Runaway Property Costs Push Portugal to End Golden Era of Visas
A pay-for-play residency program made Lisbon a magnet for millionaires — at the expense of locals
Tourists take a Segway tour through the Alfama neighborhood in Lisbon, Portugal on Feb. 16.
Photographer: Goncalo Fonseca/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
For years, Maria da Conceicao voiced concerns about the living conditions of the working-class immigrants who clustered in the buildings that line the narrow streets of Lisbon’s labyrinthine Moorish quarter.
But it took a fire earlier this month to make the outside world pay attention. As smoke filled the ground-floor studio apartment, firefighters burst in to find 22 immigrant workers, mostly from India, struggling to escape. Two people died and 14 were injured.