Luxembourg May Terminate Its Golden Visa Program

Luxembourg plans to terminate its Golden Visa Program amid an increase in the interest for this program.

A spokesperson for the Home Affairs Ministry told Luxembourg Times that the government is in the process of examining the utility of the investor residence permit program, Schengen.News reports.

The Golden Visa Program of Luxembourg offers non-EU nationals residency and visa-free access to EU countries to all of those obtaining such a visa.

In order to benefit from this scheme, applicants are eligible to choose two routes:

• Investing €500,000 of funds through the Residence by Investment option
• Earning an annual income of €27,000 for the Residence by Private Reasons option

According to the ministry, there were six applications for this scheme during 2023 and 2024, four of which were refused. The applications came from Russia, Israel, India and China. However, the ministry didn’t mention the countries of the rejected applications nor the reason for their rejection.

Temporary Permission Valid for 5 Years
Once obtaining a Golden Visa, wealthy non-EU nationals can enjoy various benefits that the program offers. In order to obtain such a visa, applicants are subject to a waiting time of about six months.

All successful applicants then receive a temporary permission that is valid for a period of five years. This permit becomes a valid residence permit upon the arrival of the successful applicants into this country. 

While investment-based permits offer three years of residency, permits for private reasons offer one year of residency in Luxembourg. 

Drop in Application Submission 
Based on a report from the European Commission provided in 2018, in the first year of the program, only one Australian and five Chinese nationals benefited from Luxembourg’s Golden Visa Program. 

In the period up until 2023, just three more applicants benefited from this program. 

In spite of the low number of applications submitted for this program, in 2023, the government of Luxembourg told the Luxembourg Times that it was not a priority to end the Golden Visa Program in this country. 

Calls for Abolishment of Golden Visa Programs by EU 
While these schemes bring significant financial contributions to the countries that run such schemes, the EU has called for the abolishment of residency by investment and citizenship by investments schemes following allegations of their involvement in several irregular affairs. 

Arguing that the Golden Visa Program is negatively affecting the housing market in Spain, the latter’s authorities recently announced that the program would be abolished on April 3, 2025. 

For the same reasons, Portugal previously terminated its most famous option of this scheme, the real estate investment option, which offered a residency in exchange for purchasing properties in this country worth €500,000 or more.

Source: https://schengen.news/luxembourg-may-terminate-its-golden-visa-program/