The free consultation is rarely free. Here is how to tell an independent lawyer from a placement agent, what a real fee letter looks like, and the questions that end the wrong relationship in ten minutes.
If you have already had three Zoom calls and still cannot say who pays the person on the other end, you do not have a lawyer yet. You have a sales process.
The pain is familiar. You asked a simple question — Portugal or Greece, fund or flat — and the answer arrived as a brochure for one product. The call was complimentary. The urgency was not. Someone used the word "partner fund" the way a doctor uses the word "treatment."
This page is how to pick counsel the way a careful buyer picks a surgeon: licence first, money trail second, second opinion third. It is not a directory. We do not take referral fees. That sentence is the point of the site, and it is the point of this article.
A Golden Visa file is two jobs glued together. One is immigration law. The other is an investment decision. The market pays better on the second job. So the person who answers "which program" is often paid by the fund, the developer, or the citizenship unit's licensed agent network — not by you.
That is not always a crime. It is always a conflict. The conflict becomes a problem the day the product that pays the highest placement fee is not the product that fits your family.
What people on the internet are saying, secondary and dated: due-diligence threads on Reddit's r/PortugalExpats and r/expats, and the Nomad Gate Portugal board, return to the same complaint through 2024–2026 — "the lawyer pushed one fund," "the free consult became a reservation fee," "I found out about the commission after I signed." Those are anecdotes, not a regulator table. They are also the most repeated story in this industry. Treat them as a warning light, not as proof about any named firm.
That names the wound. Here is how you close it.
Titles are sloppy. "Consultant," "facilitator," "citizenship expert" and "family office liaison" are not licences. Ask for the thing a court would recognise.
| Country / program | Who you actually want | Where to check |
|---|---|---|
| Portugal ARI | A lawyer on the Ordem dos Advogados, or a firm that names one as the filing attorney | oa.pt public directory |
| Greece | A Greek dikigoros (bar lawyer) plus, for property, a notary you can name | Local bar / notarial directory |
| Italy Investor Visa | Counsel who has filed on investorvisa.mise.gov.it, not a startup broker who "knows a guy" | Ask for a redacted nulla-osta filing, not a testimonial |
| Malta MPRP | A Residency Malta Agency licensed agent — the only people who can file | residencymalta.gov.mt licensed-agent list |
| UAE | A PRO / typing-centre stack plus a lawyer if the ownership structure is not a simple personal title | ICP / GDRFA process, not Instagram |
| Caribbean CBI | An authorised agent of that island's CIU. Unauthorised agents are how files die in due diligence | Each unit's published agent list |
| US EB-5 | A US immigration attorney admitted in a US jurisdiction, plus separate securities counsel on the offering | state bar lookup; Form G-28 on the file |
Hidden gem: in Malta the licensed agent is mandatory. In Portugal a charming bilingual fixer is not a substitute for an OA number. In EB-5 a "Regional Center representative" is not your lawyer. Three different markets, one rule: the person who can sign the form is the person you are hiring.
Licence is the first filter. Money is the second.
Ask this sentence, in writing, before you send a passport scan:
List every fee you will receive on my file: from me, from any fund, developer, bank, regional center, or government agent. Name the payer and the amount or percentage. If you refuse, we stop here.
Honest answers look like one of three shapes.
Typical independent legal fees, as ranges we already publish on the due-diligence guide: about €8,000–€20,000 for a full EU residence file; more for a household; CBI files often $15,000–$25,000 in professional fees on top of government due diligence. A quote far below those ranges is not a bargain. It is a signal that someone else is paying.
That is the money conversation. Next is the ten-minute test that ends the wrong hire.
If the answers were clean, you still want a second pair of eyes on the asset. That is the next page in this series.
Only if they disclose, in writing, every commission from funds, developers or agents. Free usually means the product is paying. That can still be legal. It is never independent advice.
For a full EU residence file, €8,000–€20,000 is the range we already publish. Households cost more. Quotes far below that range usually mean a placement fee is sitting somewhere you cannot see.
They can. You should not let them do both without a second opinion on the fund from someone who does not earn on the subscription.
A simple personal title in your own name is often a typing-centre process. The moment a company, multiple owners, or a mortgage structure appears, you want counsel who has done that exact stack — not a property broker.
A fee letter that names every payer. If they will not write it, do not send the scan.
