How our American family of four got D7 visas to move to Portugal. Part one.
In 2021, we made the decision to leave the United States and move to Portugal. Next, we needed to figure out HOW to move to Portugal.
Portugal offers a few pathways for non-EU citizens to live in their country. The D7 Visa made the most sense for our situation. Here’s a brief description of the D7 Visa:
The D7 Visa, also known as the Retirement Visa or Passive Income Visa, was introduced in 2007 by the Portuguese Government, allowing non-EU/EEA/Swiss citizens to apply for temporary residency in Portugal. It is used to obtain a permanent residency permit and, eventually, citizenship.
atlys post Portugal D7 Visa 2023: Income Requirements & Application Process
In 2021, Mr. Scribbles and I were still a good 20+ years away from the average American retirement age. But because we had been on our FIRE journey for over ten years, we were in a position to start living off of our investments. That is why we felt confident that we would qualify for the D7 Visa.
Getting Help.
I tip my hat to those who do this on their own. But, getting help with something as life-changing as an international move is money well spent in my opinion.
We decided to work with Relocate To Portugal and I am so glad that we did. Gail and her team at RTP helped us obtain our visas, prep for our SEF appointments, communicate with schools and realtors, and one hundred other things we needed. Their expertise with the visa process and with Portuguese culture saved me time and frustration.
Our Experience.
I’m not going to detail the entire D7 Visa process or requirements because it’s already well documented elsewhere. Here are the interesting or noteworthy parts of our application experience that might be helpful to others.
Appearances Matter.
The overarching sense we got from the entire process is that appearances matter. Namely, demonstrating that you intend to make Portugal your home and are taking steps to do things the right (official) way. From getting your lease registered and having that document included in your application to writing your personal statement in a way that illustrates your preparedness and intention to stay and integrate into Portuguese life.
Proof of Investment Income.
Because we wouldn’t be working when we moved Portugal, we needed to show proof of income from our investments. This meant that we needed to start paying ourselves from our investment accounts immediately so that we could show at least three months of deposits, investment income, in our US bank account. This was super weird. It felt wrong to withdrawal money from our investment accounts when we had been saving and investing consistently for over a decade. We started paying ourselves in late October 2021, so we got our third payment in before our VFS appointments on January 31st, 2022.
FBI Background Checks.
I’ve heard horror stories of people not getting their results in a timely manner. This is why we went to the U.S. Post Office for our fingerprinting. Results were available online within a few business days and our official documents arrived within two weeks via mail. Timing is key because the background checks are only “good” for limited timeframe.
Finding Long-term Accommodation.
We’ve met people who have had their D7 Visas approved with a 6-month AirBNB reservation while others secure 3-year lease agreements. Because we had two tiny humans, we wanted to find a place we could stay for at least 1-2 years.
We started looking for housing in November 2021. We were still living in the PNW so everything needed to happen virtually. I searched Idealista every day. I reached out to many realtors and rarely got a response. That’s when I employed the assistance of the fabulous professionals at Relocate To Portugal.
I created a Google Sheet and entered flat details, then our contact at RTP reached out to the realtors over the phone and via email, and this is the key, IN PORTUGUESE!
They helped us schedule virtual viewings over WhatsApp and after viewing a few flats, we found the one. Thankfully, RTP also has an attorney who reviewed our lease agreement and made a few critical edits to ensure everything would be on the up and up.We signed a 2-year lease on a T4 flat in the Avenidas Novas neighborhood of Lisbon.
The other tricky thing was what to do if our visas weren’t approved. We didn’t want to be on the hook for rent in another country in which we couldn’t legally live. Also, we needed a finalized lease for our January VFS appointments but we wouldn’t be able to move to Portugal until months later when we had our passports and visas.
We were able to negotiate a later start to our lease (March 2022) and better terms for exiting the lease if we didn’t get approved. We agreed that the landlord could keep our prepaid rents – a pretty good deal for them.
Lastly, ensure that your landlord registers your lease with Finanças so that your rent payments are officially recorded and you have the most official documents for your VFS appointment.
VFS Appointments.
I was a complete ball of nerves the week leading up to our VFS appointments in San Francisco. Our consultant at RTP walked through each of our four applications, line by line, document by document with me to ensure everything was correct. Each person had their own folder and all the folders lived in a larger more secure folder. But still, I felt uneasy.
Our appointment was January 31st, 2022. At the time, VFS did not require kids to be present so the kids stayed at grandma and grandpa’s house while mom and dad took a quick trip to SF. We stayed at a hotel across the street from the SF VFS office and took and Uber to/from the airport. We were only in town for two nights but since I use to live in SF, we had to make it fun and visit some of my old stomping grounds.
The day of the appointment, the office was full. It’s a very small, bland office. The day of our appointments, there was only one clerk processing visa applications for Portugal and we weren’t seen until almost an hour past our appointment time. When it was our turn, it went very quickly. The clerk quickly and adeptly fingered through our application and pulled out all the required pages. We brought cashiers checks for the fees but the fees had increased by less than one dollar that same day. Thankfully, I was able to go downstairs to a USPS and get four tiny cashiers checks to make up the difference.
The one thing I’d do different next time is NOT GIVE THEM OUR PASSPORTS. Apparently it’s not required so long as you provide a notarized, color photo copy. There is still a chance that they’d need to see the actual passport so we opted for the path of least resistance and gave them all four passports. Being without our passports was frightening.
Before you leave VFS, get the FedEx tracking number for each of your applications so you can see when they arrive at the consulate and the cashiers check numbers so you can see when they are cashed. Also, get the email address for the consulate and your application reference numbers. If you want to email for an update, you’ll need to reference your numbers.
Then We Waited.
It took almost three months to get our passports back. But when we did we were elated! Truth be told, waiting is the hardest part of this process because it’s out of your control. As soon as we got our visas we booked airfare, sold the last of our stuff, and said our goodbyes.
Then We Moved.
We left the US on May 7th, 2022. The D7 Visa is good for 90-days but our SEF appointments weren’t until September because of massive delays and demand.
In Part Two, I’ll talk about our SEF appointments and getting our temporary resident cards.
