To move to another country might be all you desire – or require. But it will take persistence and patience.
Please note: There is no substitute, whether this article or any other, for close up-to-the-minute contact with the proper state and immigration authorities during the process of such a move, especially since the rules regarding obtaining a passport, a visa, residency, or ultimately citizenship can change at any time. Also all my contacts at some point required or recommended the use of an immigration lawyer.
Perhaps you’ve always wanted to retire or be a part-time digital nomad in a favorite foreign city. Perhaps more or newer work opportunities demand it. Or lessening opportunities. Perhaps you’re casting an eye on the current political situation and contemplating a choice of flight over fight.
Whatever the reason, such a move requires more than simply upping stakes and loading your life’s possessions into boxes and onto pallets. You need to research your destination’s rules for stages of residency and, if you choose, the citizenship goal at the end of the process.
The following article is intended to be helpful with regard to obtaining residency in two countries in the Schengen Zone of European countries. Getting residency in the Zone is the only way for US citizens (and now the UK due to Brexit) to avoid the 90 -180 rule – as in you can only spend 90 days out of 180 days in the Schengen area, then wait out the 90 days before applying to re-enter. (Spain is trying to change the rule as it gets in the way of, for example, British visitors trying to remain in Spain and is apparently costing Spain millions, but for now the only way to remain in a country in a stable fashion is residency.)
While these Schengen countries share roughly similar passport and visa processes, they all have different rules and timelines in regard to residency and citizenship, but this look at some of the rules in Spain and Portugal will be helpful in some respects for other Schengen Zone countries.
Madrid is in many ways – the Plaza d’España and its towering Cervantes monument beneath even taller buildings, the huge Retiro Park behind the world-class Museo del Prado, the Gran Via so much like Fifth Avenue, and the festive and very late nightlife in La Chueca and other neighborhoods – one of the European cities that’s most similar to New York or Chicago. As such it has the charms of familiarity for an American big-city dweller. But it also has palaces and centuries-old churches, beautiful narrow streets crowded with bars serving tapas (really fresh and tasty snacks), and at night, lively clubs and flamenco theaters – and it’s at a great and very old Madrid restaurant, Taberna la Carmencita, that I meet my first respondent (who preferred to remain anonymous).
As he first of all told me, any experiences he’d relate are up to twenty years old, and so can only serve as a general guide. He began his emigration process by going to the Spanish consulate in New York, having an interview and providing paperwork at the offices of VFS (VFS Global currently is, as its website states, the exclusive service provider for the Government of Canada, and is also authorized to provide administrative support services to visa applicants in Spain and Portugal and thus usable by Americans). He applied as a (back then) D7 retiree with benefits, as a result of which he did not need a work permit. His visa, now known as a nonlucrative visa, is a Spanish visa available to non-EU citizens who have sufficient economic means to stay in the country without engaging in any work or professional activity.
The visa comes with some definite minimum passive income requirements (with no required bank minimum but proving the account is sufficient for your needs). The income figure is subject to change, but it’s currently at least €28,800 annually, plus €7,200 per each additional family member (note: these figures regularly update), which can come from investments, annuities, s and any other sources of income. Companies such as Atlantic Bridge (with offices in Lisbon, Porto, and Madrid) advertise online their services in guiding you through these requirements, but my respondent suggested that all visa business is complicated, and hiring an immigration lawyer to help handle it for maybe 300 to 700 dollars is well worth it.
My respondent leased an apartment after he arrived. It was certainly affordable back then, he stressed – as in 1200 euros for an immense three-bedroom in a very nice and centrally located part of town.
But the process had its nerve-racking aspects. The turnover rate for a visa was 105 days. The visa allowed multiple entries and mandated 90 days of stay in Spain, but the renewal response was not a guaranteed yes or no, even though he’d already come to live in Madrid. There was travel back and forth involved in the multi-stage process of obtaining residency. Furthermore, as of this date, current rules mandate that the fronting of money to secure housing with a lease or purchase is a requirement to obtain a visa to live in Spain before you even get there.
Meanwhile, to sum up recent information on the VFS website, within one month of arrival in Spain, one must apply for a residence permit and a foreign national identity card. The residency permit is usually issued for a period of two years, with fingerprinting and follow-up contact, renewable provided that you still meet the economic requirements and have lived at least 183 days in Spain each year. A second interview is for formalization for temp residency and to order a residency card. After two years, a renewal is for three years, then after five years one can become a permanent resident.
