Beech's 1st moho adventure

[BreweryDave]

Not the info we were given. Apparently we just have to register our uk license with the imt which we have 60 days to do. Obviously different rules will apply once permanent residency is applied for.

Hmmmm, you have been misinformed. I highly recomend you join the fb groups British Expats in Portugal, and British in Portugal, and have a look through the files and announcements on these groups, they are factual
You can also check out the U.K. gov website about emigrating.
‘B’ has changed all this.........after 31/12

Also, there’s no such thing as ‘temporary’ residency, it’s just that the certificate has to be renewed after 5 years, it’s a misunderstood misnomer
Your U.K. residency is actually cancelled, whilst you can have dual citizenship, you can’t have dual residency

If you don’t exchange your licence ( or start the process) before 31/12 you may have to take a Portuguese driving test
Also, you’ll need your Utente number from your local health centre and need a medical to exchange. I assume you have your NIF too.

This link may help..... http://www.imtonline.pt/index.php/t...change108/9-uncategorised/200-1st-situation-2

After 31/12 you won’t have an EU licence! And you will need to matriculate your MH.

Im afraid it’s a life change, with lots of strings attached, not simply a way to avoid the 90/180 rule

Please take this in the spirit it is intended, I don’t wish to ‘criticise ’, merely to inform

 

[Helen Ariel]

Hmmmm, you have been misinformed. I highly recomend you join the fb groups Expats in Portugal, and British in Portugal, and have a look through the files and announcements on these groups, they are factual
You can also check out the U.K. gov website about emigrating.
‘B’ has changed all this.........after 31/12

Also, there’s no such thing as ‘temporary’ residency, it’s just that the certificate has to be renewed after 5 years, it’s a misunderstood misnomer
Your U.K. residency is actually cancelled, whilst you can have dual citizenship, you can’t have dual residency

If you don’t exchange your licence ( or start the process) before 31/12 you may have to take a Portuguese driving test
Also, you’ll need your Utente number from your local health centre and need a medical to exchange. I assume you have your NIF too.

This link may help..... http://www.imtonline.pt/index.php/t...change108/9-uncategorised/200-1st-situation-2

Im afraid it’s a life change, with lots of strings attached, not simply a way to avoid the 90/180 rule

Please take this in the spirit it is intended, I don’t wish to ‘critisize’, merely to inform

I've read the uk gov info. Also we would have been breaking the law if we didn't apply for temporary residency as we are staying longer than 90 days in Portugal. It just gives us breathing room to spend a bit more time here as we are not moving until travel rules relax. Not worried the systems here are not remotely joined up and there were so many different answers to the same questions from different online sources re the residency requirements. They asked for very little info in reality. Certainly didn't take any of our vehicle details.

 

[BreweryDave]

I hope the GNR have the same approach if you are stopped, I’m just advising on the legality of it
Menawhile, keep on surfing

 

[BreweryDave]

as we are staying longer than 90 days in Portugal.

You’re fine in Portugal for as long as you like, now it’s your country of residence
However, the 90/180 still applies everywhere else in Europe (schengen ) as you are a U.K. citizen. FYI.

 

[Helen Ariel]

I hope the GNR have the same approach if you are stopped, I’m just advising on the legality of it
Menawhile, keep on surfing

Yes we are aware of what we legally need to do that's why we applied and to give us breathing space over the transition period as we are certainly not returning to the UK for another 4 or so months. Not worried about the gnr as we play by the rules.

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[BreweryDave]

Yes we are aware of what we legally need to do that's why we applied and to give us breathing space over the transition period as we are certainly not returning to the UK for another 4 or so months. Not worried about the gnr as we play by the rules.

For yourselves, yes
for the MH & licence.........no!
( by the way, even with the loss of C1, the B class ( car) licence here actually covers motorhomes up to 4250kg )

If you do need any help or advice, feel free to message me, rather than get involved on your touring thread
Been here 3 years, and have gone through all of these processes
good luck

 

[Helen Ariel]

For both! We have 60 days to register our uk license with the authorities and this was from the guy who processed our temporary residency and on uk gov site. if we do decide to proceed with a permanent residency in the future then we'll go down the road of Portuguese licence and by the sounds of it that will be an upgrade for me as I don't have c1 not that I need it anyway.

 

[busby]

You’re fine in Portugal for as long as you like, now it’s your country of residence
However, the 90/180 still applies everywhere else in Europe (schengen ) as you are a U.K. citizen. FYI.

Am i correct in thinking Dave that with temporary Portugese Residency you can stay 60 days in Schengen say France and Spain and then 60 days in Portugal and then return to UK from say Santander or via a Channel port,,BUSBY,,

 

[Lenny HB]

by the way, even with the loss of C1, the B class ( car) licence here actually covers motorhomes up to 4250kg

How come JJ got pulled for no C1 then?

