The language barrier, the various bureaucracies and rising housing costs along with the end of the golden visa programme are cited as reasons that are puting off US investors.

In the first half of the year there was an 18% drop in demand for residence by foreigners in Portugal under the Golden Visa programme, compared to the same period last year.

This number is however more expressive among North Americans, with a decrease of 37%.

Also according to Bloomberg, the number of foreign residents in Portugal has increased in recent years to a record number of 700,000, while the number of North Americans has more than tripled between 2018 and 2022, to 9,794.

In the last year alone, 216 gold visas were granted to North Americans.