Lisbon Golden Visa property programme: Separating fact from fiction

3rd December 2020 - by  Biznews

The programme is pretty much as it was, when it started out in 2012. I think it’s close to €5bn that has flowed into the programme, which has been incredibly valuable to the Portuguese economy and the state of the country as a whole. Right now, it’s business as usual. There have been interesting speculations about an imminent change, but fundamentally the programme has encouraged a massive investment in real estate. Many of our clients at LX Living have seen fit to follow that opportunity which allows you to get the Golden Visa and ultimately, the European passport within the five-six year timeframe.

On speculation and misinformation surrounding the Golden Visa programme:

The success of the programme in Portugal, sort of had the impact of gentrification. Gentrification is a challenge around the world, where wealthier people buy into poorer areas and change the character of those areas. One of the downsides is that more often than not, people are displaced. That’s exactly what has happened – particularly in the city of Lisbon and Porto. Where we focus is Lisbon. There has been a level of gentrification and some sort of backlash. Sadly, these things are unavoidable and need to be confronted, to find some sort of elegant solution – including affordable housing, social housing to accommodate people who no longer can afford to live in areas where their families have lived for centuries.

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President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet has approved a draft One-Stop Border Policy (OSBP) for public consultation.

In a post-cabinet briefing on Friday (4 December), government said that the creation of the OSBP seeks to ‘harmonise the movement of people and goods between South Africa’s land ports of entry and its neighbouring countries’.

The proposals in the policy further seek to address congestion which results in delays, particularly by cross-border travellers and traders.

“This policy gives effect to the One-Stop Border Framework that was adopted by Cabinet in 2018. At a continental level, the policy contributes to the Presidential Infrastructure Champion Initiative, which advances interconnectivity amongst African countries to address infrastructure deficit and boost intra-Africa trade,” the cabinet said.

The draft policy will be gazetted for public comment during the first quarter of 2021.

The new border policy comes in preparation for the new African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which will come into effect from 1 January 2021.

The AfCFTA aims to build an integrated market in Africa that will see a pool of over a billion people with a combined GDP of approximately US$3.3 trillion.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa estimates that the AfCFTA will increase intra-Africa trade from the current 10%-16% to approximately 52% by the year 2022.

Ramaphosa has said that through the trade area, the continent’s leaders are determined to build strong and inclusive economies through industrialisation and the beneficiation of the minerals and commodities.

“The AfCFTA is a significant development that will change trade patterns and has the potential to transform African economies,” he said in November.

“It will encourage economic diversification, beneficiation of our minerals and resources and value-addition to seize the opportunities arising from an increasingly open African continental market.

“We expect that in the new year, 2021, preferential trade in Africa will begin with significant product coverage and will be further expanded over the coming years,” he said.

Ramaphosa said that even prior to the agreement on the AfCFTA, South Africa had already begun implementing an investment-led trade strategy.

He said that the country has sought to use its outward foreign direct investment in the rest of the continent to encourage balanced growth and localisation.

Between 2014 and 2018, South African firms invested over $10 billion – around R160 billion – in different parts of the continent. This has made South Africa the fifth-largest source of foreign direct investment on the continent in value behind the US, France, UK and China.

“Government has been working to prepare South Africa-based firms for their participation in the AfCFTA,” he said.

“We want to ensure that our firms, entrepreneurs, small enterprises and workers benefit from the trading opportunities that will arise as the AfCFTA commences to operate.

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Home affairs will be ‘tough-minded’ if fraud is proven, Michael Pezzullo tells Senate estimates

Michael Pezzullo says there is a criminal investigation into Daryl Maguire’s cash-for-visa scheme and if fraud is proven visas ‘will be cancelled’

Three Australians who received visas with the help of the disgraced former New South Wales Liberal MP Daryl Maguire could be stripped of their citizenship if it was obtained through fraud, the home affairs department chief has warned.

Michael Pezzullo made the threat in Senate estimates on Friday when he promised his department would be “tough-minded” if fraud was proven after a departmental and Australian Border Force investigation into the cash-for-visa scheme.

Maguire, who for years maintained a secret relationship with the NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, admitted to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) in October that he received thousands of dollars in payments over the scheme he allegedly helped to run.

In estimates on Friday, the deputy secretary of immigration and settlement services, Andrew Kefford, revealed that of the 14 people Maguire helped obtain visas, nine are still in Australia and three now have Australian citizenship.

