Portugal Expat Forum

Trying to move to Portugal

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jm27746

2/17/2017 11:00 EST

My husband and I are in Lisbon now trying to start the process and it has been completely unsuccessful. We just left our appointment to declare our entry at SEF and get our passport stamp and SEF said since we entered the Schengen on our previous visa(on December 30th, 2016) and never re-exited upon expiration(January 7th, 2017 our first Schengen 180 days ended), we have not officially entered on our new(2nd) Schengen visa(90 days). Therefore, we have to declare our entry and get our stamps on our April 20th appointment along with applying for the 2 extensions that only lasts until July 6th, 2017. They also said we might have to pay a penalty if we try and leave Portugal and we have no Schengen visa days anywhere else in the Schengen area at the moment because we came back into the EU on our first Schengen.

We made the mistake of thinking since we had 10 days left on our 90 day 1st Schengen visa that we could come back into the country early and use up those days. Apparently we were mistaken and are hoping we can find some information to prove the opposite. Apparently we are only legally in Portugal right now because we have an appointment April 20th with SEF to apply for 2 tourist extensions.

That being said, our Portuguese consulate is in DC and we are planning on coming home March 15th to start the process of applying for residency. Does anyone see our unresolved issues in Portugal being an issue for applying for residency? We are independent workers as web developers. We do not have enough money for the golden visa but have more than enough to prove sufficient funds during our stay.

Once granted a residence permit/card for the first year. How many months out of the year do you have to be present in Portugal? I have heard 10 months total within the 6 years and then I've heard you only have to be in Portugal 6 months out of the year.

Any help would be extremely appreciated. If anyone has applied through the DC embassy and would love to share the process please contact me asap :)

Best,

Julia

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heasley

2/17/2017 11:58 EST

I don't have all the info but I have been using the document below, article 85 mentions how much you have to be in the country:

"Without prejudice to the application of special provisions, the residence permit may also be cancelled when the interested party, without reasonable motives, is absent from the Country:
a) Being the holder of a temporary residence permit, six consecutive months or eight interpolated months, within the overall validity of the authorisation;"

http://www.sef.pt/documentos/56/LeideImig(Lei29_2012)EN.pdf#1

There are additional English translations of pertinent legislation here:

http://www.sef.pt/portal/V10/eN/aspx/legislacao/index.aspx?id_linha=4191&menu_position=4133#0

I have a residence visa currently in progress with the D.C. Consulate, I'll update when I when I get a decision back.

Best of luck, Heather

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