In a report earlier this year, the European Commission singled out Cyprus, Bulgaria and Malta, complaining that wealthy candidates for residency or citizenship do not face adequate security and background checks.
Victoria Li, who has spent the past five years working for Chinese companies coordinating real estate investments in Portugal for Chinese residence-seekers in Europe, is doubtful that Chinese investors would consider other options.
China and Greece have been building progressively closer trade and investment ties for more than a decade, ever since two main container terminals at the port of Piraeus were sold to Chinese shipping giant Cosco in 2008.
LISBON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Portugal's government is to review its 'golden visa' programme which grants residence to non-EU foreign investors with a view to redirecting such investment from a red-hot property market in big cities to depopulated areas in order to create new jobs.
The "Authorisation of Residence for Investment Activity" policy, commonly known as the golden visa programme and aimed at foreigners ready to invest 250,000-500,000 euros in Portugal, has attracted 4.8 billion euros ($5.3 billion) of investment since its launch in 2012.
"People aren't interested in investing in anything beyond houses," she told Reuters. "It's too risky, they don't see potential for growth in sectors beyond tourism. They are doing this for the visa for them and their children, not for the investment."
Chinese investment through the golden visa programme dropped 11% in the first nine months of 2019, in line with a slowdown in foreign direct investment from China across Europe. In contrast, investment from Brazilians rose by 46.5%.
The Socialist government announced over the weekend a range of guidelines for its second term in office, one of them outlining plans to review the programme with the intention of spreading investment across the country.
Under the scheme, applicants have various investment options, including putting 250,000 euros into arts and culture, 350,000 euros into scientific research, or simply creating 10 jobs in Portugal through investing in a local company.
However, 90% of this investment has gone into the property market, sending house prices soaring and contributing to the growing issue of rising rents for locals in the two main cities, Lisbon and Porto.
If you have any sort of inquiries relating to where and the best ways to utilize mercan Grooup, you could call us at the page. Greek development minister Adonis Georgiadis, who recently visited China, said the Bank of Greece had concluded that "the use of bank terminals does not violate Greek or European law. If it is violating the Chinese law, this is a matter for China."
"They like to stay in Athens and the suburbs, forming little Chinatowns. They are buying blocks of flats, where all the owners are Chinese," said Anny Avgouli, migration policy manager for a law firm, Dedes, that has a special department for golden visas specifically for Chinese customers.