At the WorldWay "2013 European Immigration Year" press conference, President Dr. Winner Xing pointed out that 2013 is the year of European immigration for WorldWay. Among the many European immigration programs, Cyprus and Portugal will become the "golden keys" to opening the door to Europe. This viewpoint immediately sparked widespread attention in the industry. On January 31, President Dr. Winner Xing was invited to accept an exclusive interview with Sina.com, where he provided an in-depth introduction to the characteristics of the Cyprus and Portugal programs.
In the interview, Dr. Winner Xing stated that there are currently six EU countries that have truly launched investment immigration policies. Compared to other European countries, the Cyprus and Portugal programs are more suitable for Chinese investors. The investment immigration programs of Cyprus and Portugal share three common characteristics. First, they allow investors to obtain immigration status through a simple investment method: purchasing property. Second, they have the lowest residency requirements; Cyprus only requires investors to visit the country once every two years to maintain permanent residency, while Portugal only requires a stay of 60 days every two years. It is worth mentioning that, according to the latest news received by WorldWay, the Portuguese Immigration Bureau has amended the law to lower residency requirements to an average of 14 days every two years, meaning only 7 days of residency per year are required to maintain immigration status. Since Portugal is a Schengen country, after entering through Portugal, you can reside in any Schengen country, and the time spent in any Schengen country counts as your time spent in Portugal. In other words, 14 days over two years is equivalent to giving you the conditions to travel in EU countries for 14 days over two years, which is something almost everyone can achieve.
The third common point is that as EU countries, Cyprus and Portugal provide very convenient conditions for investors in terms of residency, business operations, and children's education. Among them, Portugal, as a Schengen country, is the most prominent; after approval within 2 months, investors can enjoy the convenience of free travel and residency in 26 European Schengen countries.
We believe that in this year's European immigration business, Cyprus will continue to lead the European investment immigration market and serve as a model for the European investment immigration business. After a year of operation, the Cyprus investment immigration business has become very mature. On August 23 last year, the Ministry of Interior of Cyprus made another amendment to the immigration policy, making the policy even more suitable for investor needs. Therefore, we can predict that this year, the Cyprus investment immigration business will continue to lead the entire European investment immigration market.
Although Portugal's "Golden Residence Permit Program" was a decree issued just on October 9 last year, it has become one of the easiest investment methods to obtain a passport among EU countries and will become a very attractive program. Obtaining a passport from an EU country is very difficult; usually, there is a five-year residency requirement. Compared to Portugal's requirement of six years of legal residency with a residence permit, it was very difficult to achieve six years of legal residency in the past, as most of the time each year had to be spent in Portugal. Now, with the "Golden Residence," as long as you stay for 14 days over two years, it counts as legal residency. Over six years, it is equivalent to staying only 42 days in six years, and you are eligible to apply for naturalization and obtain a Portuguese passport.
Therefore, we can assert that in 2013, Portugal will be another immigration hotspot attracting investor attention, in addition to Cyprus investment immigration. Among the many European immigration countries in 2013, Cyprus and Portugal are the golden keys to opening the door to European investment immigration.
