Nigerians with Portuguese golden visas may soon keep their global earnings from taxes as the Government of Portugal considers a 10-year zero-rate exemption for foreign income under its “non-habitual resident’s special tax regime,” otherwise known as the regime fiscal do Residente Não Habitual.

 The draft policy paper released on June 9 by the finance ministry would also cap Portuguese-source income taxes at a flat 20 per cent for qualifying Nigerian investors.

In addition, the government is floating a Tax Incentive for Scientific Research and Innovation—Incentivo fiscal à investigação científica e inovação—which aims to attract and retain highly qualified professionals in the fields of scientific research, investment and business development, offering similar tax incentives to those previously provided by the NHR.

Although the Portuguese parliament has yet to vote on the matter, at least 114 Nigerians who have obtained the golden visas since 2012 stand to benefit.

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Official nationality tables obtained by Sunday PUNCH from Portugal’s Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum revealed that 44 Nigerians, alongside their 77 dependents, received the visas from 2019 to April 2025.

AIMA’s monthly ARI Statistics show that filings from Nigeria have doubled each year since 2022 as naira devaluations made euro-denominated safe havens more attractive.

Globally, China leads the table with more than 5,366 golden visa approvals, followed by Brazil’s 1,229, the United States at just over 713 and Turkey (592) and South Africa (550).

Over 4,455 applicants have applied for the Portugal Golden Visa, with 2,901 applying as family and 1,554 applying as individuals.

Although Nigerians currently rank fifth among African participants behind South Africa, Angola, Egypt and Morocco, Lisbon-based analysts predict they will overtake Angola and Egypt once the tax holiday becomes law.

Portugal created the golden visa in the heat of the eurozone debt crisis in 2012. Written into Article 90-A of the Aliens Act, the programmes were meant to lure capital into the country.

According to Article 90-A, investors can earn residence by placing €500,000 in a regulated private-equity or venture fund, committing to 10 new jobs, or endowing cultural projects and buying property. 

However, Portugal’s previous socialist government scrapped the real estate route in 2023 to fight speculation in the housing market, where prices have surged to record highs.

Cardholders may spend only seven days a year on Portuguese soil and, after five years, may apply for permanent residence or citizenship once they pass a basic language test.

The programme has attracted more than €7bn into the economy, but has been criticised for the over-the-roof house prices, hence the scrapping of the property option.

Under the new proposal before parliament, a Nigerian investor who now pays up to 48 per cent on Portuguese profits and the same rate on overseas earnings remitted to Portugal would see the former drop to 20 per cent and the latter to zero for 10 years.

The tax saving alone covers the €500,000 ($572,000) investment in fewer than five fiscal years for clients earning high foreign income.

The regime fiscal do Residente Não Habitual comes two months after Spain and the Netherlands scrapped their golden visa programme due to its effect on the housing market.

An unexpected EU court ruling has also directed Malta to abolish its citizenship programme, while Ireland and Greece have either ended or tightened the rules around their golden visa or equivalent programmes.

Portugal’s Minister of the Presidency, Antonio Leitao Amaro, has said the government will not scrap its golden visa programme but make it more attractive to investors and global talent.

“There’s no plan to end it. It’s not on the table,” he said in an interview last week.

Amaro added that AIMA is working to clear a backlog of about 45,000 golden visa applications awaiting review by December 2025.

“We expect that by the end of the year, this process will be largely taken care of,” he affirmed