The shadow home affairs minister, Kristina Keneally, said in the hearing it was “extraordinary” that “three people became citizens when it appears, from Mr Maguire, that he fraudulently got them into Australia”.

“A Liberal member of parliament selling visas? And three people become citizens? What sort of border control is this?” she said. The chair of the legal and constitutional affairs committee, Coalition MP Amanda Stoker, warned that the alleged fraud hadn’t been proven in court.

Pezzullo said there were ongoing investigations but if visas were granted due to false credentials or fraudulent information “as a general principle they will be cancelled”.

The law also allows people to be stripped of their Australian citizenship and Pezzullo promised to “come down in a tough-minded way after we’ve done our processes”. Another official noted that the three became citizens before the investigation was opened on 8 October.

The cash-for-visa scheme is a key element of Icac’s investigation into allegations Maguire misused his position as an MP for his own financial gain.

The scheme allowed Australian employers to earn a subsidy for falsely employing Chinese nationals full-time so they could obtain a visa. Icac has heard a company Maguire “effectively” controlled received payments.

Maguire admitted in his evidence to Icac he knew the scheme involved lying to immigration officials.

In October, Pezzullo told estimates he believed that Maguire had made representations to the federal department over visa issues.

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Pretoria - The Department of Home Affairs has been interdicted from implementing certain provisions of the Refugees Act as well as new regulations which make provision for asylum seekers to be sent away if they are a month late in renewing their permits.

In most cases, these asylum seekers face persecution, death or rape when they return to the countries from which they had fled, according to the Sclabrini Centre, a non-profit organisation assisting them.

Judge Elizabeth Baartman handed down judgment in the Western Cape High Court, which suspended the operation of certain provisions of the act and the 2018 regulations thereto, both of which came into effect on January 1. The suspended provisions are commonly referred to as the “abandonment provisions”.

The suspension will operate pending a later application before the Constitutional Court in which it will be asked to confirm the high court judgment.

The Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town, represented on a pro bono (free of charge) basis by Sandton law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, turned to court to prevent the short and long-term operation of the abandonment provisions.

It was argued that the provisions infringed on asylum seekers’ rights to life, freedom and security of person, dignity and equality. The court was told that the provisions also prevented South Africa from fulfilling its international law obligations towards refugees, including the international law principle of non-refoulement.

The abandonment provisions provided that in the event that an asylum seeker failed to renew their asylum visa timeously, their applications are deemed abandoned. Arrest and deportation would follow for individuals with valid and undecided claims for asylum.

They would be returned to countries of origin where they could face death, torture, sexual violence and other forms of persecution from which they had fled, or to countries experiencing grave disturbances to the public order.

In the past, only where an asylum seeker had a compelling reason – accompanied by proof – for delaying to renew a permit following a lapse (such as hospitalisation or imprisonment) could the department pardon the late renewal.

The court was told that this was problematic as it meant that refugees could be returned to face persecution, without ever having the substantive merits of their asylum application determined. It also left asylum seekers vulnerable in South Africa.

This is because, essentially, undocumented foreigners struggle to access health care, employment and education while they await the decision of whether their reason for late renewal meets the department’s high threshold.

The centre said the reality for asylum seekers was that they were frequently required to renew their asylum visas.

In the renewal process, they experienced extraordinary delays caused by the administrative failures of the department.

These are often exacerbated by socio-economic factors such as not having the means to travel to far away Refugee Reception Offices as frequently as is required and waiting in long queues.

They also face officials who refuse to renew visas without receiving bribes or the general inefficiency of the Refugee Reception Offices that are over-worked but under-staffed.

In light of these realities, many asylum seekers fail to renew their visas for valid reasons. Judge Baartman delivered a powerful judgment, emphasising that the case did not involve imaginary victims. She said the suspended abandonment provisions affected real asylum seekers who could face serious human rights violations should the provisions remain in place. She criticised the department’s conduct in the case, which she characterised as regrettable and unhelpful.

Lawyers acting for the asylum seekers said the judgment had come as a relief to many who had been unable to renew their visas for valid reasons and would give them an opportunity to do so without the fear of being treated as illegal foreigners and returned home.

These include many asylum seekers who may have been prevented from renewing their documents before the pausing of services at refugee reception offices during the lockdown.

This is to remain in effect until at least the end of January.

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