"I hope that normality resumes in the assessment of cases, not least because, as you know, the mechanism of authorisation of residence was, compared with those of other countries, a success story," said Luís Marques Guedes, the cabinet office minister, at a news conference. "It would be regrettable if Portugal, because of vicissitudes of a police case, missed this investment train and that it was diverted to other countries."


According to the minister, the issuing of golden visas can be resumed as soon as the statute is posted by Portugal's president.
"The government wants with the approval of the new law and the new regulation to move to the resumption of the volume of investment that we had been seeing," he said.


The changes made to the Foreigners Law are aimed at encouraging a broader range of investments and at the same time bolstering the checks on the processing of applications, according to a government statement after the cabinet meeting.