Getting Our Portuguese Residency Permit (Part II)

In June 2023, the day came when we received approval for our Portuguese residency visa (yay! 🎉). Shortly after, we made the move and arrived in our new city, Braga.

Attending our immigration appointment was the final step to getting our residency permit but the exact process wasn’t entirely clear to us upfront.

Today, we’ll cover what the path to obtaining our permit looked like, focusing specifically on:

1. Identifying the day, time, and location of the permit appointment 
2. Gathering the info for the documentation packet 
3. Attending the appointment
4. Getting the permit
5. Canceling BORDR Representation (if applicable)
6. Claiming NHR Status (if applicable)

For you pet parents out there, we have a section covering some administrative procedures we followed to get our pet registered with our local municipality. 

Important note: As a friendly reminder, this series is only meant to be a frame of reference; by no means should this be interpreted as legal/immigration advice. Additionally, this post is specifically geared to Americans as the post reflects the U.S.-specific procedures we followed. Every country has its own set of rules and regulations pertaining to the Portuguese visa process so be sure to do your due diligence!

Let’s get into it:

1. Identifying the day, time, and location of the permit appointment 

Once we got our visa, we needed to create a SEF account (this is where our appointment details were saved) using our visa number, which was located on the visa itself.

• SEF (Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras) is Portugal’s immigration department, which processes residency permits.
  • SEF recently changed its name to Agency for Integration, Migration, and Asylum (AIMA), however, SEF is still the name of their online immigration website/portal and what most people commonly refer to the immigration agency as (for the purpose of this post, “SEF” will be used vs. “AIMA”). 
• When we logged-in, we didn’t bother using the language toggle in the upper-right corner; it didn’t work (and still doesn’t, as of this writing). Instead, we used Google translate and followed the instructions below.

When we logged-in, we navigated to Agendamentos (which means “Scheduling”) on the left-hand pane, which revealed when and where our appointment was. This was important as the appointment details were NOT emailed to us. We only knew this from talking to expat friends who recently learned this for themselves.

Important note: The appointment location and time for me was different from my husband. Mine was in Vila Real and his was in Braga – on the same day, at the same time. In speaking with expat friends, we learned that SEF often decouples appointments for partners (I don’t believe this happens if you’re immigrating as a larger family). Apparently, they do this to ease the volume in major cities like Porto and Lisbon, instead choosing to spread them out at smaller or more regional SEF offices across the country (in our experience, we had no say in where our appointment was).

2. Gathering the info for the documentation packet 

For our appointment, we were required to bring many of the same items as those required for the visa application:

• Permit application
• Two recent photographs
• Passport or any other valid travel document
• Valid residence visa
• Evidence of sufficient means of subsistence
• Proof of accommodation
  • In addition to our lease, we also included our Atestado de Residência (which verified we were municipal residents). To obtain one, we went to our local parish, or Freguesia (no appointment was needed; we simply showed up).
  • We showed receipts of our rent payment, which we downloaded from Financas and they issued a letter verifying our place of residence (the fee was nominal, maybe 12 euro); the reason we got this document was because it was required for registering our pet (more below).
    • To do this, we logged into Financas by clicking Iniciar Sessão and entering our NIF and password
    • Searched: “Recibos de arrendamento”
    • Clicked Aceder for Consultar Recibos”
    • In the middle of the screen, clicked Locatario
    • Then clicked any Recibos on the next page
    • Hit Imprimir to get the official receipt (this is the only version that was accepted at our parish); we did this for every month of rent paid and a receipt was generated for.
• Permission for SEF to check Portuguese criminal record (except for > 16 y old): This was just a form we signed at the SEF appointment verifying our consent in this record being pulled
• A document attesting to the existence of a family relationship, where applicable: Not applicable to us
• Supporting evidence of registration within Tax Authority: This was simply our proof of NIF (see this post for more details)
• Document proving that the applicant is registered with the Social Security: Not applicable to us
• Health insurance or evidence of coverage: We simply printed our Allianz Health policy details (see this post for more details)

3. Attending the appointment

Submitting documents

Now, in full transparency, this is where things got a little dicey. Our experience varied significantly location-to-location (which was also true for many expat friends). 

For example, during my appointment, I was asked for nearly every piece of paper requested on the checklist. For my husband, by comparison, he was only asked for a few items: his proof of business and business bank statements, NIF, passport/visa, Atestado de Residencia, and proof of health insurance. The Atestado wasn’t required on our checklist but if you’re going through the process, definitely get one.

Fingerprinting

During this appointment, you will also be fingerprinted and your information officially registered in the immigration database; this is where you consent to doing a background check.

Payment

We had to bring 170 euro each to our appointment, in order to pay SEF. Friends advised us to be prepared with either cash or a credit card for payment; some locations only took one or the other. One friend had his appointment at the same Vila Real location I went to and was told he could only pay cash. When I went shortly after, I was told I could pay by card. Err on the side of having both available.

4. Getting the permit

Our appointments were in early August 2023 and I received my permit by late September… but it took some effort. One day, I received an email from SEF indicating that because I wasn’t home, I needed to pick up my permit in person (which incured a 35 euro fee). The bizarre part is that there was no sign – anywhere – of an attempted delivery having been made.

The same happened to my husband.

Aviothic Tip: Your permit could come at any time (with or without notice) so keep your eyes peeled for an email on its status and be prepared to potentially travel to get it.

The good news is, that once we got our permits, we were permitted to reside in Portugal for two years, after which point, we can renew our permit online for another 3 years before obtaining citizenship.

5. Canceling BORDR Representation

Since we used BORDR to obtain our NIF, we had to remove them as our fiscal representative (otherwise we would have been charged a fee the following year). The process was super simple and we followed the excellent instructions BORDR already had available on their site here.

6. Claiming NHR Status (if applicable)

NHR stands for Non-habitual Resident; it’s a tax regime that was designed in 2009 to attract foreign investors by offering reduced tax rates for the first 10 years of residence in Portugal. It ended in 2023 so we made it just in time! In order to receive NHR we had to formally claim it by following these instructions found here. For more information on NHR, see here and consider speaking with a Portuguese immigration/tax expert who might be able to help you navigate the process.

Pet Registration

Since we moved with our dog, we had to take a few important steps upon arriving in Portugal:

• Get a European Pet Passport

We made an appointment with the vet and brought with us: (1) USDA vet-approved paperwork (2) Medical history from US vet, including chip number (who was different from our USDA-approved one) (3) Rabies certification. Our Portuguese vet then transposed that information into our dog’s European Pet Passport. While we were there, our dog, Jett, also received a few shots she was due for

In total, the visit was 50 euro (WAYYYY cheaper than in the States).

• Register with the local Freguesia

The Freguesia is your neighborhood parish that handles all activities relating to that particular neighborhood (kind of like an alderman’s office). With our pet passport in hand and Atestado de Residência, we received a Licença de Detenção, Posse e Circulação de Animais (a license that permits us to possess an animal in the neighborhood); the cost was no more than 10-12 euro.

Hope this was helpful as you possibly embark on your own immigration journey.

If you’re curious about how we’ve adjusted to life since moving here, be sure to check out our last post in the series (coming soon!).

xoxox