r/PortugalExpats

Hey everyone, I am in the early stages of considering moving to Portugal. What is it like to be an immigrant there, especially in Lisbon and Porto? I am a EU citizen, so visa should not be a problem but are locals nice? Do you need to speak Portuguese to get by? Is there a strong queer community in the cities I mentioned? What kinds of jobs can be had there?
Thanks in advance.

Need this for residency proof, spoke to a few people locally who successfully got old bank statements from other banks, but I’m having no luck with MBCP. Local village branch says cannot be done, online banking only has 12 months history… what’s the way I can get 5 years of my digital statements? Happy to pay for them, do I really need to schlep into a bigger city branch or is there an online process? Thanks.

they launched a site. has anyone tried it? it’s as if they hired a tech vendor with a mandate to make a list of the 50 most important rules of modern UX and violate them in the most extravagant way. I normally can complete the weekly shopping in under 10 minutes and on the new site it took almost 45...

Today they added a new popup with this disclaimer, presumably because of the backlash: "You are using the beta version of our new store. We are working on improvements to the site to provide you with a new and better shopping experience." But I'm not sure where they got the idea that a company should launch a half-baked website and let users cope with broken functionality for months

First day of the new law being in place and I already have a rant/story to share.

My son was born early in May and still at the hospital we started the registering process online, because taking a days-old baby to crowded IRN was not an option.
(Some people say it’s not needed, but my wife tried and they asked for me and the baby to be there. Don’t blame me on this country’s lack of standards)

Last friday, I thought it was taking too long to issue the baby’s document. Which country takes weeks to register a kid, right?
I called IRN and was told they were still reviewing registrations from March and it would take long. “It’s too soon to call us” they told me.

That alone is already maddening, but the important part is: yesterday, first day of the new foreigners law, we were emailed and called by the IRN saying the baby was not going to be portuguese!
When I said that ongoing processes should be under the previous text (that’s on Diário da República, art 7!!) they said they have orders to use the law of the day they are reviewing, no matter if it’s an ongoing process already.
Then proceeded to complain they have too much work l, I shouldn’t interfere, and hung up on me! I didn’t even tried to argue, just calmly stated that the law said otherwise.

They finished the process on their side and that’s it. Just did what they were up to and f* the legality, common sense, and last hope of a working public institution.

Now I need a lawyer and will go in person try to fight this madness.

So, as a piece of advice, get ready for this type of situations. Don’t take any word for granted, even if written in the law.

Last month the Tribunal Constitucional ruled that the list of "high value added activities" can't be set by ministerial order. It has to go through Parliament.

The ruling only binds the one case for now (a CAAD dispute). But if 3 similar decisions stack up, it becomes generally binding and the 20% rate could be invalidated for recipients in this category (high value added activities).

Pensioners aren't affected. Foreign-employed people are mostly insulated through a different article. Category B (contractors / freelancers) are the most exposed because both the 20% rate and the foreign-source exemption depend on that same activity list. IFICI has the same problem.

Anyone else tracking this?

Estou a planear um evento em Trás-os-Montes e falta me um Dj para terminar a festa.
Como a festa é para malta jovem acho que um estilo de tecno mais comercial era o ideal para terminar a festa mas não muito agressivo nem muito soft um meio termo era o ideal .
Gostava que fosse uma Dj pois já temos 2 Homens mas estou aberto a todas as opções.
Deixem sugestões nos comentários, obrigado pela ajuda

Hello, I hope you are doing well

So, I'm a 19 yo guy from Algeria, and I am considering Portugal as a destination to immigrate to and settle long-term

I speak C1 English and Spanish, with IELTS and DELE, and I speak B2-ish Portuguese, but I still haven't taken a test

I'm planning on applying for a student visa to Portugal and then, after finishing my studies, see if to stay long-term

But there are two main sticking points, the first being it requires thousands of euros in advance for tuition and the frozen bank account, and my wage is roughly 100 euros as a cashier here, so I'll def need my parents backing me up, at least partially, and then there is the issue of not being able to afford the rest of the course since you can only work for like 20h a week on a student visa and that's unrealistic

Another problem is that I've read on many places the housing crisis is only getting worse and that wages are stagnant, which wouldn't that big of an issue to me if it means "living tight" but def is if the wage is literally not enough to meaningfully function

so what do you guys think? what would you do if you were me?

