Startup Visa is a residence visa for entrepreneurs, which aims to attract investment to Portugal, as well as talent and innovation. This program will create a certification status of companies and company incubators to of entrepreneurs and highly qualified persons of countries outside of the European Union.
Starting from January 1, 2018, young entrepreneurs from all over the world who want to open an innovative company will have quick access to a residence visa that enables them to i) creat a new company in Portugal or ii) move their company to Portugal.
By investing and creating qualified employment, they can incorporate in one of the incubators of the network Startup Portugal and benefit from all the incentives and support.
This program aims to strengthen the innovation ecosystem and to reconfirm Portugal as a country open to entrepreneurship and to all those who, with their knowledge and capacity for innovation can bring investment to the Portuguese economy.
This was a measured launched on Web Summit – the biggest European technological gathering, that happens every year in Lisbon.
Thus, third-party entrepreneurs can apply through the online platform available from January 2018. Incubators will receive the projects that are considered relevant to their evaluation and criteria and will be the IAPMEI (governmental body of innovation) to supervise the procedure.
International entrepreneurs who wish to have access to the Startup Visa and obtain a residence permit and work permit must demonstrate that:
- Want to develop innovative business activities to produce goods and/or services;
- Will open or relocate technology-focused companies with projects centered in know-how with the perspective to develop innovative products;
- They have the potential to create qualified employment;
- They have the potential to attain, in a period 3 of years after the incubation period, a company valuation of € 325,000, or a turnover of more than € 500,000 per year.
- The assessment of economic and innovative potential is carried out on the basis of criteria: i) based on the degree of innovation, ii) business scalability and market potential, iii) the capacity of the management team, iv) the potential for of qualified employment in Portugal and the relevance of the applicant to the team.