tom99

hi all -Just joined the expat club. came out to Portugal in a bid to register before brexit, not Ideal as I did not want to do this until I retire in 22. got the tax number and today the residence cert in Portimao, no problem so far. now stumped for what to do next.

dingg

Apply for nhr

Bomber Harris

Ensure you live in Portugal for at least 6 months every year so you don't lose residency now you've got it.

tom99

Yes I have seen this nhr scheme, it looks too good to be true. How,when and where do you apply?

dingg

On the finance portal, you must apply before end march next year but your date of nhr will start in this year.

tom99

Thanks dingg. I have only yesterday got residency so there is only 2 weeks left of Portugal's tax year and due to covid I have not worked this year. Would it be better to apply after march and have the 10 years start from the next tax year or does this have to coincide with initial residency.

dingg

You have until the end of March following the year you became resident, so don't wait or you'll miss the opportunity...

bons

Are you suggesting he does that now not to miss it, or not wait until after March to get it? Thanks.

dingg

I thought I was clear, if he waits until after end of March 2021 his application will fail as he will be outside of the application rules.

Hth

Rambling archer

Bons - to clarify
Apply for residency and get it in 2020 - doesn't matter what month, it is the year that counts for NHR. You have until the end of the following March to ask for NHR to be recognised. Once you have your access to Financas Portal on the web (what we did was to go to our local Financas to register and they send in the post to the address you have put into their records - an access code/password). With access to the Financas Portal there are lots of things you can do, but in particular you can find in "Services" the NHR section, fill in a couple of answers including the YEAR of your residency and that is it. Apparently they do some checking and if all is in order (which it usually is) your find that your status changes from "pendiente" to "Deferido" and you are approved, with a printed sheet available to you for reference.
(If ever there was a confusing term to use it has to be "deferido" which we would think would mean deferred, but it actually seems to be "approved")

So as Dingg says "don't wait or you'll miss the opportunity"