Welcome to (a post about) Portugal!
(The exclamation point is extra, since this is probably not that exciting.)
Here I will share steps to applying for a Portugual D7 passive or independent income visa. If I can manage to educated myself on the Portugual D8 digital nomad visa, I will also include info here.
This post will be updated with changes when I find out about them.
UPDATE: October 18, 2024
Trying to work with any kind of migration authority in Portugal, at the moment, might make you re-think wanting to live in Portugal at all. Maybe that is the point. Maybe the Portuguese are actively trying to cease, or at least drastically cut, immigration. That would make sense, which is why it is most likely not true. The plan is too clever, plus, the current absurd Monty Python sketch that is taking place will not necessarily keep people out of the country, but certainly discourage many from engaging in any kind of official registration or governmental administrative interaction.
The newly formed department of immigration, AIMA, is not ready for prime time:
- The website has little useful information and no timelines or dates for services.
- It is common knowledge that you will not receive a reply by sending e-mail to the only contact address listed.
- There is not a single working phone number to the agency. Go ahead, try to call.
- There is no system on the website to set up an appointment. None.
So how do you interact with AIMA? What is one to do if they would like to apply, renew, or change anything to do with residency and immigration? Well, if you have currency that you would like to burn, you could hire an attorney, perhaps. Or drive around to the physical addresses listed on the site, though experience has shown that nothing will be done for you at any of these offices without an appointment, which is not possible to schedule.
A temporary fix, the government has extended the validity of all visas until June 30, 2025. OH–but your current documents, cards, or papers will not state that, so essentially, as one administrative official casually stated, you will not be able to travel.
But what if you need to travel, must travel, or want to travel outside of the Portuguese borders? Well, the official continued, you are taking a chance. You may or may not be stopped and detained by other, non-Portuguese border controls, as they will not know of this decree/extension.
So that is the update. Welcome to Portugal.