Jakk57

Hi, I am a 56 year old single male looking to move to Portugal with a female friend of mine who is 60 I have a number of questions surrounding what is the best visa for our situation.
can we both go on the same visa application as we will be living in the same property which should give us a monthly ..we both have small private pensions and be renting a property out in the UK for income plus some savings..
Any advice would be appreciated

Thank you

Lou71

First question, do either of you have (or eligible for) an EU passport? Your lives will be much, much easier if you do.

You say friend rather than partner. This makes a difference because EU states only recognise durable partnerships with proof and civil partnerships - finally available in the UK for heterosexual couples of course.

​​​​​​This is not gospel but it you are literally friends, I think you will have to make individual applications as opposed to household. That said, the minimum income requirement is much lower in Portugal than Spain for example so it may not cause a problem for you.

It might be worth emailing Europe Direct for clarity on this one. They will pass your question to the Portugal section an you will receive a reply in a few days.

Jakk57

Hi Lou71 thank you so much for your reply.

Unfortunately neither of us are eligible for an EU passport I think my grandmother was Irish but not sure if they would go back that far.
We are both looking for some kind of work in Portugal even if part time as our pension and rental income won't be great but we will have money I'm a Portuguese account.

Yes she is just a friend.

Not sure who Europe Direct are but will look it up.

Thanks again

Ajmandon

If your Grandmother was born on the Island of Ireland then you can apply for Irish Citizenship. It does require some work to collect all the necessary paperwork, mostly birth, marriage and death certificates, to support the application for entry to the Foreign Births Register (FBR). Once that is completed, currently takes about 12 months, you then can apply for an Irish passport!

Lou71

Stop right there, you are eligible for an Irish passport!!! You have an Irish grandmother? Half the UK wants an Irish grandmother!!!

Don't do anything until you have found you grandmother's birth record in Ireland. You can do this online and it doesn't matter where in Ireland she was born, it just has to be on the island of Ireland.

All being well, you then need to register on the Irish Birth Registry (FBR) and the current waiting time is just over a year - my parents' neighbours are just about to receive their certificates from an October 2021 sibling application.

This is truly life changing for you. You need to check out your grandmother's birth certificate immediately - you can do it online - and you might want to join this very helpful, very friendly forum:

https://www.immigrationboards.com/ir...7641-6200.html

You can't work on the retirement visa in Portugal, you would need a different visa which is very, very difficult so you really need this passport and your freedom of movement back just like the good old pre Brexit days.

I will try to dig out the website for Irish birth certificates.

Jakk57

I did check and unfortunately its not my grandmother born in Ireland it was my Great great grandfather...I am almost sure that is to far back..

Red Eric

I'm going to disagree with this.

I think you can work on a passive income / independent means residence permit once issued, but you need to prove you meet the sufficient means criteria without such employment in order to get the visa / residence permit in the first place and in order to get it renewed.

Lou71

Oh god, what a terrible blow. I have unearthed the website for Irish birth records and you might want to double check anyway:

https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/
​​​​​
If you draw a blank on the Irish passport, I'm afraid you are stuck with the wretched third country status and the resulting, dreaded visa process.

Lou71

Exactly how easy would it be to achieve that? Has anyone on here been through that process?

Red Eric

I doubt it but I imagine there are very probably some Brazilians who have.

Not sure how easy it would be to achieve. Part of the difficulty, I guess (especially for a non Portuguese speaker), might be securing suitable work.

The other side of it is a case of meeting the financial requirements as stipulated (ie for a single adult, the minimum amount is equal to the PT minimum wage, which is 760 euros per month this year and projected to rise to 900 by 2026). So in this case each would have to demonstrate that independently of the other. If that isn't possible, then it's a faller at the first.

christmasoompa

See the OP's subsequent post - it wasn't his grandmother that was Irish, it was a great great grandfather.

HTH.

macliam

Which is why I deleted my post....

christmasoompa

Yep, I posted just before you deleted it, wasn’t sure you’d seen the other post.

wellinever

Why Portugal?

Lou71

Why not?

Portugal is a great place to live and massively popular with all nationalities, not least those from the US who are relocating to Portugal in large numbers.

What would be a better alternative? Spain is also very popular (always has been and probably always will be) but the minimum income requirement is much higher than Portugal and free health care is only for over 60s or those paying Spanish social security. In Portugal, all residents are eligible for free state health care immediately. Another factor - love it or hate it - is English is widely and very well spoken in Portugal, particularly on the Algarve.

Of course Ireland is very popular and easy for UK nationals to relocate but housing is expensive and in short supply.

On a separate but related issue, I'm struggling to understand why so many UK nationals are still blissfully unaware of the massive, life changing implications of the loss of EU freedom of movement and what it actually means for them personally. I suppose it's hard for them to get their head around having part of their citizenship ripped away - against their will in most cases.