Looking forward to hearing your responses, thanks!

Quick disclosure upfront: we're the team behind a residential project in Barreiro. So we're not neutral. But we think this is a conversation worth having.

We spend a lot of time talking to people who are looking to buy near Lisbon.

The pattern is always the same: Lisbon is too expensive, Almada is the obvious alternative but prices have caught up, and then… silence. Nobody mentions Barreiro.

Which is strange, because on paper it makes a lot of sense:

• 20 minute ferry to Cais do Sodré
• Prices still 40-50% below comparable Lisbon neighbourhoods
• 23km of coastline and a 385-hectare forest park inside the city

But what we actually want to know is: have you looked at Barreiro? If yes, what did you think? If not what's putting you off?

We'd genuinely rather hear the honest answer than the polite one.

Hi! We applied for an Irish visa more than 2 months ago. Our trip is in 2 weeks, but we haven't heard from them, and they don't reply to my emails. has anyone applied to an Irish visa from Portugal? How was the process?

Hi! I’m from Porto but I spent the last few years living abroad, I moved back last year and I’d love to expand my social circle and I always got along well with foreigners.

Some things about me: I’m happily married, I have a dog, I’m into horror movies, true crime podcasts, witchy things, pop music and culture, going out.

I’m totally fine with you practicing Portuguese with me or we can just stick to English.

So yeah if you’re interested send me a message :)

Struggling to find mover company to bring my stuff from Holland to Portugal. At a decent cost of course.

As title says. Organizing my time around some upcoming travels and want to avoid stress as much as possible. Paid AIMA and am waiting for document upload to become available…can’t find clear info online or in past posts.

Thank you for your help

I’ve been trying to help my father get updates on his Portuguese citizenship application. It has now been 22 months since we submitted everything to the San Francisco consulate, and every time I request a status update, the process still shows as “Por Integrar Centrais.” That means it hasn’t even reached the first integration step. The application was filed in July 2024, and nothing has moved since then. Do you know how long this stage usually takes? Both of my father’s parents were Portuguese.

I arrived to Portugal in 2025 and currently live in Coimbra, so I have only been living here less than a year. I need to prepare my tax documents and wonder if anyone can recommend someone to help me get this done. I know it's getting close to the deadline and I may need to file for an extension. Any comments and advise is greatly appreciated,

*UPDATE 1* 20 May

Riley is no longer critical as far as internal bleeding goes, she's still in very bad shape with lots of broken bones and possible/unknown spinal damage. She's awaiting a full CT, they have to take her to an actual hospital to do it. She's awake but JT can't see her since yet, every time he goes in, she tries to get up which is bad for both of them.
He's going to a hospital himself to get some psychiatric care as he feels he may be a danger to himself. He is taking this extremely hard as expected

*TLDR by ChatGPT*
Army vet friend in Portugal watched a speeding driver kill one dog and critically injure the other outside a groomer. Driver pretended to be a cop, blocked him from getting to the vet, threatened deportation, then turned out to be an ex-cop fired for corruption. One dog died. Other is barely hanging on. Legal case now building.

*FULL STORY*

That is the message I woke up to yesterday.

My friend's dogs were hit by a car outside a groomer. The driver then presented himself as a cop and threatened to arrest him while both of them lay dying in his arms.

JT is a US army vet who moved to Portugal a few years ago. He's been out of the US over a decade, no family, no real support network. His dogs are what kept him going through some genuinely dark periods. They saved his life. He found a plot of land where they can run free, has been living in an RV while slowly building his home, just wanted a simple life. My heart is breaking just writing this. Every day he sends me videos and photos of him and his dogs enjoying life, telling me to come visit.

Yesterday he took them to get groomed. A treat day. Bath, trim, then out for snacks after. He pulled up, went to drop them off, then turned back to grab one of their favorite toys from the car. In that window, a guy came flying down the road narrow road, lost control and mounted the curb at full speed. Without breaking hit both dogs right on the sidewalk and they went flying about 10 meters before hitting the ground.

