New members of the Portugal forum, introduce yourselves here - 2020

Hi Julien and thanks for the invitation...
I'm an Aussie as is my wife Silvia, although she has Spanish parentage. We recently retired and after many months of research we decided to move to Portugal on the D7 visa, which was recently approved.

Now we are in the midst of all the preparations for our new life in Portugal. We expect to arrive in Lisbon at the end of March and will need to go through all the formalities such as resident permit, tax number, bank account etc.

Then we need to work out where we might settle, so I suppose the first couple of months will be moving around to explore the options. We expect to rent rather than buy. Although we don't speak Portuguese we would like to settle in a smaller city where there is reasonable english; good access to an airport; not overrun by tourists; doesn't need to be close to beach, but has moderate weather, etc. ( I guess everyone wants that!). We're thinking about Caldas de Rainha or similar. Obviously we'd like to make contact with other expats as well.

Thanks again for the warm welcome.
JOHN

Hi,

My name is Emerson and I'm from Brazil, I decided to move to Porto when received a job offer in August 2019 and arriving here in December 2019.

I love to meet new people, my main interest now is to talk in English, because of my work, if exists any group here, let me know. I'm lived in Canterbury between December 2017 and March 2018 and was an amazing experience.

I'm Software Engineer and work at PrimeIT, if you are a coworker, please tell me, let's talk. For now, only I'm here, my wife and our cat will arriving in February.

Now I'm doing the government documents necessary to live and work here and spend time looking for a place to buy or rent. This is the most hard I have because I don't have a lot of money for a security deposit, they usually asking about 3 or four months in advance.  For now, I living in Airbnb rooms until finding someplace.

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your introduction. We hope that you will benefit from the forum 

Should you need any info, feel free to participate on the Portugal forum.

All the very best,
Bhavna

Hi, my wife and I and our recently born daughter Tara are seeking some kind of a housekeeping position in Portugal as a starter. Our ultimate goal is to set up a bed & breakfast, but meanwhile, until we found the appropriate house and the sale of our house in Belgium we gladly offer our housekeeping services in Portugal

***

Love & Light,

Paul & Natasha

Hi
My wife and I are looking at moving to central Portugal with the next step being to come over for a few months to locate a property. We are lucky as we have sold our property's in the uk and are looking for a different lifestyle as we have both retired. Getting plenty of information off this site and the internet.

I am retired from the USA and I want to retire in Portugal.  I would like to make a friend or two who I can potentially share expenses while living there!  I am in my late 60's.

Hello! My name is Barbara and my husband and I have been watching the crap out of YouTube videos and reading about living in Portugal. We have our first visit coming up soon so I am here to soak up whatever I can learn!

Hi,
Just moved here from Dubai, UAE, where I was an expat for 22 years. Living in Lisbon at the moment.

bonjour,

je suis installée depuis 2 ans dans la région de Caldas et pas de regret, il y a tout dans cette petite ville peu envahie par le tourisme et les villages environnants sont sympa, il y a d'ailleurs beaucoup d'expat' à la  cherche du calme et la mer n'est pas loin,pas de problème non plus pour aller à Lisbonne,2 lignes de bus vous y conduisent en 1h pour un prix dérisoire et le dimanche matin bien sûr le marché de Santana immense où l'on trouve de tout sans oublier les petits restos pas chers si vous évitez les lieux touristiques, de tous les goûts et tous les prix.
Bref, on est bien à Caldas.
Amicalement

My wife and I relocated to Portugal from the San Francisco area in October 2019.  We would be happy to discuss our experience.  You can contact me at ***.

Hi my name is Carol- originally from UK but have been here in Germany for the last 30 years. My German husband and I  have our house etc in Olhao, Algarve already and plan to make our move permanent at the end of this year. Can`t wait for my next trip next week!

How has your experience been? We will be coming in another year with 3 toddlers

Hi! My name is Clark, my girlfriend is Karen. So far, this forum has been very productive and seemingly very valuable. We will be in Portugal in early May after she and I complete  the Camino de Santiago hike from France. We are looking forward to our visit and hopefully finding a nice spot to retire and live.  If anyone would like to reach out and/or contact us I believe the site required that I provide my linkedIn web site address. I/we would be very happy to talk to anyone who has made the move, regardless of where you made it from.

Hi, thank you for the introduction. My name is Irene, im married with three children. My husband is an IT consultant looking for work there. We are hoping to move to Portugal but are split between Lisbon or the Algarve?
We have heard that the higher paying jobs are in Lisbon but we love the lifestyle of the Algarve. We are also looking for advice on english speaking schools primary and secondary.
Many thanks

Hi all,
I am David, and came 2013 from London to Portugal's Algarve, initially didn't like it THAT much because I understood nothing, the language sounded to me like eastern European, maybe because at Uni I had some Spanish not Portuguese.

Years went on, I moved around to explore more, and I got to know THE PEOPLE. Within 3 years I realized I never lived anywhere with THAT lovely people. Now over the years of course I made many friends among the local Portuguese, as this is much easier here than anywhere I have been before.