Even given my respondent made his transition to Spain in simpler times, he described his experience as a “long haul at a slower pace.” As an example of the bureaucratic hassles that can ensue, a misunderstanding involving a middle initial, which caused the national i.d. card to differ from the passport, required an embassy affidavit and a trip to the Ministry of Interior to reconcile the documents.
There are always adjustments to the nitty-gritty details of life in a foreign country. My respondent and his partner finally bought an apartment in February 2023; rents had started to rise dramatically with the pressure of the “cursed Air B & Bs” and too much tourism. Still one-bedroom apartments in the center of town as of this 2024 interview were probably renting for about 1000 euros for 500 sq. ft to 1600 or 2000 for 750 sq. ft. (by NYC standards jaw-dropping) in fancier neighborhoods. An agent’s fee was about 8 percent for the respondent’s purchase of a 30-year-old 1200-square-foot apartment for 260,000 euros (more jaw-dropping) with a garage and storage space in an outlying neighborhood; in the Madrid city center that might be 500k or more and requiring repairs. Rentals usually come with a one-month security deposit. There is always the risk of a mom-and-pop owner evicting you for a family or, increasingly, to have an Air B and B. And one can’t get a mortgage after age 70.
My respondent bought his own health insurance from a company called Sanitas, though he pointed out that a legal resident qualifies for the national health system if you don’t mind possibly longer waits for a desired doctor – or if the system for expats using national health doesn’t change, always a possibility. The cost of his private insurance is currently about 230 euros a month, no deductible, with merely symbolic copays, and my respondent stressed they have provided two operations and many doctor visits, all pretty much completely covered.
As far as work goes, the laws have gotten stricter on reporting limited income. There is no real freelance, you are either self-employed (autonomo) or employed. But being self-employed involves paying taxes every month whatever you earn, roughly 300 euros a month, with a break for a startup year. If you declare in the US you don’t have to pay the total twice, but the government might want to know your total income – in any case, this is a matter for legal advice.
How much can a retiree or digital nomad earn without paying taxes? For the 2022 and 2023 Spanish tax years there was a basic personal nontaxable allowance for people under 65 of €5,550. Once you reach 65, the allowance rises to €6,700 and from aged 75 this increases again to €8,100.
In navigating this sometimes mazelike system the American embassy, my respondent stressed, is a good support system for expats. For example, they arranged for him to get social security after he phoned in information, and the electronically deposited checks began arriving right on time. Their embassy page may be the best place to start for any helpful information on US services in Spain
There are problems which almost sound quaint to a New Yorker, like the center being seriously overcrowded with tourists, and a more familiar threat, immigrants not quite yet absorbed into the system committing petty crimes, though my respondent stressed (and I’ll agree) that he always felt safe in the city, no matter what time of day or night. There is one looming threat to this dry landlocked city: increasingly blazing hot summers and poor air quality. But there are also many of the comforts of home. Broadband is good, as is wi-fi and fiberoptics. There’s of course flamenco, and excellent jazz. Theater, once one is proficient enough in the language, can be outstanding – as in an Antonio Banderas production of A Chorus Line – and even comedy can translate, as in a production of the Book of Mormon (and at much cheaper prices).
And while you might miss NYC-style bagels and Prosecco (though of course that’s replaced by Cava, a Spanish sparkling wine) Madrid has some of the greatest museums and best native dishes – the tapas, the Sephardic chickpea-based stew cocido, the hot chocolate at Chocolateria San Gines – in the Western world. Not to mention tipping is optional here, never really expected, and always very minor, with a few euros for a moderately expensive meal, and nothing for taxis – and the drivers will be friendly nevertheless. Finally, as I found out, the public transit is very good here, the metro very clean and safe and frequent, and Madrid is in the absolute center of Spain, allowing easy and fast train visits throughout. My respondent has lived in Madrid for twenty years without a car and has traveled to many parts of the country with ease, sometimes by bus. With an expat community of thousands, and Americans increasingly joining the Germans and Brits, there are many opportunities to make new friends, and “when all is said and done, life is safer and easier here.”
A short 90-minute flight and I’m in Porto, Portugal, perhaps the most spectacular small city I’ve ever been in, and with the tourist load to show for it. I stay in an old movie theater turned into a hotel that’s next to a beautifully weathered old stone church – the elaborate tower-and-turret architecture and blue-and-white tile interiors here are a special treat. Hills rise on either side of the river, clustered with beautifully adorned houses with Moorish grillwork balconies. A tasty lunch, accompanied by a street singer doing – believe it or not – John Denver’s “Country Roads,” is followed by a port wine tasting, and then later comes an excellent dinner of the Portuguese standbys, cod and shrimp.
