New members of the Portugal forum, introduce yourselves here - 2018

Thanks Julien,

My wife and I like to relocate in Portugal. we are from Canada.  We have a 9 years girl, and another one on the way.  We love the weather and the beauty of Portugal.

Could you please advise what area or city is suitable for family, kids education and schooling?

we also like to know the cost of living in terms of rent (or buying an apartment) and roughly monthly shopping costs for a family  of 4 ?

Lastly, how the health insurance look like if a family member gets ill or needs medical care?


We greatly appreciate any input 


Best Regards

Salah

I can’t help you with all your questions, but regarding schooling, you might like to check my post at https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=725471
It has links to schools.

On the ‘cost of living’ subject, it depends on the lifestyle you want.  If living ‘like a local’ it’s possible to live MUCH more cheaply than even frugally in the U.K. , additionally, booze is SO much cheaper!🍷🍾

I hope this helps!

Hi all

New to the forum.
I am Portuguese, married to a South African. My husband and I are looking into moving to Portugal in the near future.
All suggestions and comments will be most welcome. 

Myself is Adam come from Singapore but staying here in Portugal from last two years.... I have my own restaurant and bar here in algarve I love Portugal I like to travel and meet people.... Thanks

Hello,  I'm Brazilian living in USA for 30 years. Have family and lots of friends here. Love to travel and last year decided to visit Portugal and Spain. Loved both countries.right now I'm thinking about spending 3months in Portugal and travel around a little.
Planning to do that on the first 3 months of 2019.
I have one concern which is about accommodation. I would like to find a way to stay there but not gathering into a lease contract. Open for suggestions.
Thank you

Hello, this is Steven from New Brunswick. My partner, Vincent, and I are planning to retire to Portugal in 2022. We are just at the very beginnings of this whole chapter of becoming ex-pats. We are looking forward very much to moving to Portugal, but we do have a few things we want to do before we make the move. The first thing is research. The second is take a trip to Portugal in 2021 for the summer. In the meantime, we are learning European Portuguese - at least enough to get by and then take Portuguese classes over there. We are both teachers. I have my doctorate and Vince has his masters in linguistics. He is an English teacher and I am a freelance researcher and teacher. We are looking at settling in the Coimbra area because it is roughly halfway between Porto and Lisbon and the university town atmosphere is a draw for us as well. We will be renting rather than buying. We've been reading about some horror stories regarding home purchases, so we think renting may be better for us. We'll be shipping our things over when we're ready as well. Vince, teaching in Ottawa, has already been in contact with the embassy there and things look good from their perspective. I'd love to connect with other future ex-pats living in Canada who are roughly at the same stage we are in getting ready to move as well as ex pats living in the Coimbra area. It would be great to have a few friends in our destination to connect with when we initially settle. Hoping someone is interested either here in Canada making the move or Canadians in Coimbra... thanks for reading!  Steven

Hi Adam,

How are you doing. My name is Fei originally from Malaysia and been living in Portugal since 2013. I was living in Algarve for 3 years and just moved back to Porto since last June. Which part of Algarve are you in, Hope to catch up with you when I am going down to Algarve in mid August.

Cheers,

Fei

Ola,
I am Edward, presently in Lisbon and plan to stay and work.
I speak English and hopefully learn Portuguese at the earliest.
I have over 25 years experience in the Hospitality sector.
I welcome news of Hotel or Restaurant job opportunities.
Thank you,
Ed

Any expats already in Lourinha. I would like to know more about this area. Thank you

My wife and I are retired are planning our second trip to Portugal having spent a week around Lisbon in February 2018. Next February we will explore Algarve and Porto. We have Algarve as a potential retirement location. We have US and EU citizenship and are looking for similar couples who can share their relocation knowledge including the best locations to retire to (we are not golfers), pitfalls to avoid, trusted professionals in Algarve to work with (rental agents, lawyers, bankers, etc.) and perhaps even a tour guide to spend a few days in Algarve with us.

Hi Everyone,
I am Siann, originally from India but currently working in Kuwait. My husband is Portuguese, but from India. I have 2 beautiful kids, a daughter (6 years) and son (1 year) and we are just back from a vacation to Portugal. We are planning to move there by next year and I was wondering if anyone could shed some insight on a comparison between The Algarve (Portimao) and Porto in terms of buying your own house, schools, jobs - since i speak only English but i will learn the language and generally a good place to stay all year round.
We basically visited a lot of places but want to close in on either the North or South.
I would love to hear back from you guys and keep in touch with you,

Thanks and have a nice day,
Siann

Thank you for this page Julien, I'm def a newbie here, and ive posted a question on the site already, heres hoping to get some answers...
Have a nice day,

Siann

Hola!
I see that there are many couples considering moving to Portugal but how is it for single older women? I have been living in Mexico for 6 years but want to make a change and try a small town probably in the Algarve. I am a food and travel writer and worked in media and as a teacher for many years. I am currently traveling in Spain and am coming south in September when I hope it will be less touristy! Also does anyone have suggestions on finding a place to rent for at least a month so that I can get to know the area? Mid- Sept. to mid-Oct - or more if I like it!
Jordan

I am quite interested on where you decide to go. We are considering Algarve but don't know where to start so keep posting please!

