Mr Somsak stands in front of a condominium developed by Imocompletissmo in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon.

Property brokerage firm Century21 Siam Corporation Co has teamed up with Portuguese developer Imocompletissmo in an attempt to persuade wealthy Thai buyers to invest in Portugal.

They are aiming for outward investment of at least €5 million (195 million baht) from Thailand by the end of the year.

Somsak Chutisilp, chief executive of Century21, said Portugal had attracted foreign investors in recent years due largely to its golden residence permit programme.

"Since the programme started in 2012, it has drawn investment from newly wealthy Chinese who wanted to have a freehold property, seek an alternative investment overseas and send their children to study abroad," he said.

The programme gives non-EU citizens, their parents aged under 65 and their children aged under 18 the right to live in Portugal on condition that certain investments are carried out in the country.

They include the purchase of any type of property priced at least €500,000, a capital transfer of at least €1 million to be invested in any type of business and company and the creation of at least 10 permanent jobs.

With a golden residence permit, non-EU citizens can travel around all EU countries in the Schengen area and after six years they can apply for Portuguese citizenship. Their children can get free education until 18.

"Many Chinese in the past two decades bought a property in the US or Canada to stay. In the past few years, they have bought a European property as an investment due to easy immigration and their children's studies," Mr Somsak said.

According to Portugal's Immigration and Borders Service, 2,635 non-EU citizens obtained a golden residence permit from 2012-15.

Mr Somsak said 70% of inward investment in Portuguese property was by Chinese, followed by British and north Europeans. But the latter two bought properties for holidays.

After Century21 joined the Portuguese developer in last November, it saw an opportunity to introduce the programme to wealthy Thais interested in getting free access to Europe and exploring business opportunities in Portugal, said Mr Somsak.

Last month it introduced the scheme to about 40 Thai investors in Chiang Mai aged 30-40.

"Our target destinations are key provinces and we expect to have at least 10 customers by year-end," he said. "The Portuguese developer will use Thailand as an expansion base to Cambodia, Malaysia and Vietnam, where there are a lot of potential buyers."

Imocompletissmo has 1,000 properties in Portugal and Spain covering condos, apartments, villas, car parks, restaurants, convenience stores, coffee shops and vineyards. In Spain, residence requirements are similar to those in Portugal.