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Working In Portugal?

Working In Portugal?

Old Feb 10th 2005, 11:38 am
  #1  
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Default Working In Portugal?

Hi all,

Me and my family are considering giving up the uk and moving abroad. We're currently looking at portugal-none particular area but I needed some advice. Currently we cannot speak portuguese but are willing to learn as soon as needed. so, are there any jobs we could be doing as english speakers whilst we are learning the language. as soon as we have learnt the language, we will be looking for more regular jobs amongst the portuguese people.

Also, I've heard its pretty easy to move there on an EU passport, can anyone tell me their experiences of moving to portugal and how well you settled in and any other advice would be appreciated.

If it helps, there are 4 of us: I'm 40 my wife is 38 and my two kids are 14 and 12 and looking forward to the big move.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading.
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Old Feb 10th 2005, 8:48 pm
  #2  
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Thumbs up Re: Working In Portugal?

Hi funkytown , my wife and I have made the decision to move to Portugal. Our house in Southampton is on the market , and we're already learning Portuguese , and I'm already on the job search. I'm just about to go to bed now , though , but I'll be more than happy to share any advice soon. I'll be around Thursday daytime as I have a day off work to do more 'homework'. I'll also be logging in sometime over the weekend.
Cheers,
Pete




Originally Posted by funkytown
Hi all,

Me and my family are considering giving up the uk and moving abroad. We're currently looking at portugal-none particular area but I needed some advice. Currently we cannot speak portuguese but are willing to learn as soon as needed. so, are there any jobs we could be doing as english speakers whilst we are learning the language. as soon as we have learnt the language, we will be looking for more regular jobs amongst the portuguese people.

Also, I've heard its pretty easy to move there on an EU passport, can anyone tell me their experiences of moving to portugal and how well you settled in and any other advice would be appreciated.

If it helps, there are 4 of us: I'm 40 my wife is 38 and my two kids are 14 and 12 and looking forward to the big move.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for reading.
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Old Feb 11th 2005, 7:48 am
  #3  
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Default Re: Working In Portugal?

Originally Posted by Pete W
Hi funkytown , my wife and I have made the decision to move to Portugal. Our house in Southampton is on the market , and we're already learning Portuguese , and I'm already on the job search. I'm just about to go to bed now , though , but I'll be more than happy to share any advice soon. I'll be around Thursday daytime as I have a day off work to do more 'homework'. I'll also be logging in sometime over the weekend.
Cheers,
Pete
Hello again funkytown.To take your comments one-by-one...
We're moving to central Portugal , somewhere within driving distance of Porto and Coimbra , as these are the 2nd & 3rd biggest cities after Lisbon. I have (Portuguese) contacts in the Lisbon area who have aadvised me that in the Lisbon area it is very difficult to find work , and that property is very expensive. We're choosing to live in a more traditional area.Also , Porto is a major international port , and my background is in logistics/imports/exports.
As for language , I'd strongly recommend that you all start learning now. We sent for a Linguaphone set of audio CD's and CD-ROM that cost about £52 n total. We spend about an hour most nights on it - it's a good cours and we have a bit of fun inbetween times talking to each other in Portuguese! I know of people who moved to the Algarve 30 years ago and still haven't bothered learning Portuguese , so it really depends on how and where you want to live. If you intend to live a Portuguese lifestyle , then I think that it's essential to have the language. Your line of work could be a factor also.For example , in exporting , most business is done in English anyway , but on the whole , I'd say that you should learn the language.Although I'm trying specifically for work in freight forwarding , I'm prepared to take any kind of job as in initial measure. Will you have some capital behind you when you move? I think that the advantage of moving to the Algarve is that there are loads of Brits in the area, so language may not be such an issue.
As far as the legality of movng/living there: My understanding is that you can stay for up to 3 months to look for work , up to 6 months on a visitors visa( if your permanent home address is still in this country). To get a residents permit, you have to have an income of at least the minimum wage going into a Portuguese bank account(for each adult) , about 350 euros per month.. We'll be doing this , as we already have a sufficient income.
I'm at work at the moment , but at the weekend I'll send you some links for sites that you'll probably find useful.
Cheers , Pete
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Old Feb 14th 2005, 6:05 pm
  #4  
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Default Re: Working In Portugal?