Hello,

This is Sugan from India; my wife and I I will be moving to Portugal in the next 2 weeks! I am going to start working in a company in the Porto Salvo region.

Well, this was a huge decision for us, to move out of India and relocate to a completely new country. But we have only one life, so what the hell.. might as well give it a shot

My new company has arranged accomodation for the first 2 months (thankfully), but I should start looking out for a house afte the 2 month period. Can someone help me with some recommendations on where to find a 1/2 bedroom apartment? My requirements are

(1) I don't have a car and I don't intend to buy one soon, so I would prefer to stay either walkable distance to work, or at a place which has good bus/train connectivity to Porto Salvo.
(2) Close to pubs, supermarkets, hospitals etc.,; in general, we prefer not to stay too much in the outskirts, and would want to get as much as the "city" vibe as possible
(3) My wife would need to find a job once we come there, so that's an unknown as of now. So we would prefer a location that has good access to work for both me (Porto Salvo) and her (we don't know where)

The options we are considering are (a) Lisboa (b) Cascais (c) Oeiras (d) Sintra. Considering my requirement, I am inclined to stay in Lisboa city, but does it have good commute options to Porto Salvo?

Can someone help me with what would be the ideal place? I look forward to interact with you all here, and super excited to come to Portugal!

Cheers,
Sugan

Hi Sugan,

Porto Salvo is just off the motorway.  They used to have a monorail that would take you from Paço de Arcos train station to Oeiras Parque, but they stopped it.  Where exactly will you be working, TagusPark?

Yes, I will be working in Taguspark!

Hope this helps: http://www.taguspark.pt/en/Life-in-the-Park/Directions

Good luck.

I'm also look into for the ideal place to visit and rent. Iook forward to the answers you receive.

Hi I'm Mark,
Looking for a small house or cottage to rent, one bedroom is fine. Walking distance to local village /, town preferred. This is.my first step to an eventual permanent move

Ha ha life as a sax player on a v limited pension

Northern portugal or duro area preferred

Hello to you all 😊

Regards
Mark

Hello,

I came from France to Portugal North (Oporto) last year, February. I moved to Lisbon area in February 2018.

I am employed here in a french company.

I did some touring in the northern area and around Lisbon, will soon explore the South.

I may be able to give some advice, depending on the topic.


Regards,

Hi there
What do you think about Obidos area, like Caldas Da Rainha, weather wise.
What is your opinion in general
Thank you
K

Please sir you can help me to work permit I want to look job

Hi everyone. I'm Gerhard, a South African now living in Germany with my wife Gunda.

We're planning on moving to Portugal within the next few years but will be in the area between Ericeira and Peniche at the end of September scouting for a property to buy. We're looking at the possibility of living off-grid on rustic land and also at the viability of an eco-tourism project.

In the meantime, we're both learning Portuguese and excited about this next chapter in our middle-aged lives.

Hi all,
I'm a US retired nomad, planning to live in Tavira Oct - Dec. I live in a new country every 3 months (typical visa requirement) and try to get to know the country as much as possible in that time.
One way I do that is by volunteering. I'm looking for volunteer opportunities now to get involved in the local community.
Another way is to find dance groups. I dance salsa, ballroom, and modern jive. ***
If anyone has leads on volunteering, dancing, or just socializing let me know.
Maureen

Hi, my name is Pat and I live in Tomar. 
About insurance coverage, why don't you check Fidelidade Multicare 3, it's about 60 Euros per month.

roarker wrote:

Hello, this is Steven from New Brunswick. My partner, Vincent, and I are planning to retire to Portugal in 2022. We are just at the very beginnings of this whole chapter of becoming ex-pats. We are looking forward very much to moving to Portugal, but we do have a few things we want to do before we make the move. The first thing is research. The second is take a trip to Portugal in 2021 for the summer. In the meantime, we are learning European Portuguese - at least enough to get by and then take Portuguese classes over there. We are both teachers. I have my doctorate and Vince has his masters in linguistics. He is an English teacher and I am a freelance researcher and teacher. We are looking at settling in the Coimbra area because it is roughly halfway between Porto and Lisbon and the university town atmosphere is a draw for us as well. We will be renting rather than buying. We've been reading about some horror stories regarding home purchases, so we think renting may be better for us. We'll be shipping our things over when we're ready as well. Vince, teaching in Ottawa, has already been in contact with the embassy there and things look good from their perspective. I'd love to connect with other future ex-pats living in Canada who are roughly at the same stage we are in getting ready to move as well as ex pats living in the Coimbra area. It would be great to have a few friends in our destination to connect with when we initially settle. Hoping someone is interested either here in Canada making the move or Canadians in Coimbra... thanks for reading!  Steven

