do i need a lawyer here to help with all the paperwork ?

Hi Penny. I see that you are from the U.S., as am I. Before you move to Portugal, you need to set up an appointment with the Portuguese Consulate designated for your area. For instance, I live in Washington State and will need to fly to San Francisco for this appointment. Personally, I won't hire a lawyer until I get to Portugal to handle things on that end. You can take preliminary steps here without a lawyer.

Thank you. I will see if there is one here in florida

Penny, you being in Florida, the consulate that you would need to see is in Washington, DC. Very inconvenient, I know, but unfortunately there is no other option.

Chancery: 2012 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036 (ENTRANCE FROM “P” STREET)
Phone: 202 332 3007
Fax: 202 223 3926
Emergency line: (+351) 96 170 64 72
E-mail: mail@scwas.dgaccp.pt

Head of Consular Section: Hugo Palma

AREAS OF JURISDICTION

States of: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, District of Columbia.

Actually, the person in the Washington, D.C. Consulate that you will be dealing with is Dina Silva,  dina.silva (at ) washington.dgaccp.pt . 

She does all the Visa work at this location.  I will warn you, she is very slow in answering emails, and many of mine went to her spam (I have a yahoo address), but she will answer you and she will work with you once you start the process.

Once one is in Portugal, what services do you need a lawyer to assist with? We were planning on securing a lawyer in Porto once we get there but weren't sure what services a lawyer would be useful for. Also, any idea of the costs? And one last question, any referrals for an attorney in Porto?

In my opinion, and this is MY opinion, a lawyer for almost anything to do with moving to Portugal is just an overpaid secretary.  Unless you are buying property here, there really is no need to get one, IMO.

Things a lawyer ill do for you:

1.  Collect and file paperwork to get the temporary Visa (4 - month) before move.  You will still need to fill out the paperwork and sign it.  Since you have to do that, you can easily collect it yourself and file it yourself at your local Consulate in the States.

2.  Obtain a NIF number. There is an office in just about any decent sized town.  You need your passport, driver's license, social security card, and a Guarantor, plus the fee and about 1 hour to 90 minutes of time.  It definitely will help if you speak the language or have a translator with you, but it can be done with Google translate.  Everything but the Guarantor is you, so you might as well do it yourself.  A guarantor is a Portuguese person that will sign for you saying that you will pay your taxes for the following year.  After you pay once, you no longer need a Guarantor.  A lawyer could do this, but if you know anyone local, they can do it for you.  We hired a college student to be our translator for 4 hours one day and he signed for us.

3.   Open a bank account.  You need your passport, a NIF Number and a permanent address (can be US or other country - our's was in the US when we opened our bank account.  Again, a translator is helpful, but Google translate will work too.  Took about an hour including the wait time. 

4.  Review rental contract:.  We used a local realty for finding an apartment.  The agent spoke English.  We had copies of the rental agreement made in English and in Portuguese.  We just read over the English one to see if was to our satisfaction and signed it and the Portuguese one.  We used Google Translate to verify any questions we had in the English version was the same in the Portuguese version..  if you use a realtor, they have very standard rental contracts just like we do in the States

5.  Review Purchase Agreement.  We did not buy, so this didn't apply to us.  Here is the only place I could see a lawyer being necessary, just like in the states.  I don't know the laws of ownership, plus title transfers and liens and such.  But, IMO, you shouldn't buy until you've been here a while as you don't know the neighborhoods, towns, etc until you've been here.  If you buy first thing, you are basically stuck.  We love our apartment and city, Braga, , but we've visited a couple of other cities now that also hold charm and possibility so we might decide to move in a year or two.  By renting, we still have that flexibility.

6. File and obtain Long-term Residency (Visas):  If you done all the above (1-3 and one of 4 or 5), you've got all the paperwork necessary  to file for the first 1 year Resident Visa.  Just make an appointment at your local SEF and bring all of it.  Our appointments are in March.  We will not be using a lawyer. Before the year is up, you make an appointment to renew the 1 Year Visa to a 2 Year Visa, along with the same paperwork, Then before the 3rd year is up, do it all again, Before the 5th year, do it again, plus pass a Portuguese proficiency test.  After that you are a permanent resident.

The entire process is a little time-consuming, but not that difficult.  And if you are moving here to be retired or without a job yet, you have the time.  The savings I am getting are well worth a few hours of my time.

Hi dear you can contact this This evening  this lawyer he’s very reliable and good   Pls give him my  reference
Dr N***

I can say about the real estate part because I am a realtor. I agree that is not necessary a lawyer, but many people prefer to hire one to have more security at the time of signing contract.

Yes penny it’s better to get a lawyer
If you need a lawyer let me know I have a lawyer how is really   Reasonable With price  dr. Nuno tel no ***
Ok you take care best of luck pls tell that you got the no from me ok bye

We had an attorney review the details of our rental contract. We hired an individual that specializes in expediting the visa application. We tried to do it ourselves. There was so much misinformation including on this forum. For the visa, it is definitely a good idea because the expectations vary from consulate to consulate and not all the information is listed on the consulate website. Had we tried to do it ourselves we would have failed our first attempt. For expediting the visa, it does not require a lawyer and there are good people available to help for 600 euro or less per person. We paid 150 euro per person. Do not spend thousands... as I have heard some people doing.

Hello.  We live in Montana and will be moving to Portugal.  It is my understanding that the necessary documents for obtaining a D7 Visa can be sent through the mail.  Is that correct?  Our consulate is in San Francisco and we simply can’t travel that far.
Any information would be appreciated.
Hal

Hi there!

why don't you contact the Portuguese authorities in your country before moving and the US consular office in Lisbon for lawyer referrals?
This is what I did with my consular office and got a list of lawyers to chose from. Avoid unchecked referrals.

About real estate, you can get an idea of the market on Remax.pt (search in English) or Idealista.pt (agencies and private ads) bpiexpressoimobiliario.pt  or casa.sapo.pt (also in English).

My suggestion: rent, don't buy until you've visited the whole country.

Priscilla, I'm not adverting any site in particular.

We just moved from DC to Lisbon.  I am glad that I hired a trusted lawyer to help us.

We just returned from the San Francisco Consulate. At this time they are still requiring that you make an in-person appearance. They will briefly review your documents to make sure everything is there; review what happens next (documents get sent to Lisbon for approval, etc.) and you're done. About ten minutes.

As to hiring a lawyer, you don't need a lawyer but I would strongly suggest that hiring a lawyer or an expeditor is highly advisable. Even though we researched everything, much of what is posted can seem inaccurate because of the ever-changing rules for the Visa as well as for many there are individual stories that were true for them and their circumstances but not necessarily true for you. We would not have been successful in having exactly what we needed without the help of our expeditor. But don't spend $1000's as some have. The most you would pay should be no more than 600 euro for a good expeditor and there are some that are less. Ours was 150 euro. She walked us through everything. Not quite the hand holding that others provide but she was there for all of our questions and reviewed everything we sent in.

how can one find an Expeditor? is it sort of paralegal ?

Hello.  I am having a hard time getting the form to schedule an appointment with the consulate in San Francisco.  The site they gave me appears to be incorrect.  Do you have the address for the site that actually has the form?
Many thanks
Hal

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Thanks for sharing ur experience

But why explain it in details

Hello,
I will be applying D7 visa through consulate in India. After going through various post, to me it appears a good lawyer makes a difference in making process easy and clear. Can anyone suggest / recommend a lawyer.
With regards