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6 years ago

Whew, just got our long term visa!

6 years ago
We applied through the San Francisco office, and though the process was more complicated than I originally thought, the visa officer there was courteous, helpful and very timely in responding to our questions.

We applied about June 1, and just received notice that our visas will be issued and sent back today or Monday, so about a 6 week turn-around. Our flight to there is at the end of August.

We are 60, 58 and 13, and plan to enroll our son at an international school near Lagos. We took a two week recon trip this spring.

Visa process had a couple of glitches, probably complicated by our putting all three applications in one package. They couldn't find our cover letter so we resent it. Then, after about a month, they said they needed better proof of our finances and proof of enrollment for our son. So we doubled down on demonstrating sufficient money and the school, and re-wrote the cover letter to address their concerns.

Our luckiest break in preparing for the process was in finding housing. The western Algarve area is not brimming with rentals, I assume due partly to the high demand in summer time. My wife found a modest villa on VRBO and sent an email asking if they would be interested in a long term rental. To our complete surprise they said yes (the first one we tried!) and we have a house for 10 months. No official contract or lease, but the emails we sent as confirmation to the consulate seemed to satisfy them.

Anyway, I got a lot of help from here and just wanted to tell our story in case it might help others. Sure looking forward to grilling some sardines on the beach!

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Contribute to Portugal Network Contribute
Help others in Portugal by answering questions about the challenges and adventures of living in Portugal.

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