CAROL ELIZABETH

We have owned a home on the Algarve since 2009 which we love. We are retired and make several regular trips each year. We have no plans to move permanently to Portugal but wish to continue our lovely trips when the Covid business is sorted and after Brexit finally comes into place. My question is what do I need to give more thought to ? How will things differ from how they have been? I am assuming a visa might be needed and that my European Health card won't work. Will I need a European Driving license? i have no plans to sell but I assume I will have higher taxes and CG than residents. Any advice would be helpful.

Pulaski

You'll be a visitor so long as you don't spend more than 90 days out of any 180 days in Portugal (Schengen zone), and your British driving license will be acceptable as a visitor. To stay longer you would need a visa, but even on a visitor visa you wouldn't need a Portuguese driving license, and indeed would likely be ineligible to obtain a driving license as a visitor, even if you wanted to.

If you stay over 180 days in any one year you might start triggering tax issues.

chislenko

Do we not need an international driving licence, I thought I read that somewhere, for driving in Europe?

Pulaski

It is preferred/ recommended, as it is for other countries around the world, but it might not be truely "necessary".

An international "permit" (not actually a "licence") is in fact only a translation of your existing home-country licence, and it is debateable how truely necessary it is in countries close to home and/or where many of your countrymen visit and/or where English is widely understood, and no doubt others will be along to debate the point.

coleio

No such thing as international driving licenc/se but there is an international driving permit and if you have a UK licence then

https://www.gov.uk/driving-abroad/in...driving-permit

liveaboard

I would advise you to get one of those permits just in case; cheap insurance.
Will the EU honor UK licenses? if so, does the GNR know that? Does your insurance company?

Things will clarify after a while.

Pulaski

It's a matter for individual countries, not "the EU", and pretty much all countries around the world are signatories to a treaty that recognizes all countries licenses for visitors, and for 12 months (which is why immigrants to the UK get 12 months to get a British license, and why immigrants to the US don't, because it is the federal government that signed the treaty and licenses are issued by states. .... And as stated above, twice, the "international permit" has no validity on its own, it is only a translation of a the license that you actually passed the test for.

So yes, the individual countries in the EU will continue to "recognize" a British licence, exactly the same as they do a US license, or one from Brazil, Kazakhstan, or Malawi. Having an international permit might be prudent, but not having one is, IMO, rather unlikely to ever cause you an issue.

Red Eric

In case any further reassurance is required on the matter, the PT authorities have explicitly stated that holders of UK drivers' licences visiting Portugal post-Brexit will not need to carry an IDP. Here it is on the PT equivalent of the DVLA site in the Brexit FAQ :

Brexit FAQ – Driving Licences

(from Cartas de Condução / Driving Licences - Atualização da Informação / Update to give it its full official context)

If you're driving through other countries to get here, obviously you'll need to check their specific requirements at the time.

Red Eric

There's a bunch of stuff on here you might want to whizz through :

Visit Europe from 1 January 2021


I don't think it's all completely cut and dried yet, so there may be details still to emerge.

From late 2022, it is envisaged that citizens from visa waiver countries will need to obtain a clearance document (ETIAS) to enter the Schengen Area.

wellinever

A friend of mine mentioned to me last night that Pres.Costa has announced that the need for certain documentations, (Residencia was mentioned) have been given an extra 3 months to get done due to CV19
I am not sure if this includes UK nationals and Brexit bureaucracy ref residencia.
Can anyone confirm what has been said

santaanita

you just promoted costa from prime minister to president lthat will upset a few people

CAROL ELIZABETH

Thank you everyone. It seems to be looking as if everything will be much as it is now but with the on line forms that have come into place since Covid. Seems as if 90 days is the key length, with 180 max in any one year. For me that is fine but we have friends who winter in Portugal (can you blame them). Their situation is more difficult as they won't want to be taxed in Portugal or have to give up their UK driving license (what do they do for the other time they are in the UK?)

Pulaski

Well they'll need to make their minds up! If they spend most of the year in Portugal they should become residents there, that is where they'll be taxed, and they'll need a Portuguese driving licence - and then they'll be visitors in the UK, not pay income tax in the UK, and their Portuguese license will be perfectly acceptable in the UK, just as a British licence is acceptable for a visitor to Portugal. To spend longer than 90 days in Portugal in one block and during any 180 day period, they'll need a visitors visa.

RichardHenshall

The two 90-day periods would need to be separated by 90 days (outside Schengen) to avoid falling foul of the 90 days in any 180 rule, so the entire winter is impossible after this one.

RichardHenshall

... there will probably be a requirement to appoint a fiscal representative once we're treated as 3rd country residents.