STUDENT VISA ~Can it be applied for once in Portugal ?

Member since 17 August 2016

almirantereisActive member08 May 2023 07:27:57

I am enquiring on behalf of an American friend who wishes to spend a sabbatical year ( she is a teacher of mod langs ) learning Portuguese on the Curso Anual de português para Estrangeiros at Coimbra Univ.

All the ins and outs of why it is proving difficult to obtain the Visa are too complicated to go into, but the upshot is we are wondering : if she enters the EU on a standard tourist, 90 day, visa, will she then be able to apply for a Student Visa from within Portugal ?

If so, what are the mechanics for doing that ? Obviously she will need a Letter of Enrollment on the course and its duration, but once in possession of that where does she start to make the application for the year's Visa ? [ And is it possible to do it, once in Portugal ? Or is there some absolute requirement to obtain it from outside Portuguese territory ? ]

And what is the correct denomination for a 'Student Visa' ? The websites I have looked at are v confusing on this issue.

Also, I believe she would easily qualify for a long term retirement Visa ( in the sense that she already has a substantial pension income from her previous employment ) nothing to do with studying............

Might it be simpler to obtain one of these ? And , again, can such be applied for once inside the territory by way of a visitor's Visa ?

See also

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JohnnyPT Portugal Expert

Member since 23 May 2020

JohnnyPTPortugal Expert08 May 2023 08:31:43

5186

Hi Almirante,

Why doesn't she opt for the D7 visa? All visas are requested in the country where the applicant lives, not in Portugal. But she can come to Portugal to proceed with some of the requirements (NIF, rental, bank account...). You can also find information about the student visa here.

Experience sharing about Visas to Portugal (D7 & others)

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=971460

Residence visa to attend higher education study programmes

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1006132

But she can get updated information at a Portuguese consulate in the US.

Best Regards

almirantereis Active member

Member since 17 August 2016

almirantereisActive member08 May 2023 09:05:19

The big problem is TIMING.

Plus this new ( much complained about online ) régime whereby you cannot apply for any Visas any more direct to Portuguese Consulates.

Applications now have to be made first to an organization called VFS which has a monopoly.

And which itself is suffering delays in processing applications.

In my friend's case she has been offered an appointment at VFS on 16 June. They have NOTHING earlier.

But as I understand it, VFS , even if they approve her application for the year's Visa, do not grant it there and then and stamp the passport accordingly.

Instead they take the passport and ( presumably ) put it through some administrative process, perhaps to the local / nearest Consulate, perhaps to Lisbon ?

But anyway it seems impossible that she would get the passport back by the date she needs to travel ( 25th June if possible ).

The friend has engagements in both France and Tanzania during June and July / August .

She obviously needs her passport to travel for these.

So my fear is that she is just not going to be able to part with her passport to VFS on 16 June and will end up travelling to Europe with only the initial 90 days visitor's visa on arrival in France.

Surely there is some mechanism available whereby she can apply for the Visa once in Portugal ?

[ When she arrives there at the start of September she will have ( I think ) two months ish left of the 90 days in the EU thing, so she would be able to follow the first two months of the course.]

She has already had her pre ~enrollment on the Curso Anual accepted ( email for proof ).