Portugal’s regulators have approved the first golden visa fund exclusively for United States citizens, which will provide wealthy Americans wishing to invest in the Western European country with the opportunity to do so through a specialized private equity fund.
The creation of the LXL Ventures fund, which targets U.S. investors exclusively, was designed to address the recent surge in wealthy Americans seeking to diversify their portfolios outside the country amid growing economic uncertainty.
U.S. citizens, once a small fraction of those applying for the Portuguese golden visa, now rank as the top nationality applying for it, according to recent data. Forbes reported that Vida Capital, a Lisbon-based golden visa fund, experienced a 571 percent increase in traffic from the U.S. in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.
“I came to Portugal in 2020. At the time, there were about 4,000 Americans living in Portugal, and now there are, I think, around 25,000. So it has been a massive growth,” Zeev Fisher, a Lisbon-based international tax lawyer qualified in Portugal, the U.K., Ireland, and a U.S. enrolled agent who is part of the LXL Ventures project, told Newsweek.
“A lot of our American clients are citing politics as a primary reason to move, and many talk about guns, which is kind of, I guess, an indirect politics too,” he said.
“So many talk about safety, about wanting a more peaceful, quieter life, about wanting to live in a more tolerant place,” he added.
“We definitely see no slowdown. People keep coming, and they are very, very good, very quality people. It’s not people that are coming to take, it’s people that are coming to give.”
Golden visa holders, Fisher said, are those who want to have a plan B. “They are worried about what’s going on, they want to diversify assets, but more importantly, they want to have access to the EU for them and their family if and when it becomes relevant,” he said.
“There used to be almost no Americans applying for golden visas [in Portugal]. And now they’re the biggest demographic. It used to be Chinese, Turkish—and now it’s Americans.”
What Is a Golden Visa—And a Golden Visa Fund?
A golden visa, also known as a residency-by-investment program, allows wealthy foreigners to obtain permission to live, work, and study in another country in exchange for a substantial financial investment. This can be a purchase of real estate, government bonds, or a business initiative.
A golden visa fund enables individuals to meet the investment requirements of a country’s so-called golden visa program, such as Portugal. It can be a venture capital fund or any other type of fund.
Portugal’s golden visa, known as the Portugal Golden Residence Permit Program, guarantees a five-year residency to non-EU citizens willing to make a minimum contribution of €250,000—roughly $291,900. The visa allows recipients to travel all around the European Union.
It has relatively low minimum stay requirements, requiring investors to spend at least seven days in Portugal per year during the first two years of the five-year permit and a total of 21 days in Portugal during the remaining three years.
Applicants can access the golden visa program by either making a capital investment or starting a business in the country. In terms of capital investment, this can be:
- An investment of €500,000 for the acquisition of investment fund or venture capital fund units committed to the capitalization of companies incorporated under the Portuguese law, with a maturity of at least five years and with at least 60 percent of the investment portfolio in companies with a registered office in the national territory (real estate entities do not apply);
- An investment of €500,000 for research activities of public or private entities that are part of the national scientific and technological system, or of €400,000 in a low population density area;
- An investment of €250,000 in support of artistic production or in the recovery or maintenance of national cultural heritage, or €200,000 in a low population density area.
How Is the New Fund Different?
LXL Ventures is the first to specifically target wealthy Americans applying for residency in Portugal, the most popular country among all U.S. nationals moving abroad, according to a recent survey of over 100,000 people.
The fund offers a portfolio split as follows: 40 percent in the U.S. market, 35 percent in Portuguese market leaders, and 25 percent in Portuguese innovation or technology. This offers a similar portfolio to the one Americans seem to favor at home.
“Americans love Portugal, but they want to invest in ways that feel familiar,” John McNertney, a former Merrill Lynch wealth manager now based in Lisbon, who oversees over $100 million in assets for Americans in Portugal, told Newsweek. “While golden visa funds have certain limitations, we’ve structured this one to align as closely as possible with the style of portfolios they know and trust.”
Fisher said that normally, law firms like his do not set up funds, but there are particular issues with American investors that need addressing for golden visa applicants from the U.S., and he and his business partners saw an opportunity there.
“Being an American, doing a cross border transaction requires doing everything right from an American perspective too. So we just realized, OK, not a lot of people know what to do with Americans in general,” Fisher said.
“We’ve been working with multiple funds in Portugal, but what we’ve realized is that even though Americans have become the biggest demographic that is looking for golden visa fund investments, none of the funds are offering a solution that’s really tailored for what Americans need,” he said.
“They need to make certain beneficial tax selections that produce a lot of paperwork that they need to, that the fund needs to take care of. Doing compliance for Americans properly is actually really difficult—and for us, that is our bread and butter.”
The new fund is in full compliance with both American and Portuguese requirements, Fisher said. “If you move to Portugal, it’s the only fund that unlocks the new tax benefit scheme,” he added. “And that’s super important.”
Read the full interview With Zeev Fisher:
How has interest in Portugal grown among Americans?
“Massively. I came to Portugal in 2020. At the time, there were about 4,000 Americans living in Portugal, and now there are, I think, around 25,000. So it has been a massive growth.
“A lot of our American clients are citing politics as a primary reason to move, and many talk about guns, which is kind of, I guess, an indirect politics too. So many talk about safety, about wanting a more peaceful, quieter life, about wanting to live in a more tolerant place.
“I don’t have the exact figures, but we definitely see no slowdown. People keep coming, and they are very, very good, very quality people. It’s not people that are coming to take, it’s people that are coming to give.
“Golden visa is sort of what I’d call a victimless crime. If you’re unhappy about something, and you want to make a change, and you feel that something worries you, but you don’t want to abandon your comfortable life where you are and make the difficult decision to move to a different country, then golden visa is your perfect play, because you don’t need to do anything.
“You just need to make an investment into an eligible fund. And then once your golden visa’s approved, you can move whenever you want. And also your citizenship clock, your residency clock, they’re all counting, so eventually you will end up with another passport. So, actually, golden visa people, even if they move, they move at some point after they apply in small numbers; it’s not the big expat community. It’s more people who need a plan B. They’re worried about what’s going on. They want to diversify assets, but more importantly, they want to have access to the EU if for them and their family if and when it will become relevant.
“It’s more of an optionality play for Americans. There used to be almost no Americans applying for golden visas. And now they’re the biggest demographic. It used to be Chinese, Turkish—and now it’s Americans.”
What makes your fund unique?
“Normally, law firms don’t go on setting up funds. But golden visas work, and we’ve been working with multiple funds in Portugal. What we’ve realized is that even though Americans have become the biggest demographic looking for golden visa fund investments, none of the funds are offering a solution that’s really tailored for what Americans need.
“They’re accepting Americans, but there are actually a few issues with Americans that are unique and that are not properly dealt with. And some of them are legal, which is kind of our angle, but one is that Americans are very complicated from a compliance perspective. The taxes are super complicated. If they invest in a foreign fund, they have unique and special reporting requirements.
“Being an American, doing a cross-border transaction requires doing everything right from an American perspective, too. So we just realized, OK, not a lot of people know what to do with Americans in general. Then, on tax specifically, tax for Americans is super complicated, and this is our strongest practice area.
“And perhaps the biggest point within this is that there used to be a tax benefit scheme called NHR which was scrapped by the Portuguese government, which created a new scheme. So we thought, OK, we can create a golden visa fund that also offers tax benefits as part of the investment. We checked that idea with multiple people and everyone was very excited about this. If you move to Portugal, ours is the only fund that unlocks the new tax benefit scheme. It’s super important.”
