ricko

In case it's of use to others members, here's my experiences in applying for residency:

after renting for a couple of weeks, I went to the Camara Municipal, but only to be met
with stern faces and no-one who spoke English (I only spoke a few words of Portuguese).
Eventually, I found they wanted me to come back after 90 days. When I did so, I was
asked to come back the following day.
By this time I was quite apprehensive. However, after a short wait the following day,
I was interviewed by a very pleasant lady. I was asked quite a few questions I wasn't
expecting, including did I want a certificate for one or five years.
The only item that seemed to be of significance was signing a declaration at the
end of the interview.
This visit took about an hour.
At one point it was mentioned that I should arrange for private medical insurance, but this was
not followed up on.

I received the residency document the following day during another visit to the Camara.

mfesharne

Sounds like you encountered a degree of the famous acute variable bureaucracy syndrome but congratulations.

Next step is to take your passport, NIF, Residencia & Attestado to your nearest Centro do Saude & ask for a Utente number & NHS registration............. You don't need private medical insurance as all PT residents are entitled to NHS care................... If you or your partner are in receipt of a UK state pension, you'll have to provide an S1 form as well.

Pistolpete2

My only question for feedback on this would be that IF you had been face to face with somebody who spoke better English such that you could have had a conversation with them could you have established that the length of your initial lease could have had a bearing on whether you had to wait the entire 90 days before applying for residency. Further, IF you had stipulated that you already had plans (with evidence*) to BUY a property, would this have had any bearing on the elapsed time before they would entertain your residency application.

*For instance, that you had NO home elsewhere and had made a formal offer to buy which had been accepted.

Did you show your lease or rental paperwork to the official - what was your rental term?

Red Eric

I think it might be worth remembering that the procedure for EU citizens is not an application for residency as such.

It is an application for a certificate of registration of residence.

ricko

After establishing the 90 day issue, all attempts at communication were met with the same "come back after 90 days".

mfesharne

Technically you can register sooner than 90 days but it's not unusual for some civil servants to ignore that.

I registered within 2-3 weeks so I could create as large a time window as possible for the tax free car import & I know of several people who have done it (recentlyish) within 2-3 days of arrival.

Gyges

Presumably you already had a NIF and were asked to produce this ? Which Camara was this, if you don't mind me asking ?

ricko

Yes, I had a NIF, opened a bank account and had registered at the Junta de Freguesia.
The junta was at Sta Maria Maior, and the Camara Viana do Castelo.

captainflack

I initially registered about six years ago, in Cascais. The process took about 15 minutes, I'd only been in Portugal a month or so (but did have a year lease). I recall I was asked some basic questions about my income (I was registering as self-employed).

I think it depends very much on where you register, and probably when. Cascais has a lot of foreigners, so they knew the drill well. It's also a relatively wealthy area, and the economy at the time was very down, so maybe they didn't ask too many questions when solvent foreigners turned up and wanted to live in their town. Could be a bit different now Portugal seems to be booming.

My wife is now an immigration lawyer, so she deals with these things a lot for clients and sometimes cameras require you to make appointments and send your docs by email a few days before. So the experience definitely isn't the same everywhere.

ricko

I've done this and am now waiting to be assigned a doctor.
Will this also cover Optical and Dental services, or do I need to do something else for those?