Initially I had planned to move on to Spain after a year, but that changed and I wanted to stay. Portugal is smaller but has so much to offer! I haven't even been to its offshore islands yet.

I also enjoy a lot to be able to walk in Tshirt and Shorts in the midst of winter (from as early as 8.30am) Yes!

Currently I am in the far North of Portugal though and my above personal reflections on the lovely Portuguese are a summary of this experience here. I have yet to get up to the tip where Spain starts but first I plan to be back in the Algarve to establish a more local residential home construction plant subsidiary for the benefit of repeat tourists who "only" come to the Algarve (the sunshine state!), some of whom will prefer having their own second home rather than booking anonymous hotels, I guess.

I love designing dream homes for lovely people, particularly when it makes us become friends beyond that. But no worries I will keep that apart, this is MY private signup as an expat in Portugal who after so many years has a lot to share "how to get things done" in Portugal

As a closing anecdote: I still remember the first year here, at the ATM ("Multibanco"), seeing words like "sim" and "nao" (with tilde, but I don't have), and so I "learned" to pronounce yes like "sim" (not si), and no like "nao" (not no), lol. THAT was funny when I later discovered "better" Portuguese
(I still speak poorly though, VERY poorly, I guess it's an age thing)

Hi,
My name is Julie, My husband and I are on the verge of starting a holiday rental business in the Algarve with the intention of moving there permanently in the coming years. I joined this forum really to get help in locating a reliable accountant and financial advisor and would be really grateful for any recommendations as the people we have been recommended already don't seem to acknowledge our calls or respond to our emails and we are on a time limit now! Thank you!

Hi Julie, Loic's kind email sent me back to this page, yet I see I did post above already, so now seeing you joined also I will just reply since you wrote Silves which I know of course.

I know the Algarve well, and your holiday rental business can become a success, yes. Can, because quite a lot aren't, for more reasons than one.
You can go down the route of secret (untaxed) holiday rental income like many from UK do (funnily not from other countries, as far as I've met them). Can, because the short-term financial benefits may harm more long-term then.

I cannot recommend an accountant to you, sorry (I am one myself, but not here). But if you seek location or other tips, I could. And Silves is a great location in general, yes. Close enough to the coast (for tourists who rent a car, or you provide one to them), and yet a lot cheaper right away as regards properties.

Note that the KEY is how you set up your business: eg I knew the British couple who run a B&B up in Monchique, and she went huge food shopping every weekend she said (and I saw it). If that's how you like to spend your time, no problem, I just hint: HOW you set up your business matters most. More than property price.

Dan, your move-from-SF experience would be well received as a post I think, instead of having to reply to individual enquiries, you save time too.
I certainly would be interested to hear more from you: Many Americans move to the Algarve, eg up on Foia where I lived initially, our part of the mountain was occupied all by Americans

(Gorgeous coastal views, just too much humidity for me)

Hello,
I am Raghu Ménon. Moved to Portugal (from India) in 2009. I work here in the real estate market (Oeste region). I would be happy to help people who want to move and settle in the Silver coast region of Portugal.
Thank you

Hi All,

We hope to be living in the Algarve before too long but coronavirus has slowed our move down. We are UK citizens but recently decided we want to live permanent in the Algarve having been visitors for 17 years.

We started looking at property before lockdown but didn't get too far and are now trying to be patient while travel restrictions are in place.

Be good to get anyone's views on how the property market may or is being affected especially price wise?

Also we are keen golfers and have had a Dom Pedro membership for extended stays over the last couple of Winters. It would be good to hear views on any other golf memberships. We also like playing regular competition golf so any steer on what is available would be great.

Thanks

Ken & Lynda Smith

I know the problem. I am 70. In one ear, total jumble, then out the next. Yes and no, I'll start with that!!!

Hello everyone!
Thanks in advance for any of your suggestions or willingness to help me with my intention to offer my services in Portugal.

My name is Eric from Quebec. For the last 12 years I have been travelling extensively to find, learn, test and promote hollistic methods and healing modalities from around the world.  It is the reason for which I came to Portugal months ago, just before the lockdown.

As a digital wellness ambassador/ coach & consultant,  Portugal and especially Algarve, represent the best environment to propose digital wellness products and services.

Algarve is the largest concentration of resorts in Europe. It is the reason for which I am interested to move here, ot at least collaborate with any resorts  ot retreat centers who could benefit from my offline experience services.

With the post-Covid 19 crisis,  Mental wellness and any holisitc integrative approach to wellbeing will be a booming industry and an absolute must to learn how to survive in the digital age!
***

Hi, my husband and I are planning to retire in Portugal in 2021. I'm Canadian and he's Australian and we don't necessarily want to live in the hustle and bustle of a big city but not so far either that we'd never see anyone.   Hoping to open a small business to keep us busy but nothing major.  We're starting to look ta NHR-D7 immigration and since we're live in Grand Cayman (tax haven), I read there are exclusions on that.   Anyway, just starting the research.