Hi Steven, my name is Pat and I am Italian but have lived, studied and worked for 5 years in Ottawa. 
I live in Tomar which is 1 h drive south of Coimbra.
If you have questions I can answer, feel free to contact me.

Hi. My name is Gayle.  I am married and my husband is retired now but it will be 2 years before I will retire.  I am in the research phase of retirement planning.  My research for Portugal checks all the boxes.  Reading the posts on this forum is very enlightening, and, just when I think I have it figured out, something shoots me in another area of focus.  I have some time to learn and decide but I'm thinking of the Coimbra area as it is between Porto and Lisbon.  I speak English and I am hoping to learn Portuguese. I seem to be a bit slow when it comes to mastering other languages.  We are looking forward to our future abroad.

Hi my name is su brown, i live in Aberystwyth wales at the moment. myself and my friend are currently looking for work in Portugal fruit picking over the winter and then looking to move out there eventually. I'm hoping we can get advice on where the best places to go to try and find work and how to go about it. We would really like to meet up with people out there that are already doing the same thing.
Please could anyone advise us on where to go to find work, what areas are best, or any contact details of places that are looking for fruit pickers currently. Would it be a good idea just to head out to Portugal and look once we're there?
Thanks su and Chris

Hello, my name is Kathryn.

I moved to Portugal last October with my pet dachshund, Noah. I lived in Porto initially where I attended a language school called InLingua and completed my level A1 Portuguese. I have spent most of my time in Porto and Lisbon however I have recently moved to the Algarve, Vilamoura due to my partners work. I do not know the area well or know of any potential opportunities for me job wise as of yet. I want to carry on learning the language but I would really love to work. I graduated in 2017 with a fashion and business management degree and would quite like to put it to use! If anyone has any advice or experience on finding work in Portugal it would be great to hear about it.

Thanks, Kat.

Hi, I'm Liz....

The company my husband works for wants to move us to Porto early next year. So I'm just trying to check things out as best I can.

We are currently in South Africa, so looking forward to a change!

My wife and I just returned from a wonderful vacation in Lagos and are talking about moving there in a year or two. I had read International Living on retirement in Portugal and I think that they are way off on the cost of living there. Housing is definitely a concern if we have any hope for a place walking distance from one of the beaches. However, we think it is all doable. We are 67 and are a bit fed up with the current political situation in the U.S., which has made us more open to a big move. I will start doing my research!

I came across this link . It would be good to see something become of it.

https://www.kei-homes.com/investment-op … t-Village/

Hi I am Iris from Prince Edward Island.
We (my partner Lonnie) are not in Portugal yet, but we are starting the procedure.  We will be in Tavira Dec to March+
I have many questions about the NHR and pensions etc.  Anybody here can answer a few questoons??
Thanks

Hello Iris!

Welcome to the forum...  I drove through Tavira just the other day.  It’s roughly halfway between Faro and Vila Real de Santo António on the Rio Guadiana, by the Portuguese/Spanish border.  I’m hoping I can relocate my yacht there next year.

Sadly I can’t answer your many questions, though I do know you will be well placed for access to some of the longest and arguably, best, beaches in The Algarve!

The weather is rather more moderate too than either PEI or the UK.....  we’re starting to shiver here already!

Enjoy your trip! 

Kind regards

Tony M.

Hey there. I just moved to the algarve and would love to meet people who are interested in art, music, nature and healthy living. I am 45 years old and single. My daughter and labrador dog are here with me. Does anyone know of any expat groups locally? I am in the eastern algarve

i am from kabylie algeria, i am 36 years old single i work as a load of inventory or manager warehouse ou keeper am here in algeria i would like to immigrate to portugal and look for other opportunity in the work if you can help me by information or guide me.
thank you in advance

Hi Debbie, when you are saying "moving to Portugal", do you mean also becoming Portuguese residents ? It's quite a big difference between becoming residents compared to "Just buying / renting" property in Portugal. The paperwork with the former is quite extensive but can also mean substantial tax savings if you have private pension in the US (401K or IRA).

Wow! You act quickly. I'm surprised that you could get a license so quickly as an expat!