 

[BreweryDave]

Am i correct in thinking Dave that with temporary Portugese Residency you can stay 60 days in Schengen say France and Spain and then 60 days in Portugal and then return to UK from say Santander or via a Channel port,,BUSBY,,

Yes, you could do, that. The time in Portugal does not count. You can stay in Portugal indefinitely, but are limited to the 90/180 in all other schengen countries. And it’s not ‘temporary’ residency, it’s the piece of paper, the certificate, that is temporary. To be renewed after 5 years.

How come JJ got pulled for no C1 then?

No idea, unless his van was over 4250, or he didn’t have a Portuguese licence, I don’t know.

.......and Helen Ariel im sorry but you have been incorrectly advised!

I’ll leave it there.

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[bobandjanie]

It's the same rules in Spain, jump over one hurdle then you find another.
The day we got residency our Spanish bank account was closed, went to the bank the following morning, (our bank is like banks in the UK 25 years ago) she said let's have a look ........... oh that's because your residents and you have a non resident account.

We spoke to a gestor about putting our van on Spanish plates, but decided to buy a LHD but couldn't find what we wanted in Spain so got one in Germany and she sorted that out for us, money well spent, had we not used her it could have cost us another €800.
But another thing that surprised us was Janie drove the UK motorhome back and I followed in the Spanish one, and customs asked her what was the purpose of her visit and how long was she staying, yet UK passport she still had an English driving licence at that time and UK registered vehicle.

Another thing of course is unless your drawing a UK pension and entitled to the S1 so the UK pay your health care, that will continue even though you may not be old enough being residents now under the withdrawal agreement.
Or your registered self employed and paying in the system, until your S1 kicks in, other wise like us at the moment for another year need private healthcare.
The driving licence is a bit hit and miss here, some get the C1 many don't.......... Janie kept hers maybe it's an age thing. Bob.

 

[Helen Ariel]

It's the same rules in Spain, jump over one hurdle then you find another.
The day we got residency our Spanish bank account was closed, went to the bank the following morning, (our bank is like banks in the UK 25 years ago) she said let's have a look ........... oh that's because your residents and you have a non resident account.

We spoke to a gestor about putting our van on Spanish plates, but decided to buy a LHD but couldn't find what we wanted in Spain so got one in Germany and she sorted that out for us, money well spent, had we not used her it could have cost us another €800.
But another thing that surprised us was Janie drove the UK motorhome back and I followed in the Spanish one, and customs asked her what was the purpose of her visit and how long was she staying, yet UK passport she still had an English driving licence at that time and UK registered vehicle.

Another thing of course is unless your drawing a UK pension and entitled to the S1 so the UK pay your health care, that will continue even though you may not be old enough being residents now under the withdrawal agreement.
Or your registered self employed and paying in the system, until your S1 kicks in, other wise like us at the moment for another year need private healthcare.
The driving licence is a bit hit and miss here, some get the C1 many don't.......... Janie kept hers maybe it's an age thing. Bob.

Not too worried when we move on again we will inform the local office of our status and hand in our residence if necessary but we didn't want to be risking over staying during this transition and with covid travel restrictions in place so happy we've done our best to keep within the rules. Hopefully in the future when we return to Portugal having been in the system prior to Brexit might help with future applications but who knows. They certainly seem keen to keep people coming over here for longer periods.

 

[bobandjanie]

Hi, I don't think it's a bad thing quite the opposite, getting residency is going to be more difficult and you wouldn't get the benefit of the withdrawal agreement, but obviously don't know what your personal circumstances are, but we rent our apartment out in the summer months and go travelling, OK this year we turned down bookings because we didn't want to get out, but took bookings for 50 nights at peak, last year booked for 160 nights that's why we moved here, gives us a nice winter home while we are here, taking residency you need to spend 6 months in the country for 5 years then you become permanent, when we became residents we were better off and not having to pay non resident tax, and getting an allowance we don't pay any tax.
It's worth considering your next move, people are desperate here to get their residency sorted. Bob.

 

[Helen Ariel]

No decent surf today so we did a bit of a spin on the bikes. Just 14 miles and pretty flat but we got to explore all round Sagres from a different perspective than from the van.

Back home I'm doing a slow cooked bean stew with pork belly, chorizo and black pudding which is a regional dish we had whilst in Asturias and I've been meaning to cook ever since but was waiting for a colder day as it's 3 hours on the hob. It's fresh out tonight so the stove is warming the van nicely!

 

[Helen Ariel]

Well it's been a very rainy, cool day today. We went for a walk along the cliffs towards Aljezer and did more wave watching.

Only got a bit soggy and then went for Sunday lunch at a restaurant near home which the campsite receptionist had recommended.

Good, simple food at a very reasonable price and there was a nice buzz from locals out enjoying their dinner.

We had olives, fish soup, bread, pork chops and ribs with chips and salad, an almond tart to share, a beer, bottle of red wine and coffee.

