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United States
Portugal opened diplomatic relations with the young United States in 1791. Today Americans are the largest single nationality among Portugal's investment-residency holders, the American community here is growing faster than almost any other, and new direct flights are bringing Lisbon, Porto, the Algarve, and Comporta closer to the East Coast than ever.
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The Connection
One of America's oldest friendships.
President George Washington opened formal diplomatic relations with Portugal on 21 February 1791. Four years later the United States opened a consulate in Ponta Delgada, in the Azores, which remains the oldest continuously operating US consulate in the world. Since 1943 the Lajes air base on Terceira has made the islands a fixed point in transatlantic security, and Portugal was a founding member of NATO alongside the United States in 1949.
The deeper tie is family. More than a million Americans trace their ancestry to Portugal, many to the Azores and Madeira, in communities that shaped New Bedford and Fall River in Massachusetts, the Ironbound in Newark, California's Central Valley, and Hawaii. For many American buyers, Portugal is not a new country but a return.
1791
Diplomatic relations opened by President Washington
1795
Ponta Delgada, Azores: the oldest continuously operating US consulate
535
Investment residence permits issued to Americans in 2025, more than any other nationality
+36%
Growth in Americans resident in Portugal in a single year, 2023 to 2024
Americans and Portugal Today
A market that has moved closer to home.
The number of Americans living in Portugal rose from 14,129 in 2023 to 19,258 in 2024, an increase of 36% in a single year, according to Portugal's migration agency, AIMA. In 2025, Americans received 535 investment residence permits, about one in five of all investor permits issued and more than any other nationality.
Access has followed demand. United launched the first-ever nonstop flight from the United States to the Algarve, Newark to Faro, in 2024, and now flies from Newark to Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Funchal in Madeira, and Ponta Delgada in the Azores. In May 2026 Delta opened its first route to Porto, a daily summer service from New York JFK, alongside its year-round Lisbon flights. TAP connects Lisbon with Boston, Newark, New York, Washington, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and American Airlines flies from Philadelphia. For a family on the East Coast, Lisbon is now an overnight flight, and the Algarve no longer needs a connection.
The reasons Americans give are consistent: a European Union base with Schengen access, safety, a climate and coastline that compare with the best of California and Florida at a different price point, English widely spoken, and a time difference that still allows a working day with New York.
Where Americans Are Buying
From the capital to the coast.
American demand has spread well beyond Lisbon. Each market below trades on its own terms; the Portugal markets guide sets out how.
Lisbon and Cascais
Space, in the heart of the capital.
Lisbon is the first choice for most American families who are relocating rather than buying a holiday home. At the top of the market sits Avenida da Liberdade, the city's nineteenth-century boulevard of luxury boutiques and grand hotels, where restored period buildings hold some of Lisbon's largest apartments: full floors, high ceilings, and generous rooms of a kind American buyers rarely expect to find in a European capital. The avenue's profile is still rising, with Nobu's first hotel in Portugal due to open there in 2028.
Twenty-five minutes west, the Cascais and Estoril coast adds international schools, a marina, and sea-front living within reach of the city.
The Algarve
The Golden Triangle, and the quieter east.
Quinta do Lago and Vale do Lobo, at the heart of the Golden Triangle, are the Algarve's most established prime addresses: gated, low-density estates around the Ria Formosa nature reserve, championship golf, and beachfront living, fifteen to twenty minutes from Faro airport. Since United opened the first nonstop route from Newark to Faro, Americans have become a familiar presence in a market long led by British and northern European buyers.
To the east, the coast is calmer. Tavira, a historic river town and gateway to the Ria Formosa islands, and Praia Verde, with its pine-backed dunes near the Spanish border, offer a lower-key Algarve at lower entry prices. That is beginning to change: in July 2026 Nobu announced a 100-room hotel, restaurant, villas, and branded residences at Monte Rei, the Jack Nicklaus Signature golf resort a short drive from Tavira, with opening planned for 2029.
Comporta
The discovery of recent years.
An hour south of Lisbon, Comporta has protected landscape, wide empty beaches, pine forest, and architect-designed homes under tight development controls. Its discreet, low-density luxury resonates with Americans used to crowded resort markets, and much of what trades here never reaches a portal: access depends on relationships rather than listings.
Porto, Madeira, and the Azores
Porto offers lower entry prices and a growing technology economy, now with Delta's direct New York route. Madeira and the Azores have their own direct flights from Newark and a long Portuguese-American family connection.
