One way to become a U.S. expat in Portugal is to apply for your Portuguese D7 residency visa (also known as the Portugal Schengen Residence Visa). Once it is granted, you will be approved for 4 months. When you go to the Portuguese Embassy at your US city of residence to pick up your passport with the visa sticker, the person working with you will explain that after your arrival in Portugal, as soon as you can, you need to schedule a Portuguese D7 Residency Visa Appointment to extend that visa. This can be done physically at a local SEF office or by phone. Since Portugal is becoming quite popular for expats, some appointments are quite far out. For example, we arrived in April 2016, and our appointment was set for the end of December. You are automatically “extended” until the date of your appointment, but just keep in mind that you’re only allowed a certain number of exits out of Portugal. Here’s how our first D7 Residency visa appointment went.
What to Expect at Your 1st Portuguese D7 Residency Visa Appointment
We arrived at the SEF office at 11 am, an hour before our appointment. We’ve found out that lines at most governmental offices in Portugal are long, so we figured we’d err on the side of being safe. However, there was almost no line when we arrived. We assumed this was because we were early and because this was the hour of designated appointments.
When we walked up to the reception desk, we explained that we were there for our Portugal Schengen Residence Visa extension. The woman at the desk asked for my name, birthday and nationality; pulled a number and told us to go sit in the waiting area. She also mentioned that we would be seeing three people and not to leave after seeing the first.
How Long is the Wait for your Portuguese D7 Residency Visa Appointment
First Person
This was a fairly quick wait and we became enthusiastic. The total wait for us to be seen was about 15 minutes. When we arrived at the desk, she asked for the following documents:
- US Passport
- Financial Statements
- Proof of Residence
- NIF
These are the documents you need to bring to your Portuguese D7 Residency Visa Appointment. We had brought copies of all the documents but did not need to. The person at the desk took each document and scanned it. She scanned every single document we gave her and gave them back to us. Then, she explained a few things we’d need for the next appointment which was set for a year from the same date (I’ll discuss those at the end of the blog post). She then gave us back our ticket with a number and told us that we’d have to wait to see two more people and that we could sneak out for a quick lunch, but not to take too long. We decided not to risk it and stayed to wait.
Second Person
Big mistake not going to grab a quick sandwich. This took a long time. It was about 2 hours. I suspect it was because many people headed to lunch, so this slowed down the process quite a bit. When we were finally called back up, we were asked for our documents once again. They were re-scanned. Once this person was satisfied with the documents, she asked that I stand in front of a machine. They took digital fingerprints, a digital signature, and a digital picture. I was given my ticket with the number back and told to wait for the treasury.
Third Person
This one took quite a long time as well. When I walked up to the window of the treasury, she asked for my name and birthday. I told her and she told me the cost of the appointment. They do not take credit cards, so you need to bring cash. What is the cost of the first Portuguese D7 Residency Visa extension? The total price came to €159.70, here it is broken down by fees:
- 70.30 for the temporary title of residence
- 8.30 for shipping the permanent title of residence to your home
- 81.10 for the permanent title of residence
By the time we had both paid it was 3 pm. We had spent a total of 4 hours there and were pretty darn hungry. Lucky for us the appointment was right in our neighborhood, Avenidas Novas – so we just headed home and celebrated at night.
What to Expect on Your 2nd Portuguese D7 Residency Visa Appointment
Not 100% sure since we haven’t been yet. We were told that proof of finances needed to be from a Portuguese banking institution and that our US bank records would not be accepted. We were also told that we need to start using our NIF in purchases and that we’d need to bring receipts with our NIFS to prove that we are in fact living in Portugal. Lastly, we were told to file taxes in March. I’ll update this post next year once we go to our interview. I suggest that before you head to your first Portugal Schengen Residence Visa appointment that you call the SEF to make sure no requirements have changed.
If you have any other questions on moving to Portugal, leave it in the comments. We love it here and think you will too!
How many exits are you allowed ?
