The Portuguese Government has published a new High Added Value Activities (HAVA) list for Non-Habitual Residents Regime.

This new list shows a strong commitment of the government with the NHR status and a will to revamp the HAVA side of the NHR. Hopefully the waiting time for approval process will also be reduced significantly.

This updated list of activities is geared towards the recent needs of human resources and the new reality of the country. When NHR was launched Portugal was in the middle of one of the biggest financial crises in living memory with unemployment peaking, together with emigration of young qualified professionals.

Now unemployment is at a very low level and in many areas, entrepreneurs are struggling to find skilled workforce.

Another objective of the new list is to clarify which activities are included in this category, giving clarity and objectivity to a list that would often create interpretative doubts regarding the professions included in the concept of high added-value activity.

For this purpose, the list is now based on a new model that has direct correspondence with the Portuguese Classification of Jobs (Classificação Portuguesa de Profissões) instead of the previous CAE (Códigos de Actividade Económicas).

The new list shall enter into force in January 1st 2020 and will be applied for all new requests after that date. For those already having a HAVA code the current list still applies, even if the NHR status is suspended.

It is also worth mentioning that depending on the assessment of the country’s economic situation, the table may be revised within three years which shows that there is a long term strategic thinking regarding NHR.