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Thank you for sharing.

Great post, thanks Carolyn.  I got a two year lease and though I could cancel after a third of the period, I made it a half. I also stayed an additional three months after giving notice as per my lease.

I'm not sure I understand. If I apply for the Visa from MY country...I get the temporary Visa and go to Portugal Ok, so far so good.

Are you saying I MUST go back to MY country to get the 2 year visa afterwards????

Thanks

Helene

@laisadora31 no.  If you stay in your home country while you submit your visa application and get approved, you then can move to Portugal and are good for 120 days.  During that 120 days you will meet with SEF in Portugal to get approved for your 2 yr visa.  It is only if you you move to Portugal right after your VIsa appt in your home country but before getting the 120 day approval that you would need to fly back when it is approved to either send them your passport or pick up the passport you left with them.

No.  When you get the D7 visa, that's

• the only one you apply for in the US, and
• the only visa you get

After you arrive in Portugal, you will interview for a residence permit, título de residência.  That's good for two years, and then there are more applications to be made.

At any of these applications you will need proof of a residence in Portugal, but the issue really comes up only with the visa, since you'll be in the US for a good long time waiting for that visa to be issued.  And it may not be trivially easy for a foreigner to rent an apartment.

I don't think there's any really good solution.  Whether it's legal or not, signing a lease with the intention of breaking it doesn't really appeal to me, and if it's going to be common practice, that's certainly going to make it harder for foreigners to rent.

Places in Portugal don't entirely line up on a good to bad scale, and it might be possible to make a virtue out of necessity, by renting an apartment in a place you don't think you'd prefer, and letting that be part of the on-the-ground experience you need to make a good choice.  For example, I have a vague impression you might be able to get more value from your rent money in Viana do Castelo.  Not the average ex-pat's dream destination, but ... Friday it's supposed to be 96°F in Lisbon, and 82°F in Viana do Castelo.  So you want to live in Lisbon, but until your lease is up, you have a summer retreat up north.  Or maybe after living there a couple months, you come to like it better than Lisbon - weirder things have happened.