Getting in

18

Last week, we talked in broad strokes about how to move abroad. Now that we’ve chosen our school country, let's focus on the details of getting to Portugal (PT).

What is necessary to apply for a Portuguese visa? The exact requirements depend on what your plans are once you move to PT (there are actually many different visas for most countries depending on your intentions for work vs study vs retirement and other factors).

In essence, for all of them, you need to show that you're serious about the process and that you have a plan for supporting yourself in your new country.

We chose to apply for a D7, a “passive income,” visa. For us, that meant:

• obtaining NIFs (taxpayer ID numbers) - this essentially put us on the government's radar and allows us to move forward with any process in PT that involves finances (opening a bank account, buying a house, getting a lease, starting a business …)

• opening and funding a Portuguese bank account and documenting that we have sufficient financial resources (demonstrating that we won't be begging on the street)

• finding a place to live for at least six months (the letter of the law says six months; word through the grapevine is that a year is better and possibly necessary)

• demonstrating that we're not criminals (via an FBI background check)

• getting health insurance that will cover us until we have our appointments with SEF, the Portuguese immigration service

• and filling out an actual application.

It was also necessary to write a brief letter of introduction outlining why we want to move and our plans for supporting ourselves long term. (The 650-word Common Application essay, to continue the college application metaphor.)

There are well-worn paths to accomplishing everything on the list above and also for dealing with special circumstances like pets,  shipping large amounts of stuff, et al. If there's something in particular you want to do, odds are strong you won't be the first to try it. 

As you might expect from looking at the list, each bullet point is in and of itself a multi-step process. Some things can be done relatively easily, some require boots on the ground in Portugal, many require documents to be notarized and/or apostilled.

If you can do your own taxes, you can manage this process yourself. It's about as easy and roughly as fun. There are also plenty of people you can hire to help you with some or all of the steps if that's more your speed (and/or if, like us, you need boots on the ground in Portugal).

There are groups of people who have done, are doing, or are exploring the path. Tapping into this collective wisdom is a good idea (some groups are actually more reliable than College Confidential).

If anyone is interested in details, we are happy to connect you to specific resources. (It helps greatly to have access to Facebook.)

It took us a couple of months to pull together everything we needed and submit our applications. There are folks who've done it in slightly less time and some who've taken longer. 

What makes our situation a bit out of the ordinary is that we never visited Portugal before landing in Lisbon on June 23. It's much more common for people to explore PT for months or even years, taking one or more "scouting trips" to determine where they'd like to settle before starting the visa application.

Portugal is a wildly variable country despite its relatively small size. There are major, cosmopolitan cities; tiny beach towns; mountains; plains; forests - all kinds of places to live. 

Our plan is to explore the country from Lisbon; we didn't feel the need to find the perfect long-term landing spot before we left the US.

We are very happy with our apartment. We have a renewable, two-year lease. We will be visiting other parts of PT, exploring and learning with an eye towards buying property.

We are also in no hurry. Part of the reason to come here was to slow down a little. That hasn't come easily yet. We’re working on it.

That’s all for now.

Love from Lisbon,

Scott & Amy