It is different person by person. We were given 2 exits out of Portugal during the time that we were waiting for the extension. Once you receive it, Portugal expects you to spend most of your time here. We were not told a specific unit of time. Sure, you can travel – but when you go to your second appointment, they expect you to bring receipts with your NIF to prove that you’ve been in the country the majority of the time,
Thank you for all the detail!
I have a question about financial documents; which ones did they want? I have a translated official copy of my social security income, a summary of my local Portuguese bank account and my US savings/investments. Which of these are they expecting? Or, just copies of what I submitted last year.
Also, do I need to bring copies of my expenses with a NIF to the first appointment or only a year out?
Cheers, Diane
Hi Diane,
We brought in our US bank statements & our investments. Didn’t bring our Portuguese bank account info, but I can’t imagine it would hurt to bring that. I would think that as long as you bring proof that you have enough money to live here comfortably you will be ok.
At this meeting, they did not ask us for any receipts for expenses, but they did say they want them at the second appointment as proof that we were in Portugal for the majority of the time.
Hope this helps.
Did you need to bring updated financial statements or the original from your application? With such a gap between obtaining the 4-month visa and the appointment I’m not sure what to bring. Thanks. Mine is August 13th.
Hi Sharon,
We brought updated financial statements, not the originals. They are more interested in seeing that you still have enough money to support yourself.
The SEF appointment was very easy and the people were nice.
Good luck on your appointment and drop by if you have any other q’s 🙂
How long it took for them to send you your residence card?
You can either go back to the SEF office to pick it up, or you can pay to have it mailed to your house. It took about two weeks for me to receive my new Portuguese residency card.
Hi Blanca,
Quick question regarding applying for a NIF…I am living in Portugal (yay) with my boyfriend and I read that in order for me to apply for an NIF within Portugal, I need to bring my passport and show proof of address (such as a utility bill) but I don’t have any proof that I am currently living with my boyfriend. Do you know if there’s any way I can get around this or should I just try to go and apply for the card without the proof? I can’t get a phone contract without an NIF so it becomes really tricky…
I believe you can get a NIF as a “non-resident”, which you will be able to use to get your phone contract. When you go to Financas, they will ask you for proof of your non-resident address and if I am not mistaken, they will accept a bank statement. I would suggest that you check this info at your closest AT – Financas office, since I’m not 100% sure on this. Also, if you are trying to establish residency, then you will probably need to get a resident’s NIF anyway.
Thank you very much for this blog.
Planning for my SEF visit to extend the 4-month visa
Confused though because have just heard that you supposedly need to have BOTH an NIF number and an NEF number for the visa extension meeting.
Also heard from same source that for the NEF number – it’s something which supposedly takes a month or more to get.
Is that even a real thing the NEF number? Haven’t found anything about it, but also haven’t found too much online about what to bring to the SEF visa extension meeting period.
And unsure if source who’s telling all this is legit or whether, because they’re a relocation service – it’s just an attempt to upsell me on their products/consulting
Any idea?
Hi Michael,
I’ve never heard of a NEF. Not sure where the source was, but maybe give your local consulate/embassy a call to find out just to be sure since things change so fast, but this is the first I have ever heard of that. LMK what they say 🙂
Hi Blanca,
Johanna again 🙂 I had another quick question for you – for the financial statements from banks, credit cards, retirement, etc. did you need to bring 6 months worth of documents – like what was required in the US or just your current financial statements for each account? My meeting is next week and I want to make sure I’m prepared – I’ve tried calling the SEF office several times and there’s never any answer. I’m in the Algarve, not Lisbon, so that might make a difference. Thanks!
Eek…I don’t recall exactly how many months worth we brought, but we brought plenty. I’ll as Antonio if he remembers.
Hi Blanca,
Did Antonio remember? Just to be safe, I think I’ll take 6 months worth of records. I bought a printer in Portugal so I can bring as many documents as necessary! Thanks and happy holidays!
