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Second Thoughts?

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whatsnext
  1/27/2018 20:00 EST

Are you aware of anyone who has retired to Portugal and then changed their mind and moved back to wherever "home" is? If so, what were their reasons? I guess I'm trying to find out what less-than-obvious deal breakers may have surfaced for others.

(I realize that I'm likely asking for second-hand stories, since those with first-hand accounts aren't likely to be currently on this forum. )

MrBife
  1/28/2018 06:03 EST

In my experience people take a decision to 'move back home' largely because of family issues or change of personal circumstances. I don't think you will uncover a hidden agenda !

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tommaria
  1/28/2018 17:56 EST

I agree, decisions to move back can be based on anything from missing family, the familiarity of home in U.S., health issues, etc. We are comtemplating moving to Portugal in a few short years, but have no idea of how long, can be forever, or a few years. Regardless, the point is to enjoy a new way of life, culture and happiness.

GoingCrazyGoing
  1/28/2018 18:13 EST

Sounds like a healthy attitude.
Go for it and you can always change your mind and try something else.

mariaorr
  1/29/2018 08:23 EST

Yes a lot of the British expats are moving back to the UK. Portugal no longer offers free medical to the British living in Portugal. They have to purchase medical insurance plans. It is no longer cheaper to live in Portugal for them, since the UK is leaving the EU.

whatsnext
  1/29/2018 13:29 EST

Thanks for your thoughts on this. I've always assumed that the most common reasons for people to leave would be personal (family, health, etc.) I just wondered if there were other barriers to settling in that some found hard to overcome.

It's really unfortunate for those British expats who would like to stay but can no longer afford to.

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Portugal Residency Advisors is a full-service consulting firm dedicated to providing personalized services to individuals and families seeking to relocate to Portugal. With a team of experienced professionals and strategic partnerships, we are well-positioned to assist clients with all aspects of the relocation process.

Click connect to have our partner contact you via e-mail and/or phone.

Portugal Residency AdvisorsPortugal Residency Advisors

Portugal Residency Advisors is a full-service consulting firm dedicated to providing personalized services to individuals and families seeking to relocate to Portugal. With a team of experienced professionals and strategic partnerships, we are well-positioned to assist clients with all aspects of the relocation process.
Connect

Click connect to have our partner contact you via e-mail and/or phone.

dancebert
  1/30/2018 06:29 EST

A few minutes searching turned up one report, but it seemed like a joke. Man came to Portugal to work. Had a visa and a skill in demand. Left for 2 reasons. First was everyone wanted to pay him less than he thought he was worth, and everyone wanted to negotiate over what he considered amounts too small to mention. Second reason is when dealing with customers, suppliers and the government, almost nothing ever happened when he was told it would. Obviously he didn't do his homework before moving to Portugal.

I've been country shopping for a few years. For those that made the first cut, I wanted to know why expats left. Started with the sources I'd used before retiring in '08. First source, blogs, have all but dried up or are now all about pleasing their few advertisers.

Talesmag.com has 'real post reports'. Site was started by current and former employees of US State Dept because the official 'post reports' were mostly useless and misleading. Contributors have expanded to GMO, multinational and private expats. All answer the same questions. Report writers don't say why the leave. They say why they can't wait to leave. In between are report writers who mention the best and worst aspects of life there. All but one of the post reports for Portugal are for Lisbon. http://www.talesmag.com/real-post-reports/all/portugal/lisbon Site also has free-form essays about life in the writer's country. See 'Tales' on the top menu.

ESL teacher forums have posts by those leaving a country. Reasons include both work and living. Unfortunately Portugal ESL teachers on such forums are few and far between.

City or town based expat forums are a good source but are hard to find. First reason is they're now on Facebook. Second reason is googling returns all the country level expat forums (like this one) with more traffic. So on google you could, for example search: coimbra 'expat forum'. Then for you next search include the site urls for country level expat forums that are in the search results, preceded by a negative sign, e.g.: coimbra 'expat forum' -ExpatsRUs.com -webexpats.com -expat4um.com -expattycake.com etc., etc. Repeat until you're down to the local level forums.

whatsnext
  1/30/2018 12:37 EST

What a great resource! Thanks, dancebert.

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