Before that, though, I meet with an elderly gay couple. They are living in Porto off a D7 Visa retirement passive income, which is now separate from the D8 visa, reserved for digital nomads. The visa approval process, which also involves the Consulate General of Portugal, has also changed. The Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras (SEF) was the prior organization in charge of immigration. Portugal has replaced the SEF with the newly created Agency for Integration, Migration, and Asylum – AIMA.
The couple used a realtor to help obtain the visa, since before they moved they had to prove they had a lease agreement and the money to back it up, so that was a big cash outlay right from the start, and months before their move. But they got a 3-bed, 3-bath, $1900/month place, even without the benefit of a “golden visa,” which used to be available with the purchase of property but now is just for cultural investment.
Respondents Meredith and Mark Burns met me later at a riverside restaurant, as the wharves and the huge trestle bridge looming over the river, the streetlamps and the houses on the hills, lit up beneath a long dusk; it was a view amply supporting their statement that at night Porto “simply glows.” Their move began with an impulse of “Let’s go and explore together”; Mark is a mountaineer. They talked about the year prior to the move as a “year of consideration,” of not taking the enterprise lightly, with much to evaluate about moving abroad. They told me such a move is not for everyone, but “for those who can push through the stress,” it’s worth it.
It’s been so worth it for them that they’ve started a Portugal Junkies podcast (see Appendix) – with a website coming soon – trying to build a podcast audience and community to offer services such as visa guidance, apartment searches and viewings, travel advice, itineraries, and support for potential future expats who are interested in moving to Portugal.
The Burnses told me that on their first appointment/interview to apply for the visa with VFS in the United States, they had to have about twelve documents as part of their application. “All are important but the harder ones to achieve are your one-year lease (for an apartment you’re not living in yet!) and your proof of funds (passive income).” Also required was an NIF (taxpayer number) and a funded Portuguese bank account.
In terms of proving their passive income to acquire their visas, they needed to show that at a minimum they exceeded the minimum wage here in Portugal which is 9840 Euros a year, or $820/month. For a couple, the second partner only needs to show 50 percent of that number and any children would be an additional 30 percent. Proving the D7 passive income and also – through a realtor – that one has the money and lease agreement in advance can be a challenge.
And the visa process is complex. Part 1 is applying for the visa with an assigned VFS Global office in the United States. Approval leads to a temporary residency visa, which is a stamp in a passport good for 120 days within which you can enter Portugal. Part 2 happens next in Portugal, a second in-person appointment with AIMA where one presents updated documents, does some biometrics like fingerprints and images, and gets a Temporary Residency Card. Once that is issued, that is for a two-year period. At the two-year mark comes the option to renew for an additional three years. At five years, one can apply for citizenship.
Since the change of administration in October 2023 from SEF to AIMA there has been a backlog at many points of the process. Some are having challenges even getting the second appointment (part 2) and the rules state that when you have your temporary visa (part 1) you can only leave Portugal one additional time after your first entry – a challenge for those who can’t get an appointment but can’t really leave as they wish until they do.
Is it all worth it? “We were just asked recently what’s been the biggest cultural changes for us in moving here – and both of us said the slower pace. As an American I think I knew on paper that we move at a fast pace, always looking for the next big thing, and find convenience of utmost importance. That stuff doesn’t exist as much here. It forces you to slow down, and sometimes that can be against your will.” Plus not as much can be handled online as in the United States “and that is just is what it is. It’s their way.” Mark added that modern Portugal is really only 50 years old, recently out from under a dictatorship. So there’s a hangover from that kind of bureaucracy. The slowness and drumbeat of regulations can be as dolorous as one of Portugal’s famed fado songs.
But, as Meredith states about what that requires, “we just call it ‘PP’ – Portuguese Patience. We didn’t come here to change anything – we came here to assimilate. Porto is just a special magical place – full of energy and beauty and history. It’s been a privilege to call this home.”
It’s a three-hour train ride past red-roofed villages framed by forests, fruit trees and well-gardened fields, until one arrives in Lisbon, one of the most inviting cities of Europe in every way, from its delicious and affordable seafood, to its nightlife on the Bairro Alto, above all the beauty of its riverine waterfront and especially the Praco do Comercio, one of the most spectacular squares in Europe. Near the Praco and the Tagus River is Ana Risso’s Teal Properties, which offers, in her words, “a comprehensive relocation service – for we have all the partners in place – for a smooth transition from applying for visas to moving goods to Portugal and into a new home.”
