I left Portugal on the 11th May 2022, and I will never go back. I had been resident for nine months, and the way the Portuguese (both authorities and business owners) treated me was enough for me never ever to set foot in your country again.
When I announced that I was leaving, that Portugal wasn’t working for me, several people asked me why. I listed about 20 points. To my surprise, numerous people told me that they were packing up and selling up for exactly the same reasons. A couple suggested that it was all those reasons and more.
So let me enumerate them for you.
1. There was a very definite resistance to my wanting residency and a tax number. This, despite the fact that I was a Germany citizen, ad sufficient income every month not to be a burden to the state.
2. When I tried to get my vaccination, despite my being a European national, I was constantly turned away. Finally, I went to clinic that was quite far from where I lived and after been turned away from there, burst into tears. Only after that, did they look at my credentials and see that I qualified. I was told that the fact that I spoke English was what was making Portuguese authorities turn me away. They told me where to go to. So I went there. Once more I was told that I didn’t qualify. After ten minutes of explaining why I did (I was70 and a European citizen), I once more burst into tears. Tears seemed to upset people, so this time they explained to me that the fact that I spoke with a British accent made me unacceptable. I don’t speak with a British accent. I speak with a South African accent. In any event, I finally got the vaccination, and went back a month later for the next one. I was told to contact the medical services to have the numbers registered so that I could get my card for traveling. No matter how many times I tried that, I was ignored.
3. My daughter came to join me in Portugal. After two months of observing how rude, unhelpful, and obstreperous the Portuguese were, she suggested we go to Island. We decided that – at the end of January.
4. I had been forced to pay a year’s rent in advance, plus deposit in October, 2021. I had asked for a English translation before I got there, so I could know what it said. When I got there, there wasn’t an English translate. They said a guy would translate. Of course, I knew that was bullshit. The exact wording mattered. As it turned out, I would have to give four month’s notice, and my deposit would not be returned if the apartment was not in the exact condition, to the last spot on the wall. My apartment was immaculate when I left. They sent me photos that were so enlarged that it was difficult to see what they were talking about. The reviews of that agency stink to high heaven. They never return deposits. I effectively lost 3000 euros.
5. After two weeks there, I noticed that if I locked the front door, I couldn’t get in again. It was one helluve struggle. I phoned the landlord. They told me that all future repairs would be for my expense. We lived in that apartment for the next six months without locking the door when we went out. The landlord never answered the phone, wouldn’t let us in to the offices, and never responded to emails. It wasn’t only me. The reviews on Google said the same thing.
6. When I applied for residency and tax, they wanted me to bring two registered Portuguese voters who lived in the same area as me who could vouch for me. This was during the day time. I’m pretty sure that the Portuguese people who told me this knew that, as a stranger and new comer to Portugal, I would not know a single soul, and that the likelihood of someone not pitching for their work to help me was unlikely. The Portuguese, in other words, were highly obstructive in assisting me to live in Portugal.
7. I wanted to register as a Non-habitual tax resident. I couldn’t sign in to my tax account because it was in Portuguese and I didn’t understand Portuguese. So I had to keep trotting down to the tax office to ask them to help me. They never responded to letters I sent them.
8. Several storekeepers cheated me (I only discovered that when I went home and looked at the slip).
9. The last six weeks were spent doing all the things necessary to leave – notifying the electricity department, the water, etc. We asked how we could pay them once we had moved out. There was no way. I think that the water department charged us upfront, but the electricity department didn’t. I received a letter form a debt collector after I left charging me twice what I owed.
10. On the 10th May, I went in to Millennium Bank to close my account as arranged prior with them. I signed all the documentation. I daughter was with me. I was there for an hour. I was assured that it would be closed the next day. Because I thought it was, I never bothered to close my American pension immediately. I had to find accommodation in Ireland. Imagine my surprise when I discovered it wasn’t closed. They won’t return my money and they keep charging me every month. Fortunately, I only receive $112 euros per month from America. Still, it’s my money, and their ugliness.
11. My daughter and me returned our European residence forms to the right authorities in person a week before we left. We told them it was because we found Portuguese a difficult language to learn. It was actually because it was so difficult to live there.
12. Once I was out, I sent the Portuguese tax authorities a letter saying that I was no longer resident in Portugal, as well as a copy of the form saying that I had returned my residency. Since then, they have been bugging me about tax I owe them. They seem to think I owe them a lot of money. In reality, with NHR, you only pay tax if you have been in the country 183 days or longer for the tax year. They actually had the gumption to tell me that I had been resident since the 30th July which was a lot longer than 183 days. It’s actually 153 days. I am going to write them one more letter, and after that, they must do whatever they like. You know what we earn at Medium. Yes, I did receive quite a large sum from a gentleman to remove the stress of not earning. However, it was donation through Ko-fi and donations are not taxable. On top of that, I earned way under the 8000 euros necessary for me to submit a tax form. Oh, and the money I used to pay a year’s rent upfront was a donation from my sister. They don’t believe me about any of this, but it’s irrelevant. Even if I earned a lot of money during those 5 months, I still was not resident for 183 days and more. They can’t seem to ad.
13. Other immigrants have told me that they are leaving for all those reasons and more. One of the one’s that kept coming up was that quotes they received from Portuguese contractors were two to three times the ones their neighbours received for the same work. They were also upset that they would wait many months for the work to be done, but their neighbours would get the work done immediately.
Oh, yes, and people would tell us that they didn't speak English, and I would cntinue speaking, and eventually, it was apparent that they did speak English, because they replied knowing exactly what we said.
So you see, I’m not ever going back to Portugal. I never asked them for a blue penny. I had paid my rent in full for the year, and I didn’t need much money after that to pay for food, bus, and other stuff. My daughter also had money from America, so in no way were we ever a burden to the state.
I am now living in another EU country. I found accommodation within two weeks, got residency within six weeks, as did my daughter. All we had to do to get boosters was to arrive and they were given to us.
I cannot think of one nice thing about Portugal – not a single thing. The fact that so many from my expat group were also packing up and finding other countries to live in says it all.
