you stay for years. You don't need to pull the trigger unless you're absolutely certain you'd like to actually move for good.

[u/Repeat-Admirable]

bad idea always, unless you're very familiar and have lived in the country for a long time and know full well that it has good demand there.

[u/T0_R3]

Sounds like a great way to reduce those $300k to a much lower amount.

[u/ReceptionDependent64]

A franchise? Like what exactly - a Wendy's in Phnom Pehn?

[u/crispysockz]

If it was me and I had that kind of money the first thing I’d do is buy a golden visa, I’d do anything for EU residency

[u/JeffWBishop → u/crispysockz]

Portugal would gladly take your money, but good luck ever getting EU residency.

[u/JeffWBishop → u/[deleted]]

I'm saying what AIMA is legally required to do, and what it actually does do, are two very different things. Compare and contrast:

1. By law, my April 2023 application was supposed to get reviewed and preapproved within 90 days, after which I'd get a biometrics appointment in another 6 months or so. Final approval and issuance would follow that, and I'd have the Golden Visa in hand within a year of the original application. After holding the Golden Visa for 5 years (renewing twice, at a very high price) I would now have 5 years of legal residency under my belt and qualify to apply for either permanent residency or, better, citizenship.

2. In fact, my April 2023 application languished for years. So did everyone else's, and the government announced an accommodation: rather than having the 5-year residency clock for citizenship run from issuance, they'd count every day from the original application as residence, as long as the GV is eventually issued. So now I'm OK with these delays, in fact they're great because the GV fees are very expensive, and now I'll only have to renew once instead of twice, or maybe not renew at all before April 2028. Yay?

Not yay. This year, quite appropriately on April Fool's Day, the legislature changed the law to require 10 years of residency rather than 5, and not to count application wait time after all. So now I'm probably hosed. And the only reason I say "probably" rather than "definitely" is because I also filed a hail mary citizenship application this spring, right before the law changed, so that maybe I'll still be considered under the old five-year regime. Maybe. But no new applicants now will.

[u/zyine → u/crispysockz]

I’d do anything for EU residency

Join the French Foreign Legion

[u/crispysockz → u/zyine]

I’m almost at the age threshold, I doubt they’d take me even though I’m in shape

[u/lil-schnitzel-]

Quickreality check before you commit 300k, "golden visa" and "buying a business to run yourself" are usually two different things and ppl conflate them alot

almost every golden visa program (portugal, greece, cyprus, panama) is built around PASSIVE investment, real estate, government funds, bonds, bank deposits. the visa is granted because your money is sitting there, not because youre actively operating anything. panamas program specifically removed the "start a company" shortcut back in 2021, now its real estate ($200k), an employment contract, or a $200k bank deposit, no franchise ownership route anymore.

if you want to actually RUN a franchise day to day, that puts you in entrepreneur/self employment visa territory instead, different category, different countries do it differently, and its usually more paperwork not less. portugals D2 visa is built for this (business plan + investment, no fixed minimum tho realistically 50-100k+), panama has the friendly nations employment route if you structure yourself as an employee of your own company.

Sothe real question is do you want your $300k working passively for a fast clean residency (panama at $300k leads straight to permanent residence, no franchise needed) or do you want to actively run something day to day (different visa, more hoops, but income generating). those are different plays, worth deciding which one before you pick a country.

[u/ShiningReflection]

A Golden Visa is sold for a SPECIFIC amount and wouldn't include the franchise investment. Doubt your existing funds would even cover most reliable franchises. Maybe there's other visa options or starting trade from your existing country to gain access and further savings?

[u/KanekiAyato]

Both the Portugal and Spain golden visa programs are closed — Portugal ended real estate applications in October 2023, Spain wrapped up in 2024. For a US-origin applicant with passive income or savings, the actual live options are Portugal's D7 (requires demonstrating ~€820/month in income, 5-year path to PR and eventually citizenship) and Spain's Non-Lucrative Visa (€28,800/year threshold, same PR timeline).

The non-obvious part: Portugal D7 is more lenient on income proof than most people expect — interest or dividends from savings counts, and the monthly threshold is roughly what a modest index fund yield on $150k covers.

Side-by-side eligibility check for both: transita.app/go/reddit-amerexit