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Should I get a loan in my country or in Europe to invest in a residency visa?

I live in Chile and I am considering applying for a residency visa in Europe and exploring my available options. It seems that purchasing property is the most realistic choice. However, I do not want to use all my savings for this. Is it possible for me to apply for a loan from a European bank while I am in the process of applying for the visa, using my savings in my home country as collateral? Or should I consider applying for a loan in my home country and then transferring the money?


Answers
  • Lamares, Capela & Associados, Sociedade de Advogados
    September 20, 2024

    First of all, it's important to bear in mind that to apply for a residence visa in Portugal, you need to find out if you meet the requirements for any of the existing migration courses. None of them require you to have high savings. There are residence visas resulting from passive income and residence visas resulting from work, and your case would have to be analyzed to see if you fit into any of the possibilities. Furthermore, we can't be the ones to tell you whether or not you should take out a loan to invest in Portugal. Every investment has risks associated with it, and taking out a loan is something that needs to be weighed up considering several factors. Before you consider taking out a loan to move forward with an immigration process, you should consider whether, in the long term, this project will bring you the return you need. Immigration in itself is an emotional and financially exhausting process, so everything should be analyzed very carefully.

  • Costas Indianos & CO – Advocates & Legal Consultants
    September 19, 2024

    You can get a loan from a European or international bank as long as the due diligence is ok. Then, you transfer the money to your Cyprus bank account or the Cyprus escrow account of our Law Firm to purchase real estate or company shares and obtain Cyprus Permanent Residency. Once you get it, you can easily get visas to travel to EU countries.

  • September 19, 2024

    Visa applicants are allowed to apply for loans in Portugal. Collaterals usually only happen with local deposits. However, some banks with an international presence or partnerships with local banks can offer interesting solutions to combine Portugal and the applicant's residence country.

  • Crystal Worldwide Magyar Law Firm
    September 20, 2024

    The Hungarian Golden VISA by residential property investment will be available only from the beginning of the next year. The minimum investment amount will be EUR 500 000, and you cannot sell the residential property for five years. There is a low chance that a bank in your home country would finance a real estate purchase in Hungary because the bank might want to cover its receivables with a mortgage, which is very complicated in the case of cross-border financing structures. Hungarian banks might grant you a loan to purchase the real estate. Apart from this, I do not suggest buying the residential property with the assistance of a bank because the immigration office may reject your residency application because of your debt.

  • Christodoulou & Partners LLC
    September 20, 2024

    The funds for the property acquisition should not come from a loan, so European banks will not grant loans for this purpose. The authorities need to see that the funds transferred for the acquisition came from an account in your name. This is what you need to achieve.