Move to Portugal before D7 Visa Approval

    My friends moved to Portugal last year right after her husband and she had their D7 Visa VSF appointment. They didn’t wait for the approval before moving. Fortunately, for them, they were approved and are living there now. Even have their AIMA approval. They told us to do the same. My question is, has anyone else done that and is that wise? We have an appointment in September but want to move in late October. Which might  be before the Visa approval comes. Should we wait? Advice is sorely welcomed! Thank you! 😊         -@reynbod2003

And then what will you do if your visa is not approved ?

@reynbod2003,

You have the appointment at the VFS in September, right? Do you think you fulfil all the visa requirements? Nothing better than your friends to advise you, as they've been through the same path. But remember that without a visa, you can only stay in Portugal for 90 days.

@Strontium That’s why asked. i was wondering if others had.

@JohnnyPT Yes i thought that would protect me. i believe i do as it is a D7 and I can’t see that I don’t fit all the criteria. My friend is much like me and she was approved. It’s just scary to take the chance I guess.  Hoping she wasn't the only one who took the risk and did ok.

Sure.  In retrospect it seems perhaps a little rash, but I bought a house first.  You know there's a risk it will fall through, you know it isn't a big risk.  What only you know, is how easily you can recover.

Hi,

I agree with donn25.

My husband and I bought a house a couple of years ago in Portugal and in January 2024 we decided we would make the hopefully permanent move.

We applied for the D7 in February and WHEN THAT GOT APPROVED, we got rid of all possessions attaching us to the UK.

Yes, there is a risk that the AIMA residency visa may not be approved, but once the D7 was approved it seemed unlikely, but we waited until the D7 was approved! THEN we took the chance and moved over to Portugal at the end of April. We had our residency visa from AIMA approved 3 days ago.

As donn25 says, only you know what your situation would be if your residency is not approved. Like donn25, I too THINK it is a small risk, but that's MY thought. An alternative would be not getting rid of all your UK possessions until your residency is granted, but then you have the grief of dealing with them while you are in Portugal (unless you go back to the UK to do that, bear in mind you NEED to spend an amount of time in Portugal to keep your residency, how quickly will your house sell etc.) or having the belief that it will be approved but knowing if it isn't then you start fresh in the UK. A fresh start is a fresh start. Sure it'd be nice to do it in Portugal but IF instead you have a 3 month 'holiday' in Portugal before making the fresh start in the UK, would that be so bad?.... again, a question only you can answer.

You asked for an opinion, that's mine 🙂.

Good luck and best wishes, whatever you decide.

Dx

@fotheringhamdiane

They are American.

We met/exceeded the D7 requirements. a week after VFS we flew to our home in PT. If for some reason we get denied we’ll have 10 days to provide what the PT Embassy needs to approve our application.

@donn25 True!

@LMarkWindell Thanks! 😊

@fotheringhamdiane Makes sense! 😊

@reynbod2003

hi im still waiting on apointnent my temp visa from Uzk ended on 30th Jan. how did you get your appt? when did you apply?

as all visas have been extended i live here wziting on my appoibtnent with nonissues…

@JohnnyPT

what about all visas being extended to june 25? my temp visa ran out 30 Jan but ive been told at faro airport to carry all docs with evidence. i therefore live here and go between here and UK regular well in excess of 90 days?

@Andrew Finnie, don't worry,  it took us 10 months to get our permanent residence cards. One morning we found them in the mailbox. 😗

Well it's slightly worrying as you may need to return to the UK for something eg a family member ill and then how do you return as you've exceeded 90 days.  Does anyone know if the extension to temporary D7 visa's are continuing? 

THanks

@fotheringhamdiane

Hi Diane,

I hope you don't mind me asking questions about your D7 application - I will be applying for D7 this November at the London office.

Was your application for D7 in London?  Did you DIY or go through an agency?

Was the list of requirements on the site up to date or can you suggest anything additional please?  I'm hoping to make it seamless and DIY the whole process

I have a cousin in Porto who is sponsoring me so that should hopefully help and like you if the London D7 temporary visa is approved I'll want to head out asap.

How long did they hold on to your passport while awaiting D7 temporary visa please?

Thank you!

Sasha

@Toshiro123,

You have some support here. Your cousin can help you with the proof of accommodation by making a so-called “contrato de comodato”:

Experience sharing about Visas to Portugal (D7 & others) - select UK:

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

"contrato de comodato"

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1077142

@Toshiro123

the 4 month temporary visa from the UK is easy. Your problem will be getting the residency permit. my 4 months ended January and still no appt with AIMA to get my permit and residency card.

Albeit the Portuguese government has extended everything to June 25…

Hi Toshiro123,

If I can help in anyway I will be happy too.

I will send you a private message if you prefer.

My husband and I lived in Scotland, so although we technically applied through the Edinburgh office, all was actually dealt with at the Manchester office, (Edinburgh is just a base, but nothing actually is processed by them).

We didn't use an agency. We just took the list of requirements that are on he D7 application form one by one and ensured that we had what was asked for.

After some perseverance we got an appointment at the Edinburgh VFS global office, they checked over our documents, took they took our biometrics, we paid the charge and a couple of weeks later the Manchester office got in touch and asked us for clarification on one of our documents. At no point was our taken passports from us. They told us that once the Manchester office got in touch with us with the decision/ approval, at that time we would be to post our passports to the office and they would stamp it and post it back with  our appointment and  details of the appointment in Portugal. That happened exactly as we had been advised.

Our summary of events:

Approx 2 years ago we bought a house in Portugal after deciding that's where we want to retire and live.

In January 2024 we looked into what we needed to apply for our D7 visa. We got together all the information/documents that are required as listed on the form and then arranged the interview with VFS global in our local office (Edinburgh). Our appointment was 17th February 2024.

At our appointment, the clerk looked over all our documents.... she didn't offer any advice, it seems her job was to check the documents that we presented- it was up to us to present the appropriate documents. She took our photo and finger prints, had us pay he fee and told us someone would get In touch via email within 90 days.

Approx 2 weeks later the Manchester office got in touch and asked for some extra information regarding one of our documents (pension).

The information was sent off and a few days later they sent us an email saying our D7 visa had been approved and we now needed to send them our passports to get D7 stamp. The passports were sent off (register post). They stamped the passports and returned them to us with a bit of paper which had our AIMA appointment date and location on it. From us posting our passports to receiving them back stamped and with our AIMA appointment it was 8 days.

We packed up and left Scotland on April 24th 2024.

We attended our AIMA appointment on 17th  July, again with no agency. We literally took with us everything that we took to the D7 appointment, but all the AIMA appointment looked at was what was asked for on their form and biometrics were taken again and another charge (178 euros each). The appointment lasted approximately 30 mins  but at he end of this appointment WE WERE HANDED a bit of A4 paper that was our GRANTED 2 YEAR (not 1 year like I was expecting) RESIDENCY VISA.  We have not yet received our actual residency card, but we were told that we would receive that in the post to our address within 3 months, so far we have waited 5 weeks....  but we do have our bit of paper that is our temporary proof of residency!

We go back in 2 years when we will hopefully then be granted a 3 year visa (all info that we saw/read said it was a 1 year, 2 year and 2 year residency visa- that seems to have changed to 2 year and then 3 year).

We found the whole process fairly simple. Having researched and read on forums various  accounts either we got lucky or others have either been unlucky or maybe their applications were incorrect/ or had the wrong paperwork. However, for us, we just prepared what was asked for and found no issues.

If you have any questions that you think I can help answer, then please just let me know and IF I can help, I will be happy too.

Regards,

Diane.