Golden Visa investors are threatening legal action over Portugal's new Citizenship Law.

The Rules Have Changed in Golden Visa, Investors Are Preparing for a Legal Battle As those who follow the Golden Visa process in Portugal closely know very well, the situation has become even more tense with the new Citizenship Law. Changing the rules in the middle of the game has victimized thousands of people who have invested labor and capital in this process for years. Finally, 1,260 investors came together and submitted their official complaints to the Ombudsman Office (Provedoria de Justiça). They will also have a direct meeting with the new Ombudsman Luísa Neto within the next two weeks. What is the reason for the objection? The issue is all about disregarding acquired rights and promises. The new law may not have abolished the Golden Visa on paper, but it turned the path to a Portuguese passport into a labyrinth. In the old system, the time required to apply for a passport was 5 years, and most importantly, this period started to run from the date of the first official application. The new regulation dealt two heavy blows: The duration of obtaining a passport has been increased from 5 to 10 years. The period will no longer be calculated from the application date, but from the date the residence permit (card) is actually received. When we consider the bureaucratic congestion at AIMA doors and the fact that it takes months, even years, to make an appointment and get that card; This change means erasing almost 10-12 years from people's lives. Demands on the Table and September Rest Investors' demand from the new Ombudsman Luísa Neto is clear: to refer the new Citizenship Law to the Constitutional Court and force the government to make a just transition plan. The desired solution is actually extremely reasonable: The legal period required for the right to citizenship should be counted from the date of the first application, just as promised at the beginning of the process. If the government and the bureaucracy continue to turn a deaf ear to this voice, the matter will end in court. As stated by Catarina Almeida Garrett, one of the founding partners of AGPC, which represents 1,260 investors, if a logical step is not taken by September, a class action lawsuit will be initiated against the Portuguese state with a giant group of investors whose number will reach 2,000. Making investors pay the price for years of heavy administrative disruptions and appointment crises also deals a major blow to Portugal's credibility in the international arena. The meeting with the Ombudsman in the coming days will show whether this crisis will be resolved at the table or turn into a giant legal war.