Not much advice I'm afraid, just a word of warning. I was speaking to my friends last night who moved back to Portugal from the UK a year ago. They are Portugese, and even they are finding it extremely tough. They started off in the Algarve, managed to find seasonal jobs but as soon as the summer was over they were out of jobs. They then moved north to Tomar, and have as yet to secure jobs. There is very high unemployment in all areas of Portugal, more so away from the Algarve and Lisbon. Also there is no minimum wage so there are a lot of illegals who will work for basically nothing who seem to be getting many of the jobs going.
A lot of people now work in Spain and commute to Portugal to live. My friends say that the prices are very much higher in Portugal than Spain.
They are not sure what they will do now as they are not eligible for the 'dole' or equivalent as they have been outside the country for a while.
If you are seriously thinking of moving, and unless money is no object maybe a fact/job finding mission would be the best thing.
Good luck in whatever you choose to do.
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Old Feb 18th 2005, 6:16 pm
  #5  
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Default Re: Working In Portugal?

Originally Posted by Pete W
Hello again funkytown.To take your comments one-by-one...
We're moving to central Portugal , somewhere within driving distance of Porto and Coimbra , as these are the 2nd & 3rd biggest cities after Lisbon. I have (Portuguese) contacts in the Lisbon area who have aadvised me that in the Lisbon area it is very difficult to find work , and that property is very expensive. We're choosing to live in a more traditional area.Also , Porto is a major international port , and my background is in logistics/imports/exports.
As for language , I'd strongly recommend that you all start learning now. We sent for a Linguaphone set of audio CD's and CD-ROM that cost about £52 n total. We spend about an hour most nights on it - it's a good cours and we have a bit of fun inbetween times talking to each other in Portuguese! I know of people who moved to the Algarve 30 years ago and still haven't bothered learning Portuguese , so it really depends on how and where you want to live. If you intend to live a Portuguese lifestyle , then I think that it's essential to have the language. Your line of work could be a factor also.For example , in exporting , most business is done in English anyway , but on the whole , I'd say that you should learn the language.Although I'm trying specifically for work in freight forwarding , I'm prepared to take any kind of job as in initial measure. Will you have some capital behind you when you move? I think that the advantage of moving to the Algarve is that there are loads of Brits in the area, so language may not be such an issue.
As far as the legality of movng/living there: My understanding is that you can stay for up to 3 months to look for work , up to 6 months on a visitors visa( if your permanent home address is still in this country). To get a residents permit, you have to have an income of at least the minimum wage going into a Portuguese bank account(for each adult) , about 350 euros per month.. We'll be doing this , as we already have a sufficient income.
I'm at work at the moment , but at the weekend I'll send you some links for sites that you'll probably find useful.
Cheers , Pete
Pete,
As promised a little note from me on our Lisbon hol.
The weather was kind to us though the locals are not too pleased as rainfall has been negligible this winter. It was THE best holiday we've been on and we have travelled extensively. I really can't understand why we have left it until I'm in my fifties to experience it. We didn't get much further than the capitol and the Sintra hills, a month would have been too short to do it all justice and Coimbra,Minho etc will all have to wait for another time.
We did notice that property was not at all cheap all along the Lisbon coast out to Cascais. Up toward Sintra the prices dropped but on the little we saw there are far cheaper areas throughout the EU.
We didn't find clothing much cheaper than here which surprised me but every day living items such as food worked out a lot cheaper when shopped from the markets.
We found everybody overwhelmingly friendly, welcoming and helpful even the Police fell over themselves to help us out. Quite refreshing if you've had to have a conversation with some of the over officious arrogant little ..... we seem to be putting into uniform in this country.
A huge hit mate and thanks for the advice beforehand. Already trying to squeeze some more tim e from the boss to return. The people in the cottage adjacent to ours booked a return to Braga even before they got lhome.
We'll be back.
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