A lovely meal certainly helped to cheer ourselves up from the bad weather and some sad news from home that DH's grandma had passed away aged 105.

A very much loved woman who had lived through one pandemic already and 2 wars and who we had meant to be visiting in the Spring before we left for our travels but couldn't due to CV. So a bit of sadness at the moment that we didn't get to say goodbye.

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[Lenny HB]

That was an expensive meal for Portugal but that's the Algarve.

 

[Helen Ariel]

That was an expensive meal for Portugal but that's the Algarve.

Pretty standard from our travels down the coast. The nice bottle of wine bumped it up and the tourist restaurants are a lot more expensive than this down here!

 

[Helen Ariel]

Well we've had 2 rather dull days due to bad weather but a bit of excitement yesterday afternoon ended in us giving statements through a translator at the police station until 8.30pm!

We were sitting out a wild thunderstorm with pounding rain, flashes of lightning and thunder that shook the van whilst overlooking Mareta beach, curled up watching netflix and when it finally passed I had the doggie guilt trip eyes looking at me so just after 4pm took Beech down for a run on the desserted beach.

High tide had just dropped and the stormy seas had left a bunch of rubbish along the normally pristine shore, fishing nets, plastic chemical containers and bottles and I dragged a few bigger bits up onto the rocks where the tide couldn't get them, hoping someone might collect them up and intended to pick up the smaller plastic bottles for the bin on my return journey but when I got to the far end of the beach by the cliffs I noticed a large rectangular object wrapped in woven, plastic sacking with rope handles and at first thought it might be a weight of some sort for attaching lobster pots to but it just didn't look right and having seen news stories about bales of drugs washed up on beaches my curiosity was on overload.

I called DH and said bring a knife as I think I've found something dodgy but not sure and after cutting it open we could see it was an enormous load of packets of hashish.

Utterly stunned we called the police and they asked us to come and give a statement which involved a fair bit of waiting as they had to get an interpreter and there were a few power cuts whilst they were typing them into the computer so they had to be redone a couple of times. The cops told us it was 40kgs and worth about 200 thousand euros!

I didn't feel like cooking my planned spag bol that late so we grabbed takeaway pizzas on the way home and had a good laugh about the exciting end to a boring day.

 

[Podney]

Wow! Such excitement.
It was probably on its way from Morocco and they either got caught in a storm or were going to be intercepted.
Many (no,many many) years ago,the guy who kept the restaurant in Burgau used to make regular trips to morrocco in a large rib for the same purpose. Alledgedly! But it wouldn’t be his as as I think he died a while back.

 

[Rob Hammond]

That would have been a good MH

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[wolfie2]

Are there any "finders keepers" rules in Portugal?? It's unlikely to be claimed

 

[Just smiffy]

If your posts are going a bit funny we’ll all know that you kept a bit...

are they going to put you in a safe house and witness protection program....

 

[bobandjanie]

I can see the headlines now .... Bob.

Local residents find...............

 

[Mikey RV]

You can do what you want in Portugal now, all the cops will be stoned for a month.

 

[Helen Ariel]

Beautiful clear but fresh morning with the sun coming up on one side of the van and the moon still out on the other.

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[Just smiffy]

I see you made the papers this morning...

Beach the sniffer dog...

 

[Helen Ariel]

I see you made the papers this morning...

Beach the sniffer dog...

She’s miffed you got her name wrong Just smiffy

 

[Just smiffy]

She’s miffed you got her name wrong Just smiffy

Auto-correct.. I’ll get her a bone...

 

[Just smiffy]

Or half a kilo....

 

[Helen Ariel]

It was a beautiful day yesterday. The ocean was really calm for once so we decided to go for a coastal walk from Zavial beach on the South Coast.

It's a lovely area and looking really green after the rains. The light was just stunning and the views were incredibly clear as no sea spray along the cliffs at all.

After hiking up to a view point we could see right the way back to Sagres fort in one direction and across to Lagos in the other.

After our hike we headed to the caravana de fish and chips (as listed on Google ) by the lighthouse at cabo de Sao Vicente for a lunch with a view.

We then rounded off a lovely day with a few sunset drinks at the campsite bar with friends we've met through body boarding and the bar owner brought out a couple of plates of warm freshly roasted almonds which she said were grown in her garden. They were melt in the mouth divine! Nothing like the dry, tough almonds I'm used to.

It was chilly when the sun went down but the stars were awesome and we even had a bit of guitar music and singing to complete the ambience.

We have more stormy weather today. The wind and rain woke me early and we have to go to Lagos today to fill up with gas.

It's just run out in the night and the fridge is flashing though we knew it was getting low a couple of days ago we wanted to wait until today as prefer to drive and do chores when the weather is poor. So no tea and toast this morning but up and away as soon as it gets light and hopefully the freezer will stay frozen until we get driving and the fridge can run on 12v again.

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