We have done similar to you. Had a bit of an adventure then came down to Portugal to find a place to retire. You can see our blog of our trip and finding our home at

***

We are now near Monchique in the Algarve and love it here. Wouldn't change it for anything. Locals very friendly and a good mix of international folk.

Hope you made it before the lockdown. You can see our journey here from Ireland via Finland on our blog

Hi All,

I'm looking to move a Family of 5 to Central Portugal (open to any area) in the next 4-5 months.

I'm going out to look at houses in the next month or so (flights booked) and have a good budget.

Looking to rent our UK house out for a few years to make sure the kids take to the new country.

Kids aged: 5, 12, &14.

Learning (brazilian...I know) Portuguese at the moment.

Hi All,

I am Arslan from Pakistan and moving to Porto in August 2020. I am planning to start a business there.

Good luck Aslan.

Hi,
My name is Dave and I'm looking to stop working and move out to Portugal in the next few years.

I have only visited Lisbon a few times but I love it. Lisbon is quite expensive though so don't think I'll be able to afford to settle in the city, even though I'm looking at renting.
Probably have to go out again and check out smaller places within a short distance of Lisbon where I can afford to rent and also the cost of living will be better without the big city prices !

Many thanks for the invite and I hope to get loads of info from here

Hello everyone,

Welcome to Expat.com

Thank you for introducing yourselves.

Feel free to post your queries on the Portugal forum by starting new threads for every subject that sparks your interest. Browsing through past threads can also be useful; do not fail to do so while searching for info on a specific topic.

Another useful resource would be the Living in Portugal guide. You can read articles based on topics such as visa procedures, employment, health and accommodation in Portugal, among others.

All the best,

Diksha
Team Expat.com

Hi folks.

We live near Monchique and are having some renovations and upgrade to done to our cottage. Has anyone any recommendations for builders or builders labourers for some concreting and drive work, or someone with a Mini-digger? Also we are considering changing all our windows and doors. We would love a quote for it all.

Any suggestions or experiences you have had, we would  love to hear.

Hi there, thanks for the add to the group!

My husband and I have just moved to Alcobaça, Leiria from Scotland.
We are 41 and would love to meet up with any expats in the area.
Does anyone have any suggestions for learning the language locally?
Looking forward to hopefully connecting with lots of people!
Have a great day folks
Lesley Anne 

Hi Lesley Anne,
Beyond schools in your region that teach Portuguese to foreigners easily found on internet (search by "aprender português para estrangeiros"), you also have the following support:

The Portuguese government's free platform to help you learn Portuguese: https://pptonline.acm.gov.pt/

Please watch the presentation video in english.

Hello,
I just joined this forum and I'm finding it really interesting. I'm an international masters student in university of Aveiro, I'm finishing my programme soon and I find it difficult to get a job as an English speaker here. I will like to know if there are job opportunities for students in other places in portugal.  I need recommendations please

Due to the pandemic, this may not be the best year to look for a job... The best way is through Aveiro University (UA), they know your Curriculum Vitae and they can guide you.

What I would suggest:

1. Online platform to support students and alumni of the UA and companies and other employers. On this platform you can consult job and internship opportunities.

https://www.ua.pt/pt/gesp/portal_emprego_ua_jobteaser

2. Linkedin:
https://pt.linkedin.com/jobs/universida … eiro-vagas


3.University of Aveiro Job Fair, November 4th-5th, 2020

https://talentportugal.com/evento/feira … veiro-2020

Professional areas with employment opportunities:
Agriculture and Fish industries
Customer Support
Architecture and Design
Exact Sciences
Social Sciences
Trade and Sales
Law and Taxes
Education and Training
Civil Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Finance and Accounting
Management/Economy
Real Estate and Construction
Industry and Production
Marketing and Communication
Human Resources
Health and Pharmacy
Administration
Information Technology Systems
Tourism

Hello everyone,

I'm Sofia, I'm Portuguese (in couple with a Franco-Swiss) and I'm here to help expats the way I can, sharing information about the country and the culture.
I understand that some times for someone that arrives to Portugal there's some things that can seem a bit weird like
- if you try to talk Portuguese is very likely that the person responds you in English. That's just our way to try to help, to make it easy for you, not that we don't want you to speak the native language 😁
- If you're lost and ask for directions, is very likely that the person accompanies you to the destiny, it's just to be helpful and kind
- Portuguese people like to give you food, it's also part of the culture, so don't think it's weird if you have a full meal for less than 10€ or breakfast for 3€ 😁
- a coffee in Portugal is the small cup like an Italian expresso, if you want a big cup ask café Americano or Abatanado

Please let me know if you have questions about Portugal or Lisbon.

Me and my boyfriend we own a couple  flats in Lisbon center that we rent minimum 1 year, I'm going to place the available ones in the right section but if someone is searching for accommodation in Lisbon feel free to contact me.

Thank you!