Portugal is chosen by many entrepreneurs as the first or new "home" for their business. With more and more frequency people from abroad decide to start a business here. So, the first question would be, how to open a company in Portugal? Thinking of this, our lawyers prepared the step by step below to clarify some points.

How to open a company in Portugal?

First thought to have in mind: planning. You'll need to think about the type of business, the best place, and the right professionals to work with. After that, starts the bureaucracy. The process to open a company in Portugal is very similar for Portuguese citizens and people from abroad (even if you don't live in Portugal yet). What will change are the types of the documents required.

To choose the best type of company to open, you'll need to study the type of business, if you'll have a partner or not, and the estimate income for the company. Please see below the most common types:

• Sole entrepreneur: the most simple type, without a minimum amount for the share capital. In this type, the owner will be the sole responsible for the debts of the company.
• Limited Company (Sociedade Unipessoal por Quotas): this type of company allows one or more partners, and they have to share the "quotas" accordingly with the share capital stablished which should suits the company´s purpose, the area of activity and the turnover.
• Joint-stock company (Sociedade Anônima): for bigger companies with at least 5 partners and 50.000€ of share capital.

After decided which is the best type of company for your business you'll have to collect your personal documents and the documents of the company. Also, if you want to choose the company's name you'll need to ask first the register of the name, and just after that, open the company under the name already approved. But this will be a subject for a next article.

In Portugal, lawyers can open companies on behalf of their clients. Have this in mind, and to avoid any problem with your company in the future, we advise that you hire this type of service with the lawyer of your trust.

If you are not a Portuguese citizen, for this first step of opening a company in Portugal, you'll need to get your Portuguese Fiscal Number (NIF) and a bank account here in Portugal.

Having all the documents required for your type of business and the professional who will do the work for you, it's time to ask for your company registration under the Portuguese agencies responsible for the commercial register. The lawyer can open the company by the internet by the "Empresa Online" or in person in one of the balconies destined for this. The currently administrative cost is 220€ for a company open under the articles of association pre-approved (provided by the system) or 360€ to create a company with a personalized articles of association.

After open a company in Portugal, is it possible to ask an entrepreneur visa?

The answer is YES! If your intention is to open a company in Portugal, it's possible to apply for a specific visa for this type of situation, it is the so-called D2 visa. Any foreign person who has the willing to move to Portugal and the interest in open a company at the country, can be a good applicant. The Entrepreneur Visa will not demand a previous company in home country or a stablished income of the applicant, the only previous criteria for the applicant will be the previous professional experience.

The Entrepreneur Visa is used for whom don't have the stablished income requested by the D7 Visa, for example. Also, it is not an expensive visa as the Golden Visa. That's why the Entrepreneur can be a good option for those want to be in Portugal to live and work.

What are the requirements to apply for the Entrepreneur Visa?

Portuguese embassies want to see the relevance of your business for Portugal. So, the Business Plan will be the most important document for your application. At the Business Plan you'll have to show the relevance of your company, your target audience, the profit expectation, location, SWOT analysis, the relevance of your professional experience for this new business in Portugal, and whatever else consider relevant.

Accordingly with our experience, Entrepreneur visa's requests with all the new company documentation available are stronger. The company regime can be the "Unipessoal", so just one partner is allowed or can be "LDA" type, with more than one partner. Each partner has the right to apply for the Entrepreneur Visa.

Does Entrepreneur Visarequire a high investment?

Different as many people think, the Entrepreneur Visa doesn't require a high investment, furthermore when compared with the investments involved at the Golden Visa, for example. Also, for applying to the Entrepreneur Visa the embassy does not require a minimum company share capital, you'll only have to demonstrate that your business is real and can be executed with the share capital chosen by you. The investments will involve:

• Open the company (with mandatory advisory of a lawyer)
• Hire the mandatory advisors (accountant is mandatory)
• Pay the mandatory fees (to open the company, to social security and tax authority registration)

Over than that, you'll have to provide all the default personal documents required for all other visas.

To learn more about the Entrepreneur Visa, to know if this type of visa is the most suitable for your investor profile and to make your visa process smoothly, Change Consulting's experts can help you and your family in this journey. You can contact us here.