French enthusiasm for Portugal continues unabated

<p class&equals;"p1"><b>The total number of French people living in Portugal is estimated at between 20&amp;period;000 and 25&amp;period;000&amp;period; among them&amp;comma; a large number of retirees wishing to take advantage of the&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;tax exemption&amp;period;<&sol;b><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Attracted by the French way of life, more and more French people are&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;vivreauportugalconsulting&period;com&sol;investir-vivre-portugal-2&sol;">install <span class&equals;"s2">Portugal<&sol;span><&sol;a> where nearly 2&amp;period;500 were granted a resident card in 2015&amp;comma; an increase of 29&amp;percnt;&amp;comma; according to data published Monday by the&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;National Statistics Institute &amp;lpar;Ine&amp;rpar;&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1"><b>Tax exemptions for pensioners&amp;period;<&sol;b> While Portugal has introduced a regime of&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;tax exemptions for European retirees&amp;comma; a total of 4&amp;period;425 French people took up residence in Portugal in 2014 and 2015&amp;comma; outstripping the arrivals of British &amp;lpar;3&amp;period;351&amp;rpar; and&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;Spanish &amp;lpar;3&amp;period;114&amp;rpar;&amp;period; <span class&equals;"s2">Lisbon eased the tax burden on would-be exiles in 2013<&sol;span> European private-sector pensioners arriving in Portugal are exempt from paying tax on pensions received in their country of origin for ten years, provided they have not lived there for the previous five years&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1"><b>The French&amp;comma; top foreign investors&amp;period;<&sol;b> This generous tax incentive has helped revive a sluggish real estate market &amp;colon; among foreign investors&amp;comma; the French now rank first with 27&amp;percnt; of purchases&amp;comma; far ahead of the British &amp;lpar;18&amp;percnt;&amp;rpar; and the Chinese &amp;lpar;13&amp;percnt;&amp;rpar;&amp;comma; according to the&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;Association of Real Estate Agents of Portugal&amp;period; While around 15&amp;period;000 French nationals are officially registered with the consulate in Portugal&amp;comma; their total number is estimated at between 20&amp;period;000 and 25&amp;period;000&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1"><b>Fewer and fewer Chinese&amp;period;<&sol;b> At the same time&amp;comma; Chinese enthusiasm for the country has&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;slowed somewhat &amp;colon; 2&amp;period;575 of them&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;obtained a residence permit in 2015&amp;comma; compared to 3&amp;period;728 a year earlier&amp;comma; a drop of more than 30&amp;percnt;&amp;period; A country in need of&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;investment&amp;comma; since the end of 2012 Portugal has granted <strong><span class&equals;"s2">residence permits &amp;lpar;gold visas &amp;rpar; to non-european investors<&sol;span><&sol;strong> willing to pay at least 500&amp;period;000 euros for a property purchase&amp;comma; transfer at least one million&amp;semi;euros or create ten jobs&amp;period; This scheme was undermined by a corruption scandal&amp;comma; which had come to light in November 2014 <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;europe1&period;fr&sol;international&sol;portugal-scandale-de-corruption-autour-d-un-ex-premier-ministre-2299599"><span class&equals;"s2">with the arrest of some ten people, including several high-ranking officials<&sol;span><&sol;a> suspected of having facilitated the granting of these special residence permits&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;europe1&period;fr&sol;international&sol;lengouement-des-francais-pour-le-portugal-ne-tarit-pas-2887511" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">source<&sol;a><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;