Investment Residency

by Francesca

I believe you said it would cost me $25,000 to apply for an investment visa. Does the cost show on my visa application. Once I have paid the amount do I automatically become a permanent resident.

Many thanks.

Francesca

*****

The $25K is not the cost of applying for the visa. That's the cost of being allowed to have a visa. In other words, it qualifies you for a visa.

You then have to apply for the visa and pay the government fees. If you're fluent in Spanish, you might be able to do this on your own. Otherwise, you'll need to pay a lawyer or paralegal type of person to help, which is another $500-$1,500, depending on whom you hire.

And no, the $25K doesn't guarantee that you'll be given a visa. Recently, husband and wife pairs have had one person accepted and the other refused. The reason given: because the government agent had the authority to do it, and decided to use that authority.

If your visa is denied, you then can apply for your $25K back, at which time you'll lose 5% of it in an exit tax, if you take it out of the country.

Jeff