The Golden Visa is one of the genuinely good things this country has done. It offers stability, a long horizon, and a real invitation to belong. I champion it without hesitation — and precisely because I rate it so highly, I want to be honest about how people misuse it.
Two very different buyers
There is the buyer building a footprint: moving a family, enrolling children, opening a business, choosing to make this home. For them the property that qualifies for the visa is a foundation stone. The visa is a consequence of a life decision, and the asset is chosen on its own merits first.
Then there is the buyer parking a passport: acquiring the cheapest qualifying asset purely to unlock the residency, with no intention of building anything on top of it. The visa is the product; the property is an afterthought, chosen badly because nobody was really choosing it. This is where I see people quietly lose money — a weak asset bought for a strong document.
Let the life decision choose the asset. Never let the document do it.
The connoisseur’s version
Done well, the two goals align beautifully. You identify a property you would want to own regardless of any visa — right area, honest price, real durability — and it happens to clear the threshold. Now the residency is a bonus stapled to a sound decision, rather than a bribe that talked you into a poor one.
So by all means pursue the visa. It may be one of the best structural advantages available to you here. Just refuse to let it lower your standards on the thing you are actually buying. The passport expires into renewal. The building is with you for a decade. Choose the building like it matters, because it does.