New Tech Visa in Portugal and its impact for foreign investors
New Tech Visa in Portugal and its impact for foreign investors
Startups from all over the world get a wonderful chance to settle in Portugal
The new Tech Visa is arrived in Portugal
In the context of the WebSummit 2018 (Venture Summit), the Prime Minister of Portugal, António Costa, announced the new Tech Visa. This new visa will come into effect on the 1st of January 2019 and aims to attract more foreigners to the country.
This visa is going to complement the existing Startup Visa, which was created during the bilateral relations between Portugal and India to stimulate the fixation of Startups in Portugal.
The Tech Visa allows foreign Startup companies registered in Portugal to bring employees from other countries, but not more than 50% of all employees; when it comes to a local company – they can employ up to 80% of company staff under Tech Visa. Another notable fact is that this new Tech Visa doesn’t oblige candidates to have an interview in the Portuguese Embassy or Consulate in their country of origin.
According to the Portuguese Prime Minister, since March, 400 people have already applied for this type of visa to move to Portugal, meaning this is a market which is attracting more foreigners. Thus, it’s applicable either to entrepreneurs with objective to create a startup in Portugal (even if they haven’t launched it yet), or to entrepreneurs having a startup company in another country and willing to move to Portugal.
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StartUp Portugal and StartUp Visa
StartUp Portugal and StartUp VisaThe StartUP Portugal program, launched in 2016, aims to promote technological development in the country. After two years it contributed a lot to the development of Portuguese and international startups, and to the appearance of the first unicorns such as Farfetch or Outsystems. On the other hand, it was the right trigger for the Startup Visa.
Today, Portugal has incentives and financing opportunities available to support the innovative companies. The StartUp Portugal project provides assistance to these companies – from the idea, through incubation and business development, to acceleration and internationalization. The network already has 135 certified entities that directly support more than 3000 startups.
WebSummit and Tech sector in Portugal
WebSummit and Tech sector in PortugalThe Tech sector promotes foreign investment to Portugal, and such events like the WebSummit accelerate this trend. WebSummit boosted activity and visibility of the country, and according to former minister Caldeira Cabral, 300 million euros is the value that Portugal has already won with this event.
Miguel Fontes, CEO of Startup Lisboa, also points out that WebSummit has given great visibility to the country, especially when it comes to technology, innovation and entrepreneurship. The government is also focused on promoting projects like Inov Contacto. This is an internship program for young Portuguese professionals sponsored by AICEP. This program plays an important role when it comes to incentivizing Portuguese professionals to go abroad and learn the best practices. The goal is to promote the country, through those professionals, and once they are back in the country, they also encourage them to create their own companies.
The WebSummit has, undoubtedly, contributed to Lisbon success. Nowadays Lisbon is recognized as a center of excellence for large international projects that bring new well-paid jobs.
According to Startup Portugal, between 2016 and 2017, the startup survival rate, after incubation, grew from 63% to 67.76%. Good news, isn’t it?
The EDP case: 45 Million euros to invest in Startups
The EDP case: 45 Million euros to invest in StartupsEDP, Portuguese electrical company, is an important player when it comes to promoting innovation. This year EDP announced that they have 45 million euros available to invest in startups. They have evaluated more than 400 startups during the last two Websummit sessions. The most notable fact is that these startups come from different countries: India, Switzerland, Israel, Germany, Czech Republic etc.
Advantages of Portugal for the Tech sector
In Portugal, foreign entrepreneurs find good living conditions, skilled labor and a weather that would make anyone jealous. There is no coincidence that Startup Lisboa has already received entrepreneurs from more than 35 countries since its creation in 2012.
The aim of the Government is to attract talents to Portugal, but the real estate sector will be one of the most benefited by this measure. We will certainly have more geeks strolling around Portugal that need to find a home.
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