Why We're No Longer Considering Portugal (as a place to live)

if you're thinking about moving abroad we always recommend taking an exploratory trip and that is what we're doing right now after we check each country off the list we're going to share our thoughts about the 10 factors that matter most like safety and cost of living to answer the big question could we live here today's video is about living in Portugal unfortunately the government recently announced a change that may cause a lot of you to cross this country off your list but we will talk more about that later before we dive in though hit that subscribe button if you're planning a move abroad so you can follow along as we explore some of the most popular expat destinations around the world and share our thoughts about living there now let's take a look at Portugal to see if it's a good place to live based on the 10 things that matter most starting with the residency Visa options now this may be the most important factor when you're considering a country to live in because if they don't have a Visa option for you then it's a total non-starter there are two types of d8 visas a one-year temporary stay visa and a 2-year residence visa both require a minimum income of €340 per month if you choose the 2-year residence visa you'll need to obtain a ni number open a Portuguese bank account and provide proof of accommodation the D7 Visa which has been around for quite a while is a passive income Visa you'll need at least € 760 per month to qualify and you'll need to obtain a nith number and open a Portuguese bank account you'll also need to provide proof of accommodation you can't be out of the country for more than six consec itive months regardless of which type of Visa you get that means you will be a tax resident and you'll be required to pay taxes in Portugal currently the nhr tax scheme is scheduled to end on December 31st 2023 which could cause those tax rates to go up significantly and we'll talk about that more in the cost of living section the next Factor we're going to talk about is safety and stability and Portugal is ranked number seven on the Global Peace Index it is considered an extremely safe country country one of the most safe countries in the world and in Europe we felt so safe walking around day and night and we walked all over the place around Porto and other areas and I never got the heie jebi from anybody yeah unfortunately though the PM just resigned which triggered new elections that will be in the spring of 2024 so I'm not sure we can call the government very stable because this is the second time this has happened in the past 2 years so if this had happened in Ecuador it would be all over the international news for weeks but it just got a kind of a minor mention because that Portugal is you know a higher higher level in Ecuador I guess next up are weather and natural disasters and we experienced a lot of weather during our short trip to Portugal we were in the Green Coast region which includes Porto Braga and other areas that are popular it is cooler and wetter there especially in the fall and winter and we experienc a lot of rain and chilly temps the silver Coast is from south of Porto to north of Lisbon they have milder Winters and hot and dry Summers then you have the Lisbon coast and the algar region on the southern coast both of those areas are much warmer and drier the Inland regions are cooler in the north and warmer and drier in the South as you would expect you also have the islands of Azores which have really mild temperatures and madira which is like San Diego or Hawaii overall Portugal is known to have great weather so you are bound to find something that appeals to you you do have to worry about a few natural disasters in Portugal they do get those big storms off the Atlantic occasionally one of them hit while we were there it actually went North and hit France and the UK really bad but we got the southern end of that with a lot of rain and wind there also some been some issues with droughts in the Inland areas which have led to fires and occasionally they even have an earthquake so there are a few things to consider when you're planning a move to Portugal health insurance and Health Care are super important and Portugal has excellent Healthcare it's ranked number 20 by CEO World thankfully we had no need to use the Health Care system during our visit but we have heard really good feedback from other expats who live in Portugal we did go to the pharmacy to get some medications and we had a really good experience there the people were super helpful and they spoke English which was really nice for us housing is the next Factor because you got to have a place to live and there are a lot of different housing options for you to choose from yeah you you can find condos and detached homes you can live on the coast along the beach or in a big city like Lisbon or Porto the prices are lower outside the main cities though and in smaller cities like brag and coimbra are much more affordable yeah if you want to live in the heart of Lisbon and Porto you are going to be paying a lot more to rent or buy a place and the properties are in general quite a bit smaller especially compared to what we're used to in Ecuador we talked to a few locals while we were there about the housing kind of issue and they have said that the prices have gone up quite a bit over the last few years in fact according to the stats they've gone up 48% in the last like four to five years which is pretty steep increase it's getting to the point where some of the locals are actually having a difficult time finding a place to live food and restaurants are the next factor that matter to a lot of you including us there are several different grocery store chains in Portugal like Pingo do continente Maradona and fre and you're going to find the maricato kind of like what we're used to in Ecuador 2 only they seem quite a bit nicer there is a lot of variety of foods that you can find in the grocery stores and in the marcados plus there's also specialty stores like Asian Indian and Korean we were extremely impressed with the quality and the quantity of restaurants in Porto and M zinos we found a wide variety of Cuisine both local and international we found fast food casual dining even high-end we got dressed up for dinner one night we found found a lot of restaurants that cater to people with different dietary requirements and it was really easy for us to eat out unfortunately it was a little too easy yeah I think we ate out way too much and we didn't cook as as much as we like to cost of living is the next factor that matters to most of us the first thing you want to look at is the exchange rate and right now it's a17 to1 Euro that means you're going to take a 7% hit on your cost of living just by moving your money from the US you also want to think about sales tax the Portugal sales tax is at 23% although they do have a tiered system some things are at 133% like wine and then some things are 6% like food and then they did have some things that were at 0% so it's not 23% for everything but that can't add up one way you're going to save money is with no tipping that you're going to cut 20% off of your dining out bill because tipping is not common or expected in Portugal you need to consider income tax as well and the current nhr tax scheme does not tax foreign Source income and it does tax Portugal Source income but at a reduced rate it does tax foreign Source pension income although it's at a flat rate of 10% instead of that variable rate which goes from 