Moving to Portugal Saved a Family $5,000/month but Had Surprising Costs

• Frances Bo Cordova lived in California her complete life, however lately discovered it to be too costly.
• She and her husband moved with their son to Portugal in October to decrease their price of residing.
• Cordova stated the transfer lower her month-to-month prices in half, but it surely was unexpectedly dear to get settled.

The rising price of residing within the US is driving some folks abroad looking for extra inexpensive choices.

Frances Bo Cordova, 32, her husband, and her four-year-old son left the Bay Space for Porto, Portugal in October. The transfer has already made an enormous dent of their month-to-month bills, which totaled about $10,000 in California.

“We have solely been right here two months, however our bills are within the $5,000 to $6,000 vary,” she stated. “So it has been roughly half.”

Within the US, Cordova was paying a mortgage of about $2,500 a month. In Porto, she and her household lease a two-bedroom residence for 1,000 euros a month, or roughly $1,062. Whereas Cordova stopped working as group lead and operations supervisor for a small tech startup earlier than the transfer, her husband nonetheless works as an engineer for a software program firm that already had workers in Europe.

Chopping again on the month-to-month bills has been good, she stated. However, Cordova added, settling into a brand new life in Portugal — together with the method to use for and acquire a D7 visa, a doc that lets non-European Union residents apply for authorized residency — has been each costly and arduous. 

“The D7 course of is unquestionably not for the faint of coronary heart,” she stated. “You should be financially steady earlier than embarking on it.”

Cordova laid out crucial execs and cons of her household’s relocation, which she feels anybody contemplating making the same transfer ought to know. 

Why she selected Portugal to maneuver to

This 12 months, particularly, Individuals have been desirous to expertise life in Europe. They’ve seemed to purchase properties not solely in Portugal, however in France, Italy, and Greece — because of the rise of distant work and a comparatively sturdy greenback.

Cordova’s analysis, nonetheless, stored main her to Portugal.

“We didn’t, at the moment, know something about Portugal, however we had been interested in it — contemplating how a lot we had been studying about it,” she stated. “We preferred the sound of the price of residing, the truth that lots of people converse English, that it is rather secure. The schooling and healthcare system have each panned out to be top quality and simply accessible.”

The neighboring nation of Spain was additionally on Cordova’s shortlist, however the fee financial savings in Portugal had been too interesting to cross up.

“The principle factor that turned us off from Spain, which is the opposite nation that we actually thought of, is the taxation there,” she stated.

However Portugal has paperwork — and it is not low cost

Although Cordova has saved hundreds of {dollars} to this point since transferring to Portugal, the method to maneuver there was expensive and time-consuming.

“The transfer to Portugal in all probability price someplace between $6,000 to $10,000,” she stated.

Making use of for a D7 visa requires a legitimate passport, proof of revenue, financial institution statements, proof of satisfactory lodging by exhibiting a 12-month lease settlement, and extra. The D7 utility prices about $102, and in keeping with International Citizen Options, a migration consultancy agency based mostly in London, the method can take as much as 60 days.

“There’s simply a number of paperwork,” Cordova confirmed. “You should order copies of your start certificates, your marriage certificates, and many others. Every copy itself is $20 to $30 out of your US county.”

“Think about every utility has 20 of these items of paper, and you’ve got 4 folks in your loved ones,” she added. “It provides up actually rapidly.”

Cordova additionally described background checks that required in-person visits to a Portuguese utility middle within the States. These will be expensive relying on the place your nearest utility middle is; fortunately for her, it was a brief drive away in San Francisco. 

Establishing proof of lodging was the costliest half

The D7 visa requires candidates to point out proof that you’ve got a spot to dwell in Portugal when you arrive. That, Cordova stated, was the most expensive half. 

Cordova stated she discovered a spot for the household to dwell in Porto, the nation’s second-largest metropolis, and signed a lease in June. However as a result of the visa course of takes months, she needed to pay the $1,000/month lease on the house for a number of months earlier than even stepping foot within the nation. That approach, she could be prepared with proof when it was her flip to current it to the authorities vetting her utility.

“Only a few folks have been in a position to get round that,” Cordova stated. “That is a number of thousand {dollars} that you’ll want to be able to lose, basically.”

On high of paying lease for an empty residence, she warned, it prices extra to maneuver overseas than to maneuver domestically.

“From a logistical perspective, it is not that low cost to get your entire geese to ensure that transferring,” Cordova stated. “It’s a must to purchase all the additional suitcases. It’s a must to purchase all the bags tags and the bags wrap and specialty straps. You want folks to drive you and your entire luggage to the airport and from the airport. I believe lots of people do not actually take into consideration these bills till they’re absolutely crucial and in your doorstep.”

Regardless that the transfer itself was not low cost, Cordova believes that the general expertise will repay.

“The longer we keep right here,” she stated, “the extra it will have been value it.”