When JT reached them, Belu, his boy, was coughing up blood and choking. Riley wasn't moving. He grabbed them both and sprinted to his car. Then the driver got out, identified himself as a police officer, and told JT he wasn't going anywhere. Said he was an illegal alien and if he didn't hand over his papers right then he was going to be arrested. Both of his dogs were dying in his arms and this man, badge or no badge, would not let him leave. He briefly argued that he didn't have time for this and took off towards the animal hospital.

When he arrived, this asshole was right behind. Yelling at him, telling him his fucking dogs ruined his car and that he needed his paperwork before he did anything. He was trying to prevent him from getting his dogs cared for until he had his papers. JT threw his wallet at him and he said he's going to call other officers to have him arrested and deported. During this argument, Belu began choking up blood and died.

Riley was alive but barely. Broken limbs, internal bleeding. What makes this harder is that Riley has already been through a terrible experience when she was a puppy back in 2020. Not long after JT got her, men broke into his home, took her, and ransomed her back. When he finally got her back she had a broken leg and hip. He spent close to $30,000 with over a year on her recovery. She's still a stupid happy dog, never stopped being happy. Stem cell therapy, blood filtering for infection and kidney damage, months of rehab. She came back. She's that kind of dog and he's that kind of person. He didn't have the money back then, he spent everything he had.

**Update mid-post:** JT called while I was writing this. Riley's internal swelling has stopped. They can't get a full X-ray yet. Broken paws, missing toes, something going on with her back. She's still critical. But it's the first piece of news that hasn't been devastating.

While waiting more police showed up. JT isn't fluent in Portuguese but he'd watched the officers talking amongst themselves before this. He showed his paperwork anyway. His ID had expired (bureaucratic bs)but he'd already applied for renewal and had his residency papers on him. The cop told him if he pushed this he'd ruin him, then gestured to the other officers and said they were all Silvas, like him.

The guy called him a fucking immigrant, piece of shit, etc and told him he would have him thrown in jail and deported. JT was arguing that he's the one who was speeding and his dogs were sitting on the sidewalk. He got tired of the back and forth and told them he just wanted to be left alone with his dead and dying dogs then told them all to go fuck themselves. Apparently that's illegal there. One officer stepped who was sympathetic and they left.

The next day he went to the station for witness statements. There was only one and it was his word against the cops. The people who'd witnessed the actual incident were already pulling back. He filed a complaint against the man who'd identified himself as an officer and blocked him at the scene.

That's when he found out the man had been removed from the police force five years ago for corruption. He wasn't a cop. Just a man with an expired badge who used it to stop a someone from saving his dogs. The actual police apparently don't take that kind of stuff lightly.

JT went back to the scene looking for witnesses. One of them told him the driver had left a bill at the clinic, expecting JT to pay 200 euros to fix his car. The car that killed Belu and nearly killed Riley. He found two more people willing to put it in writing what they witnessed and that this guy identified himself as a police officer. Killing a dog carries a minor traffic fine sadly. Impersonating an officer and using that to coerce someone's identification is a serious federal crime.

So that's where it stands. There's a real legal case building. Riley is still fighting. And JT is somewhere between grief and rage, staying away from his finca and his RV because that is where he built his life with them.

I'm worried about him. He's already been through hell multiple times and right now he's holding on by a thread. If Riley doesn't pull through, I genuinely fear what he will do. I'm hoping she stays as stubborn as she's always been. He needs her, they need each other.

Hello,

My initial residence card application was submitted last year in September.

Still haven't received my card from LISBOA AIMA.

Recently my lawyer visited to check the status, it says the application was approved in September but hasn't been sent to print the card.

Has anyone experienced something like this and any suggestions? lawyer says there's nothing we can do other than file a court case, which will not be picked up until next year.

Due to an error on AIMA's part, CTT (Portuguese postal service) returned my card to AIMA. Does anyone know how long it will take to receive my email to pick it up, or if I can go there to pick it up without receiving the email? This is in Lisbon.