I was asked for 6-months worth. I was also told by a friend they questioned her why her monies weren’t in a Portuguese account. She explained it wasn’t allowed to “rollover” from her USA retirement to Portugal till she was 59 1/2 years old. The interviewer “accepted” that explanation but suggest “next year” to move monies to Portugal. Different interviewers will focus on different aspects of your assimilation to Portuguese life. One of the big ones is the dollars you bring.
Hi there.. thanks a million for this amazing article.
I was just wondering that if we are on D-7 visa in Portugal and got Trp then can i work or open any business in Portugal?
Would love to hear from u soon.
Thanks once again.
I don’t believe you are allowed to work with the Temp Resident Permit or even D7. You would need a Work Visa. If you have a potential employer s/he maybe able to help with that.
Thanks for creating this awesome blog António and Blanca. I was wondering what is meant by making purchases with NIF. I was under the impression that NIF is needed to open accounts (e.g bank, internet, phone…etc). Do you also need NiF to make purchases like groceries. Also, when they ask for receipts, do they want purchases made through your bank account, or can credit card suffice. I am a bit weary using my bank account, I am also in the US. I would rather setup a credit card with low limit.
Thanks.
Hi George,
Glad you like the blog. Make sure you share with others who are on your path to moving to Lisbon.
Great question. Whenever you purchase something at a store, for example the supermarket, furniture store, and even the pharmacy, you will be asked if you want the purchase to be logged with your “contribuinte”, this is your tax ID (or your NIF – the same number that you use to open those accounts you mentioned). You don’t “need” to include your NIF on purchases, but you can. At the end of the year, you will get money back on taxes (which can come in handy if you have a tax liability). It also helps to prove that you are spending the majority of your time living in Portugal (so that the government of Portugal can see that you are getting your Portuguese residency to reside here in Portugal – and not to gain entry into the EU).
For receipts of things you purchase, you can use the receipts from the store regardless of them being cash or credit card transactions. When you give the cashier your NIF (or contribuinte) it will be printed on the receipt as well.
Hope this helps. And keep us updated as you get closer to moving here 🙂
Blanca
Hello 🙂
First of all your blog is super amazing and really helpful.
I was able to get a D7 Visa and my SEF appointment in Evora in about 1 month, so i got 2 questions if you can help me out please.
1- I am renting a room me and my husband so there is no rental agreement but we were able to get a declaration from Junta that we live in this adress, do you think this would be enough ?
2- How can i request to collect my residence card by myself and not to be ailed to me ? and how they will inform me that it’s ready for collection ( For example: by sms or email ? )
Things very very much here depending on who takes care of you. I would not chance it and I would bring in a solid lease – it will just make things much easier on you.
When I went in for the first appointment, I was given an option to pick up or have it mailed to me. They told me it would be ready in about a week (if I remember correctly). So you should not have a problem here.
Definitely update us on how things go. We had our first appointment in Lisbon, so things may be slightly different in Evora. I’d love to hear what your experience for the first D& appointment is like there.
So I had my appointment in SEF Evora last week, it went well thnx God.
I went inside it’s small place with a dozen chairs , 2 desks with 2 ladies sitting there ( checking/scanning documents, making fingerprints and photos on the machine ).
One guy came out from a room with a sign of ( no entry allowed ), he started calling out names out of a list, gladly my name was fourth so he checked the visa and asked me to wait to be called by one of the ladies.
i was called after maybe 30 mins or so , i gave her all the documents and the other lady called in my husband so he gave her all his documents as well, everything went smooth and they did accept the Junta Declaration without a rental agreement.
We did the fingerprints, took the photo and asked to collect the card from the office as we will be out for a business trip so she told us it will cost more to collect it personally ( almost 5 euros extra ) and to come after 3 – 4 weeks to collect the card or better call ” nearly impossible to get an answer lol ” or send an email first before going to make sure it’s ready.
So glad to hear everything went well for you, Sara! That’s fantastic.