How Long Must I Stay with the HQA®?
One of the questions that often arises with respect to any Residency By Investment (RBI) program is the…
One of the questions that often arises with respect to any Residency By Investment (RBI) program is the in-country stay requirement. Different countries have different requirements for the number of days that participants must be physically present in the country they’ve decided on for their chosen RBI program. Making it more complicated for the uninitiated, different RBI programs within a specific country have different stay requirements.
Fortunately, there is clarity with respect to the HQA® Visa Program in Portugal: those who qualify to participate in the HQA® Visa Program are exempt from any in-country stay requirements in Portugal.
Why are HQA® Visa Program Participants Exempt?
In short, people who qualify for the HQA® Visa Program are accomplished businesspeople who have ongoing professional obligations outside of Portugal. Those professional obligations allow them to qualify for an exemption to Portugal’s in-country stay requirements for typical residency permits.
Legally Speaking
Joana Reis, a lawyer who specializes in Portuguese Immigration Law and has prepared numerous HQA® Visa Program applications, explains this exemption in more detail.
“Our immigration law is very clear in this regard,” Reis assures. “We have the Article 85 that says that the holder of a residency permit in Portugal should not be outside Portugal for more than six consecutive months or eight non-consecutive months during the total validity of the residency permit. The first residency permit that is granted to the applicant is valid for two years and it’s renewable for three years.”
“The law also says in the same article that if the applicant or the holder of the residency permit is outside Portugal due to professional, business, cultural or social reasons, he can be exempt from these stay requirements. Under the HQA®, it’s clear to see that the applicants and these businesspeople have other business and professional activities abroad, and using this exemption, there is no minimum stay in Portugal.”
