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Hello!
A little background, then I'll go into the questions...
Background:
I'm a British software developer, currently employed in the UK. Wanted to move to Portugal for a bit as I like the place, so applied for the digital nomad visa (temporary). That's all done, but somehow I've been awarded a "residence visa for remote work purposes.". The London embassy's words, not mine. I purposely didn't apply for this visa because I don't meet what I thought were the requirements, namely I have no nif, no portuguese bank account, and only have a month of accommodation booked. They have given me what I think is a digital nomad residence visa, Apr-Jul this year, with a SEF appointment in July.
Anyhow, I'm now in the situation where I have the visa that I wanted (but didn't think I could get) so I now have a heap of questions about what I need to do next and figured this might be a good place for some pointers (even if it's other threads, organisations, any help appreciated).
Chiefly, my questions are:
- I think I need to get a NIF and portuguese bank account sooner rather than later. Quick searching lead me to e-residence.com who could do NIF, bank account opening and act as fiscal representative for me. I've also contacted Ei imigrante (today, Sunday) so will see what they get back to me with. Has anybody used either of these organisations for NIF/bank account/fiscal representation? Is there anybody else I should look at?
- What do I need to have in place by the SEF appointment? This is a big one. I've looked here at what I think is the correct part of the SEF website ( https://imigrante.sef.pt/en/solicitar/trabalhar/art88-1/ but whilst this appears to be artigo88-1, the visa in my passport has reference ART. 61B. I presume that's referring to the same artigos, but my initials are also ART so there's a chance I'm misinterpreting that.
- From the link above, what on earth are the following?:
- Supporting document with the necessary information for checking the registration within tax authority
- Supporting document with the necessary information for checking the regular payment of social security
- Also from the above link, I need to figure out what constitutes "adequate accommodation". What is the accommodation proof requirement?
- From the link above, what on earth are the following?:
- Finally, I need to talk tax residency (specific to the UK). I appreciate that's probably beyond the scope of this message board, so my question is, does anybody know any good organisations in the UK to talk to about tax residency in the UK?
Thanks very much for reading, sorry for the long message! Any help/pointers greatfully received.
Cheers,
Alun
Hi Alun,
I hope you’re well, apologies I can’t help you as just looking at starting the digital nomad process myself but with a view to get permanent residency in the end as my wife is Brazilian and she’s not a fan of U.K. winters.
I am keen to know the outcome of your journey, when you applied for digital nomad visa through London did you do the application yourself or did you hire a lawyer to help? I am just looking into Ei as obviously popular on here and they seem knowledgeable when I watch the YouTube videos from this site.
one company I did see pop up on a few forums regarding nif and bank account was BORDR.com somewhere around $500, I assume an American company, I was going to do nif and bank account myself when there for a short trip due to wife speaking the language.
I’ll keep an eye on your journey and best of luck.
Dan
@danjs78 I did the application myself so far, but I'm probably going to try and get a bit of help Portugal side for dealing with SEF. I wouldn't pay anybody to help on the UK side - I did look at that as I thought that would allow me to sidestep VFS but that didn't seem to be the case. I'm also going to sort the NIF and bank account myself when I'm in Porto next month.
Has Ei! returned your inquiry?
@jonesdn2020 Yes they did respond last week. I'm not sure if I'll use them or not, as I think all I really need is somebody to confirm for me exactly what paperwork I need to take to the SEF meeting. I'm sure somebody here must have that information and the cost seemed a bit steep to me.
@alunt The Visa is so new that many people haven't made it through the SEF appointment stage yet. I would check YouTube, especially the migration videos on Expats Portugal channel.
@jonesdn2020 According to the news, 550 DN Visas have already been issued so far.
@antonio_f Just waiting for those recipients to go through their SEF appointments and report back what was required of them. If I understand it correctly there are two paths on that visa and only one is for obtaining a resident permit?
Hi All, just starting my DN process via UK.
Does anyone have any updates on how things are going with VSF? Any success history?
Tks
Vanderson
@dinho The news here in Portugal is that they are being processed and approved. Hoping a member that has been approved for the DN can chime in.
Hi All
My appointment with SEF is in July for the D8 and i wanted to know if i need a 12 month or 24 month rental agreement to ensure i get a 2 year residency permit. I am following this thread closely
@nathanmpofugmail-com Check the YouTube videos on the Expats Portugal channel. The last one I watched was some time ago but Gilda from Ei! was mentioning specifics on the D8 and housing. I believe it was not the same as a D7 at that time. Things always change so hopefully someone with updated info can chime in.