14.5 to 48% depending on how much you make assuming they do cancel this program at the end of 2023 new residents those of you who are not already part of the nhr program can expect to pay higher taxes yeah that's kind of unfortunate although the Prime Minister did just resign like we mentioned earlier so that might delay or even cancel this planned termination of the nhr scheme but what we're hearing right now is that it may just delay it but probably won't cancel it the next cost to consider is health insurance if you're a residents you can take advantage of the public health care plan which is mostly free but there are some minimal fees one thing to consider is that it can take longer to get to see a doctor and get procedures done or you can get private insurance which is very affordable you're looking at maybe 50 to $150 per month per person it really depends on your age and circumstances a doctor's visit if you just want to pay cash is usually around $40 to $50 let's talk about cost of eating out one of our favorite things to do in general we paid anywhere from 15 to30 for lunch and 30 to 50 for dinner and that included wine and that was for both of us not each we found the grocery cost in Portugal to be similar to Ecuador maybe a little bit higher although some package items were significantly lower like the almond and soy milk that we drink in Ecuador was $359 for one of those little lader containers in Portugal it was $159 so $2 less the produce in the Marcato was a little bit more expensive compared to Ecuador especially for things like avocados and mangoes which were more than double but that's not a surprise considering they're imported but overall the costs were still significantly less compared to what we paid in the United States about 50 to 70% less rent is usually the biggest expense you're looking to spend anywhere from $700 to $1,500 per month to rent a condo or a home really depends on where it is how big it is and what kind of amenities it has the overall total cost of living for a single person can run anywhere from $1,800 to $2,200 a month and for a couple that can range from $2500 to $3,000 a month but this is outside the major metros if you want to live in Porto or Lisbon you can expect to pay quite a bit more all right so the next Factor we're going to talk about is walkability and public transportation it's important to us because we don't want to own a car the cities and towns in Portugal are really designed for walkability there's lots of local neighborhood shops the sidewalks are nice there's crosswalks and cars actually stop for you when you go to cross the street the country has an extensive rail system so you could travel City to city with your luggage the local Metro and buses are super easy to use T there's taxis and Uber as well we walked around all over the place and it was super easy and we never felt unsafe now let's talk about quality of life and there are tons of things to do in Portugal you have the cities mountains Beach surfing cycling hiking you've got gyms and yoga museums and concerts you are not going to be bored in Portugal everyone was super friendly and welcoming we have heard that people are nicer in the northern part of Portugal compared to the South though yeah let us know what your experience is with that we also did not experience any of the anti-foreigner sentiment that we've heard Rumblings about online and people have even asked us about about that in the comments section of our videos and we we didn't experience any of it while we were there another factor to consider is the language barrier and unconventionals Portuguese is hard it is so so hard what's weird is it looks like Spanish so we're able to read it there's a lot of overlap in the words they're spelled very similarly so we can actually read it but the hear it pronounce is completely different it sounds more like Russian than Spanish and we even talked to some Brazilians who said that the Portugal version of Portuguese is a lot different than the Brazilian version apparently they drop a lot of syllables and letters from their words they pronounce things differently and the Brazilians we talked to said that they even have a hard time talking in Portuguese to other Portugal people so that made us feel not so bad about our struggles with it yeah you're definitely going to want to take some lessons if you want to move to Portugal the good news is is that there are a lot of English and Spanish speakers so if you're coming from a English or Spanish speaking country it should be an easier transition yeah we spoke English most of the time but if someone didn't speak English they almost always spoke or at least understood Spanish so we kind of use Spanish as the bridge language in those situations so we found it very easy to communicate there a lot easier than we expected before we give our verdict about living in Portugal we want to share some interesting observations with you starting with there is a lot of recycling they charge for grocery bags and for to go containers yeah we were kind of surprised when we asked for our leftovers at the restaurants cuz they serve so much food that there was a charge anywhere from 50 cents to $150 just for a container to take home our leftovers and they charge 10 cents for a plastic bag which I'm okay with cuz I always try to remember to bring my usable bags another interesting thing is you have to pay at the counter at most restaurants we found this very strange because then we had to play like where were you sit the where were you sitting game and we're like pointing and the waiter or the the cash register person would count the tables to figure out which Bill belonged to us we found that very interesting it happened at multiple restaurants there were only a couple where they brought the check to the table and allowed us to pay at the table they're very demonstrative we saw a lot of people gesturing with the one hand not like the Italians who use the two hands they were one hand and they were very passionate with their conversations they were very loud too the Americans like us get the bad rap about being really loud and loud talkers but we were really surprised to hear them talking so loudly and leaning in and using that one hand and talking extremely loudly on the streets to each other it felt like we were back home again and now for the verdict is Portugal a good place to live abroad well we're going to give it a solid maybe and that's only because of the tax advantage that is scheduled to end if they get rid of that then it's probably not a great option if it if they keep the tax advantages then we definitely will keep it at the top of our list yes but if they cancel that nhr tax scheme there is no way the taxes will be way too high which would be really disappointing because we think Portugal would be a great place to live and get our residency and call it our third home let us know in the comments what you think about Portugal by posting an emoji thumbs up or an emoji thumbs down or just share your thoughts with us if you found this video helpful we think you're going to enjoy this one from Porto Portugal next and the country we're in right now may be even more popular with foreign residents than Portugal so remember to hit that subscribe button so YouTube tells you when we post those videos before you go leave us a like please and we will see you all in our next video ciao ciao

Channel: Amelia And JP Abroad

Views: 139,784

Keywords: portugal

Id: UWBTi_2ug5M

Length: 14min 25sec (865 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 29 2023