BUDAPEST – Hungary has announced the revival of a residency permit scheme for those investing in high-value property within the European Union country.
Termed the “guest-investor program,” the initiative enables individuals who make a minimum investment of €250,000 in local property funds or €500,000 in Hungarian real estate to apply for a 10-year, renewable residency permit.
This legislation, introduced by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s administration, marks the return of a similar scheme after corruption allegations resulted in the closure of Hungary’s golden visa program six years ago. The European Union is still advocating against starting such residency programs on the grounds that they promote and protect illegal activities.
The new Golden Visa scheme comes 6 years after the closure of the previous Golden Visa scheme when a Syrian man under U.S. sanctions received residency status in Hungary, prompting the closure of the scheme.
The golden visa was launched in 2013 and required foreigners to buy a Hungarian bond for up to 300,000 euros to obtain the permit.
As per the proposal tabled on Tuesday, the ‘strategically important project’ label could also be obtained by an investor buying a Hungarian real-estate fund share worth 250,000 euros or real estate valued at least 500,000 euros in the country.
Moreover, the donation of 1 million euros to public interest asset management foundations would also grant the label of “strategic importance” to investors, opening the door to receive the “guest-investor” status; the donation route has earlier been criticized by EU due to conflicts of interest with the government.
Major European powers have also introduced Golden Visa Schemes including Spain, Portugal, and Greece; however, Portugal also abolished its Golden Visa Scheme.
Portugal became the second country after Ireland to do away with the Golden Visa scheme despite the fact that Portugal saw a total of 41.9 percent increase in investments through this programme last year.
Some say that the scheme was scrapped due to a surge in the prices of real estate and housing rents which made it difficult for locals to secure any place.
Meanwhile, authorities in EU countries have repeatedly pressed all European countries that offer Golden Visas to suspend the program citing that this pathway provides criminals an opportunity to acquire residency.
