To move to Portugal?

[Rainbunny]

To start, I know I'm being unreasonable to post this here but this is where the traffic is

DH and I can both work remotely, in fact that has become a more or less permanent arrangement with our companies due to the pandemic. Neither of us speak Portuguese but we would of course start learning. We're looking at Lisbon, we can buy property and we definitely want to stay at least five years to get citizenship.

I'm hoping some posters who live in Portugal can respond to this with honest opinions/experiences.

I don't live there but a family member does. There's a GREAT British in Portugal group on FB with fab advice on all kinds of things, I'll post a link...

giletrouge Thank you! That's very kind!

How does Brexit affect it? Will you be OK if you go before the transition period ends?

Here you go...
www.facebook.com/groups/BritishinPortugal
Incidentally most people in the group seem to really love it there!

Why Portugal and why Lisbon - is it somewhere you have spent a lot of time?

People have a romanticised notion of living abroad but the reality mostly doesn’t match especially if you are completely isolated by language. Working remotely can also be very isolating as you won’t integrate with the local community through work colleagues.

That's why we're looking at Portugal, they have many different types of visa available that we are eligible for (passive income, property owner etc.) After five years we would be eligible for citizenship (I'll be so happy to regain an EU passport!).

And there's loads of advice on Brexit too - if you move before the end of transition and apply for residency straight away you're cool, as I've understood it - but you'll find the detail on the FB page.

For the record, I've lived in other places for the last twenty years: Japan, Singapore and the USA. I'm perfectly happy in different environments (in fact it's preferable to be honest).

Moving before the Brexit transition is unlikely and in any case my DH is American, so we're going to apply for whichever visa works best for us -that part shouldn't be an issue.

I have some friends who have just moved to Lisbon, a lot seems to be going on there! I visited some years ago & really liked it, found it very friendly.

If you're used to living abroad & aware of the negatives that come with it I don't see why not.

Got friends who moved from Sale to the Algarve 30 years ago and love it.

If you’re pretty transient and used to working abroad then it shouldn’t be much of an issue. Certainly considerably less alien than Japan and even Singapore and US culturally.

Priority will be to secure right visas and start language lessons. Get involved with expat groups in Lisbon and get advice from them about areas etc.

As an aside - why Portugal over say Ireland? Is the weather a factor?

I would just check with your employers that they would be happy with you working remotely in Portugal. You would most likely require to move onto a Portuguese work contract and they would be required to pay Portuguese social security and employment taxes which can be a pain if they haven't got the structures in place. I did something similar to move to another European country and my employer was flexible enough to do it, but it hasn't always been easy to comply with all the formalities!

Good point @kersh33. My FTSE100 employers expressly forbids me from working outside my home jurisdiction. We’ve been going through this during lockdown with people wanting to work from their home countries or where they own property and no one is allowed due to tax, liability and residency concerns.

Weather is a major factor especially for my DH! We moved back to the UK (first time for my DH) two years ago and while my DH loves his experience here so far, we both miss warm weather and sunshine.

When we first married we made an agreement together, since we move not unfrequently for work we committed that we can live anywhere for four years and then get the hell out if we hate it. So nothing has to be forever.

This wouldn't have been a realistic option before the pandemic but now so much has changed.

What if either of you lose your job and you can't find another you can do remotely?

Have you looked into healthcare? Not sure you'd still be entitled to nhs care after Brexit and even now the ehic doesn't entitled you to everything for free.

kersh33 That is an excellent point! My DH's company has remote workers based overseas so probably no issue there but I need to check with my company. Good food for thought!

Healthcare doesn't seem to be an issue. From my research there is a public health care system in Portugal but depending on the type of visa we go for, we may be required to purchase private healthcare plans but they're very cheap in any case so we're planning on doing that.

There would be a lot of tax implications in living in Portugal for you to consider, including for your employer. I would expect your employer to refuse to allow it. You'd possibly (probably?) be let go for it.

I would talk to your companies about the tax implications before getting your hopes up!

I'd definitely discuss with your employer, but portugal is lovely. if it wasn't for my family wanting to stay in the U.K. i'd of left years ago

I think having employees living overseas permanently (or a certain portion of the year) has tax implacations for companies. If you wanted to remain working for a UK company you'd have to make sure that they understand that you're no longer in the country so that they don't get done for fraud.

Have you seen the Portuguese tax arrangement for income received abroad? Essentially you can pay no income tax there if you can be paid ioutside of Portugal. If your employer will pay you in pounds as a non-resident you can avoid a lot of tax.

Lisbon is overpriced compared to the rest of Portugal.
Be prepared for bureaucrats to make up the rules as they go along.
Otherwise, it’s great.

Doesn't that depend on the occupation?