What's the best place to start?

Hello Anissa F,

Welcome on board !

Please note that I have created a new thread from your post on the Portugal forum so that members can share their experience with you.

Maybe you could start by reading the Living in Portugal guide for expats to gather as much information as possible.

All the very best,

Bhavna

Hi and Welcome.     There's several problems with getting information and advice about Portugal from the interweb. People who have moved here and made wonderful life for them selves will post how things go for them but, the balance, people who moved here and subsequently left will rarely post anything.   The basics of moving here such as getting a NIF (tax code), bank account, renting/buying property D7 visa etc. are reasonably straight forward and, if you interweb search, you'll find how to do these.   Probably the biggest decision can only be made by you, where to live and if it's the place you want to stay - about the only way to do this is spend time here for yourselves and visit/stay possible locations, talk to people, experience life in different places.

@Julien My husband and I currently live in the US. We are looking at Portugal as a place we could possibly retire. We have a 3-5 year plan ...
-@Anissa F

This is a very fast paced world and I think nobody could tell you now whether the Portugal of 2026 or 2028 would be a suitable for you. You mention $2000 and I would think that it would be far too little if don't own a property with low maintenance cost. I would also recommend that you come to Portugal for a longer visit when the weather isn't so good. Rent an apartment or house for a few weeks to try "life in Portugal".

  Hi and Welcome.   There's several problems with getting information and advice about Portugal from the interweb. People who have moved here and made wonderful life for them selves will post how things go for them but, the balance, people who moved here and subsequently left will rarely post anything.  The basics of moving here such as getting a NIF (tax code), bank account, renting/buying property D7 visa etc. are reasonably straight forward and, if you interweb search, you'll find how to do these.  Probably the biggest decision can only be made by you, where to live and if it's the place you want to stay - about the only way to do this is spend time here for yourselves and visit/stay possible locations, talk to people, experience life in different places.

  -@Strontium

PS.  healthcare, internet and cost of living.

  Healthcare is a large subject to discuss and without specifics you'll not get relevant answers. There is public healthcare here, General Practitioners + Hospitals etc. for residents and EU visitors etc which if you are not used to you'll probably not understand, some people do choose to get private heath insurance but then each to their own situation. A UK friend had a heart attack here in a slightly remote area and the speed and quality of response was superb, no form filling or asking for insurance just speedy ambulance and life saving treatment.

   Internet does exist and - like everywhere else is dependent on provider and where and how and what you want to access, landline or mobile,  my local town had "internet cafe" which is free and has printers etc and helpful English speaking Portuguese people as local council stuff etc. can be done online. Local village has tree shaded village square with WiFi. I was using a mobile phone internet dongle powered by a small solar set up left in the roof space 24 hours a day giving WiFi to 75% of the house without any issues.

   Cost of Living, depends on how you expect to live, just look at the average wage and you can estimate what the people who live/work and have families here permanently live on, this suggests that you MAY have to adapt somewhat to how the Portuguese live rather then getting Portugal to adapt to how you want to live. You can buy a property for 15,000 euro and grow your own food and wine or buy one for 750,000 euro and get your chauffeur to drive you to overpriced restaurants or anything in between - the choices are almost endless but only you can make these decisions.

As said here and elsewhere the only way for you to decide is for you to spend time here gathering information relevant to yourselves.

@Anissa F

Anissa:

We have just retired to Portugal and arrived last week.

You can retire here on $2000 but it would be tight.   However most Portugese earn $1000/month.   Cost of housing and food is cheap.  Cars are not.  Wine is very cheap and costs the same as soda pop at home

There is a lot the SEF (Portugese immigration) wants to see in order to obtain your D7 visa.   One of them is a year long contract on a place to stay.  You will find that can be difficult to obtain as many Portuguese landlords do not want to offer a contract (tax reasons).

You will want to travel here and scout. During that scouting trip we would recommend setting up a Portugese bank account.  A usefull book is Moving to Portugal made simple, author James cave. 

Allow more time to accomplish all of the steps than you think.  Nothing moves quickly here.

Hope this helps.

Thanks. I will definitely get the book.

I'm a Portuguese citizen living in uk and I wanting to move back home  to portugal thinking about doing porto or surrounding areas   looking for a for a place to rent don't find a share house at the minute till get my own place there and work as I'm a truck driver. Any ideas how I can find a place as I been looking everywhere online any help be very much appreciated thank you