In 2022, Portugal became the best European country to live in retirement. And according to the Global pension index, the state took fourth place. Retirees are particularly attracted by excellent health care, a high level of security, affordable prices and many leisure options.
Portugal and medicine
Portugal spends 9.1% of its GDP on healthcare, ranking it twelfth in the EU. The Euro Health Index ranked Portugal’s medical care 13th – the state ranks ahead of Spain, Italy and Britain.
Free medical care is guaranteed for Portuguese citizens. Health insurance in Portugal is also available for retirees, which is rare these days. Three major Portuguese companies are ready to provide elderly insurance Fidelidade/Multicare, Quietand Millennium Bank/Medis.
Portuguese security and corruption
In the Global Peace Index-2020, Portugal has long been in the top three. According to the UN statistics, only 81 murders were committed in Portugal in 2018. Compare it to the Russian Federation, where more than 20,000 people died in 2018.
Let’s not forget about corruption. For example, in 2016, only 2% of Portuguese citizens were forced to pay bribes in the leading state institutions – the police and medical clinics. Few countries can impress with such excellent results.
Finance and taxes in Portugal
As in any European country, all income, including pensions, is taxed in Portugal. But if someone has not been a Portuguese tax resident for five years, i.e. after moving, he/she will be guaranteed a tax exemption for ten years and will not pay any tax, not even on pensions or professional income.
At the same time, the average cost of living in Portugal is very reasonable. For example, $2,000 is enough for a family to live for a month, and annual expenses can reach about $30,000.
How to move to Portugal
The easiest and most reliable way to retire in this country is the Portuguese Golden Visa by investing. This program offers to obtain a residence permit in Portugal in exchange for one of the types of capital contributions:
- Property: considering that you will need somewhere to live after moving to Portugal, this option is the most popular. If you opt for this variant, you buy a new home or business space for € 500,000 or the object to be renovated for € 350,000.
- Investments in the economy: it must be admitted that € 1,000,000 (the minimum investment) does not make this option very popular.
- New vacancies: you must invest at least €350,000 and create ten jobs.
- Portuguese funds: you need to buy €350,000 in Portuguese funds.
- Scientific activities: the minimum investment amount in this case is the same – from € 350,000.
Choosing a suitable investment option, you can try to arrange everything yourself. But it is much easier, safer and more reliable to take the help of a licensed migration agent such as the international company Global citizen, whose experts will deal with almost all problems and questions. In this case, a residence permit can be obtained in just six steps. For example, in the case of real estate investments, the process for obtaining a residence permit looks like this:
- Contract. At this step, Global Citizen’s experts perform a free pre-check for the applicant.
- Selecting an item for purchase. You only have to choose from highly liquid properties at an accurate market value. No artificial high prices.
- Registration of purchase and sale. Global Citizen’s specialists arrange the registration of a tax number in Portugal, the opening of an account and insurance with a local bank.
- Application to the Migration Service. When the documents are collected, translated and apostilled by the professionals of Global Citizen, the completed application is sent to the Portuguese SEF.
- Processing the application. Checking a case with the Migration Service usually takes 4-7 months.
Obtaining a residence permit. Visit Portugal, submit biometrics, pay all fees and you will get a golden visa.
