Mistyrain

Mike is Kiwi too, so I have lovingly kept my accent as if it were shiny and new! So, kiwi meets kiwi in London, have a baby in London (east london init), but baby cannot be British because mummy and daddy are very naughty and haven't got married, so even though daddy has PR here, bubby has to go under mummy's ancestory visa. Then.....I had to apply for NZ citizenship for him and then get a NZ passport!!! It's quite bureaucratic for people like us here!

I don't suppose you have a car you want to sell?

Mistyrain

I spent a year in Hamilton Victoria many moons ago. Been to Sydney a few times and the Gold and Sunshine Coasts - LOVED Noosa...(wonder if I can talk him into commuting from there lmao!). My sister married an Aussie and lives in Melborne and they are comming over on business to London next month. Never been here before and they have gone and hired a car from Heathrow silly sausages....it's really hard to explain to people from our neck of the woods that a car is more of a hinderance than help in London!!!

Vegemite

Hi M istyrain,

Yes actually we do have a car that my OH wants to sell! what sort of car are you after? He has a 2001 Jeep Cherokee, dark grey in colour. It's a really nice and reliable car. Let me know if you are interested. Cheers, Vegemite.

Mistyrain

Sounds really nice, but we just want a cheap run around for about 2,000 euros.

OMG, I just booked a week in the Algarve, leaving next Tues! We will be spending it securing accommodation and stuff.....wow, this is happening so fast!

Did you have to get a residents permit? Trying to get my head around that one as it's really difficult to find any information for non EU members

Prodigal son

Ola Mistyrain!

Have a look at this site:
http://algarve.angloinfo.com/countri.../residency.asp

Boa sorte!..

Mistyrain

Thanks Prodigal Son! I think we will be ok...I notice that Aussies have to have a visa though lol....!

Prodigal son

Yes, kiwis can stay up to 90 days without a visa!
Boa viagem!..

Mistyrain

It's been really difficult to find information that directly relates to us.....we are an enigma to the Portuguese - all 67 or so of us lol! If you know anymore info that you think might help us (no matter how trivial!) we would REALLY appreciate it.

jdr

I think it is the same all over Europe 90 days unless you are an EU citizen, even if you are you still have to apply for a residents permit.

Mistyrain

Thanks JDR, but we actually have a reciprocal agreement for a min of 1 year everywhere else, it's wierd, but it's just that I can't find the same information for Portugal! We will be over next week , and will go for this permit at the same time and hopefully I will get some more info from the authorities. My husband gets British citizenship soon, so as soon as that is all finalised I automatically become an EU spouse (married to the EU lol!!!!).

Sheeeeshhhh, it's very confusing !

jdr

Spain is the red tape capital of the world, but I don`t think PT is far behind, it would make it easier if all EU had the same laws and didn`t pick and choose to suit themselves. lol

Vegemite

Hey G'day Mistytrain.

Sorry - I couldn't reply earlier as I was down in the Algarve myself, lol.

Us Aussies don't need a visa here to enter. We can stay for up to 3 months. I renewed my visa here after every three months MistyTrain on the basis that I was in a defacto relationship with a Portuguese citizen...I was told that I could do this for up to 9 months and I had to get special permission due to exceptional circumstances to stay for the 12 months that I did. I would imagine it would be exactly the same for Kiwis.

The Department of Fronterias in Lisboa...it really depends on WHO YOU GET. I found some of them to be very nice -wanting to help, and some of them to be complete a##holes. My advice to you is to NOT take one person's advice from there as gospel. Each time we spoke to them, we got a different story about how long I could stay etc. We were very frustrated. My advice is that if you get a bad egg, just ignore them and take your case higher - thats what we did and I was able to remain.

I found them very difficult to communicate with across the board. They took more than one month to reply to my email, you wait half an hour on the phone to them, and their website is not informative, their office in Lisboa is disorganised. Not meaning to sound like a whinger here, my Portuguese other half has the same opinions about it all.

They are changing the way that they are implementing the work visas here - if they havent already - soon you will not have to apply for work from overseas - you can apply for it onshore here in Portugal (which is good news for you) and then get your visa. You need a contract first and you take that to the Department of Fronterias.

Anyway good luck with it all. Make sure you check out the rest of Portugal when you live here - it's very nice up north and the Algarve doesn't really give you a fair impression of Portugal.

Cheers,
Vegemite.