She recommends that a would-be resident do some scouting – one doesn’t have to be on a beach or even in the main area of Lisbon, given that there is quick train between Cascais and Lisbon, for example, or cheaper places between Lisbon and the airport.
For initial interviews before coming to Portugal as a would-be expat, Ms. Risso asserts the best place for that process is DC, with NYC also pretty good (she recommends avoiding San Francisco). As mentioned before, to get a D7 or D8 visa, a lease of a year is required, registered with a local tax office, and to get a year lease an NIF (tax number) is required for registration at the tax office by the landlord, and that means a bank account – and since, even if one can be present, the tax office and banks aren’t doing this in person anymore, the easiest and quickest method is to get a lawyer to help with all that and even get around the immediate need for a bank account using the lawyer’s power of attorney. Also, the best way to transfer funds to a Portuguese account at the lowest rates is currently through bank transfers with the Wise funds transfer program.
The problem is that this has to be three to four months ahead of your going to Lisbon. As Ms. Risso explains, “to apply for a visa you need to have a 12-month lease in place upon handing in the application. However, you can’t leave the states and come and live in Portugal until you get your visa….and visas can take up to 3 or 4 months to come through.” Teal Properties has a database with one-year rentals so that if a client needs a rental for when they come to Portugal that is also suitable for visa purposes Teal can find a property that is currently leased but with a lease term ending closer to the time that the new client needs the lease for. For example, what if the client needs proof of a lease for September because they’re applying for a D7 on the first of September with an interview at the Portuguese Consulate in the States but they won’t be able to move until January? Teal properties will try and find a lease to start on the 1st of January so that they don’t have to pay a lease from September and not be able to use their new Portuguese property. Clever as that is, though, often it’s just not possible, and applicants do have to pay a lease starting months earlier than their move. It’s also possible to start the process of actually living in Portugal with a work permit, but only if one has a work contract lined up.
But it’s certainly motivating to know that a 950 square-foot 2-bedroom fully furnished in the charming Alfama neighborhood is $2500/month. Ms. Risso only charges a buyer commission on a house or apartment if it’s for sale by owner, and for rentals there’s the usual broker fee.
There are other demands on time and money. To apply for a visa, a would-be emigrant needs to apply for private health insurance, a requirement just like the lease. Once an applicant goes to their appointment at AIMA and receives their first residency card they become eligible for free public healthcare which, while it has its ups and downs and delays, in general, according to Ms. Risso, works really well. There is a fairly high (in terms of percentage) income tax (see Appendix as to different types of taxes). And eligibility for citizenship is as of now five years after one has become a resident – and presumably by then you’ve assiduously learned Portuguese, because passing a national test of Portuguese language facility is a requirement to ever become a citizen.
But the benefits include the warmth and friendliness of the people, which goes beyond being nice to the tourists (after all, as I learned from living in Hawaii, you can start feeling not nice toward tourists); the sheer beauty of the city; a cornucopia of seafood, especially sardines that are to American sardines like Beyonce is to the girl in the glee club; and a much safer, more relaxed, and at its best festive environment than the UK or US. It’s very easy to fall in love with Lisbon, the original real-life “Casablanca” for exiles and refugees after all.
Ms. Risso feels it’s her job, almost a mission, to build a bridge for other people to her home because as a young Portuguese person in London, not even knowing how to speak English, she was helped by other people known to her family to assimilate to a whole other culture. Emigrating to Spain or Portugal may not come easy, but it helps a great deal that there are people like the Burnses and Ana Risso to ease the way.
APPENDIX
PODCASTS ON PORTUGAL
Meredith and Marc Burns have a three-part podcast on visa processes and documents. “We are working to help people get to those who can help remotely with NIFs and bank accounts – our lawyer contact here in Portugal is amazing and so we are acting as connectors for those items and lease reviews from someone who is bilingual and a lawyer.” The podcast can be found on Spotify: (https://open.spotify.com/show/2HJsBhwFQTO0S9FWvnr5pU?si=bb760d8ee6854df7)
Amazon Music, I ❤️ Radio + Apple Podcasts, as well as https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/meredith-burns15
Social handles are:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/portugaljunkies
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@portugaljunkies
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@portugaljunkies
Stan Store: www.stan.store/portugaljunkies
Now available for listening:
D7 Visa Process Overview
D7 Visa Documents – Part 1 (on NIF, Bank accounts, leases, and passive income
D7 Visa Documents – Part 2
SOME GENERAL INFORMATION ON PORTUGUESE TAXES
There are many different ways of being taxed at present, depending on if the income is real estate earnings, or pensions, or other kinds of income. And anyone who began the process of moving to Portugal in 2023 can apply for the now defunct Nonhabitual Resident (NHR) status until the end of 2024. It’s best to consult with an accountant that knows how these systems work and may change during the new planning stages. As for any tax benefits, the new tax rules that have replaced the NHR are focused on employment of skilled professionals and no longer benefit retired people. They aim to attract foreign talent and investment to Portugal and apply to people who are employed/self-employed in roles such as higher education teachers, scientific research, technology, and startups. As before with the NHR, one cannot have been a resident in Portugal in the preceding five years and one’s status will last ten years. Those who qualify will benefit from a 20% flat tax rate on employment/self-employment income, and an exemption for foreign income, such as employment income, rent, and dividends.