Before You Begin
What is different for an American.
Most of a Portuguese purchase works the same for every foreign buyer. Several points do not, because the United States taxes its citizens wherever they live. What follows is orientation; every position is confirmed by tax and legal advisers on both sides of the Atlantic before capital moves.
Tax and reporting
Taxed as a citizen
The United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income wherever they live. Moving to Portugal adds Portuguese obligations rather than replacing American ones, so a plan has to work in both systems at once.
The tax treaty
The US–Portugal income tax convention, signed in 1994 and in force since 1995, allocates taxing rights and relieves double taxation. It does not remove the US filing obligation for a citizen living in Portugal.
Golden Visa funds and PFIC rules
Funds based outside the US are usually treated as passive foreign investment companies for US tax purposes, which can be costly unless the fund supports the reporting needed for a qualified electing fund election. Not every Golden Visa fund accepts US investors, and fewer provide that reporting. For an American, it is one of the first questions to ask of any fund.
Banking and reporting
Portuguese accounts and fund holdings fall within US foreign-account and asset reporting, and Portugal shares account information with the US under an intergovernmental agreement. Some banks are cautious about opening accounts for US persons, so opening one early saves time.
Family and the long term
Social Security
A US–Portugal social security agreement, in force since 1989, prevents double contributions on the same work and helps protect benefit entitlement for people who have worked in both countries.
Retirement accounts and state taxes
How distributions from IRAs, 401(k)s, and pensions are taxed once you live in Portugal depends on the treaty and your residence. Leaving a high-tax state such as California or New York can also require clear evidence that domicile has ended. Both deserve planning before the move.
Estate planning
US estate tax applies to a citizen's worldwide estate. Portugal has no inheritance tax as such: close family members are exempt, and other beneficiaries pay a 10% stamp duty on Portuguese assets. The two systems need to be planned together.
Healthcare and citizenship
Medicare generally does not cover care abroad, so private health insurance is standard for Americans in Portugal. Both countries permit dual nationality, and under Portugal's 2026 nationality law Americans qualify for naturalization after ten years of legal residence.
How We Serve American Clients
The Portuguese end of an American mandate.
American interest in Portugal usually arrives in one of three forms. A family relocating, for whom the home, the school, and the residency route have to fit together. A buyer looking for a second home on the coast, most often in Cascais, Comporta, or the Algarve. And an investor or family office building a position in Portuguese real estate: income-producing property in Lisbon, Porto, and Comporta, value-add and repositioning projects, hospitality, and development, with returns that have to be read in both euros and dollars.
In each, we are the party on the ground who sources the asset, including off-market, structures the acquisition, and holds the process together through completion and beyond. Legal, tax, and immigration matters are handled by our dedicated partners in Portugal, working alongside the client's own CPA and attorney at home, so that the Portuguese and American sides of the plan are built at the same time rather than reconciled afterwards.
Our founder studied in Boston and New York and keeps close relationships in the United States, so the firm works naturally in American business culture, on American timelines, and in English. We cover Lisbon, Cascais, the Algarve including Quinta do Lago, and Comporta, where we also run a dedicated platform, Comporta Reimagined.
Reference
US–Portugal diplomatic relations established · 21 February 1791.
Official sources
Transparency · Confidentiality · Execution
Luznur Capital is the commercial name of Lusomena Investments, Unipessoal Lda., a licensed real estate brokerage holding AMI 22354. This page offers general orientation for American buyers and investors; it does not constitute legal, tax, immigration, or investment advice. US and Portuguese tax positions depend on individual circumstances and should be confirmed with qualified advisers in each country. Figures and flight information are drawn from published official and airline sources at the date of writing and may change.
Where a client subscribes to a qualifying investment fund through an introduction from Luznur Capital, the company may receive an introduction fee from the manager under written agreement. Luznur Capital acts solely as an introducer: the fund is offered, sold, and managed by the fund manager, and any subscription is a transaction between the client and the manager. The questions that matter on any fund — manager track record, the fee stack, liquidity terms, and whether the 60% Portuguese allocation requirement is genuinely met — are set out in our guide to evaluating a fund, and clients are encouraged to have any fund assessed by an adviser with no interest in the outcome.
Lusomena Investments, Unipessoal Lda. · AMI 22354 · info@luznurcapital.com · +351 932 224 792
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