About TMK828

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Citizen of:

Some Forum Posts:

Portugal: Watch NFL games:

Enough of the SEF and visa stuff, finally a really significant question. LOL. We watched the games last season on the NFL Network through Apple TV. Only issue is the time zone difference. So we turned our Mondays into Sundays and it actually worked better in that you are seeing the games as replays. That is code for no commercials. Enjoy.

Portugal: LONG TERM RENTAL:

My wife and I moved to the Algarve from Arizona about 18 months ago. For a variety of reasons we do not want to buy and have spent a lot of enegy investigating the rental market. At least in the eastern Algarve, the definition of "long-term rental" is 8 or 9 months. The rental rates in the prime holiday season (July - August) are so robust that no one has any interest in year long rental. They can generate a year's worth of rental income in 3 months so it isn't rocket science to understand the model. Additionally, the tax laws are apparently more favorable for landlords that focus their rentals on the holiday-makers market in the summer. There are (US term) "long term" rentals out there but it is a major adventure to find them. The places that we where we have lived, and will live, were enabled through personal contacts, You can do it, and it's worth it, but nonetheless: good luck.

Portugal: Residency Visa San Francisco Consulate:

My message got cut off, so here is the completion of my post: We did go to the Consultate in San Francisco; and while it is difficult to assess if that had any direct impact on the process, it did allow us to talk directly with the person there who was handling our application. We found that the biggest issue was in the area that we least expected. -- our marriage license. We did not have a license with raised seal and this was a problem, especially since it had been issued by a state that is outside their jurisdiction. By actually speaking directly to the person in SF, it helped us understand the issue and gave us a head start on resolving this matter. Frankly, I would not have wanted to try to figure out the problem (which was a bit more subtle than I am making it sound) via email. The major item I can share with you is that the San Francisco Consulate essentially mishandled our application. Following the "Demystifying" suggestions, we went to SF armed with a boat-load of documentation. The man we dealt with basically rejected virtually all of my wife's info, telling us that the appropriate approach was for me to apply for the the Residency Visa and my wife to be brought into the process via a family reunification process. It sounded odd to us, but we followed through per his instructions. When we arrived in Portugal, we immediately began to work with an attorney to complete the process. Long story short: she and the SEF had no idea why San Francisco had sent us in the direction that they did and said that it was inappropriate and really confused the process. The conclusion is that I received my Residency Visa in early January (about a 3 month after our arrival) and my wife's has been held up. That said, our attorney was able to navigate the process and the SEF has approved my wife's application and we are simply waiting for the card to arrive in the mail. Bottom line: the Demystifying paper is the best resource available and be sure that you keep all of your documentation with you throughout the entire process. As our landlord told us: "everything in Portugal works, it just takes some time." Hope this helps. If you need more info, please let me know.

Date Joined:

1/29/2016

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4

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