NEW TRAVEL REGULATIONS COMING
Just in time for what may be a heavy Fall flight (in all senses of the word) season
starting 10/6, the Schengen countries are going to introduce EES, Entry Exit Systems, which means they will collect your fingerprints and other biometric info when you travel.
This will be an automated IT system for registering travelers crossing an EU external border. The system will register the person’s name, type of the travel document, biometric data (fingerprints and captured facial images), and the date and place of entry and exit. In other words, no more manual stamping of passports, and more efficient data on border crossings and detection of travelers who overstay their passports or visas.
Mid-2025 the EU will also introduce ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorization System). Non-EU nationals who do not need a visa to travel to the Schengen area will have to apply for a travel authorization through the ETIAS system prior to their trip. After filling in an online application form, the system will conduct checks against EU information systems for borders and security and, in the vast majority of cases, issue a travel authorization within minutes. Basically this amounts to registration with the country you’re first visiting and paying 7 Euros online – or possibly there will simply be a link to that put in your airline booking. That will give you an authorization that you can use for multiple trips to the Schengen area for three years. Britain will introduce something similar for Americans, probably by the end of the year.
For further information see:
https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias/who-should-apply_en
https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias_en
CANADA AND THE UK
Finally, because would-be American expats will inevitably be interested in countries and cities that present no language barrier (though living in Montreal definitely requires knowledge of French), here are links for exploring these possibilities along with some quick hits of information.
What’s disappointing is how relatively unaccommodating our neighbors to the north and across the pond are for certain classes of would-be emigrants – to the point that rather than immigrating to Canada permanently, the easiest route for, for example, retirement-aged people is usually to live in Canada part-time, as a visitor.
To immigrate to Canada as a permanent resident requires satisfying an official immigration program mainly designed for those with marital or family connections, or skilled workers who can contribute to the Canadian economy or who work for refugees and humanitarian cases. You can also gain permanent residency by becoming a business investor three to five years after you invest the money. If you don’t fit these requirements, you can at least visit any time, stay up to six months, leave and come back again, with no time limit on that process. But that will not grant you admission to Canada’s vaunted publicly funded health care system. Only citizens and permanent residents can have the cost of their basic medical services covered automatically through the taxpayer-funded system (although for new permanent residents it can take a couple of months for this coverage to kick in). Others require private health insurance.
As for a city like Edinburgh – a favorite of mine – expats from outside the UK or EEA need to apply for a visa first, and there’s the same approximate class of “Skilled worker visas” (Tier 2) (with a separate sub-category for intra-company transfers). To put it another way, if you want to retire there, it will be a working retirement. There is also a Tier 1 of so-called “high value workers.” There really is no pure retirement option for the UK in terms of becoming an expat with permanent residency; such options are work-related, entrepreneur- and investor-related, or involve family or marital ties in the UK. In other words an employer sponsors you, a local business takes an investment from you, or someone marries you. Otherwise Americans can visit the UK as tourists and stay for up to six months without the need for a visa (Scotland is covered by the UK immigration laws). After leaving, one can reapply for another entry visa. But to remain as a resident after three or five years of working toward that, one has to be in one of those previously mentioned groups.
For further information on Canada and the UK, see:
https://www.internations.org/edinburgh-expats/guide/moving-to-short
https://www.globalcitizensolutions.com/retire-in-uk
Of course, regarding absolutely everything mentioned in this article, should events in the United States go significantly….awry, and there is a greater flood of emigration, there may be further tightening up of all the regulations mentioned here. But on the other hand, as those great sages The Clash once sang, it might come down to “If I go there will be trouble/If I stay it will be double.” This article has tried to help to let you know should you stay or should you go.