Portugal with a D7 visa

[Mr porky]

Advise please,
We travel most of the year in our motorhome and find the 90 in 180 day rule for europe is restricting our life.
January to March of this year we ended up travelling in Asia, it was nice but too expensive and we missed our motorhome.

We believe we can matriculate our morelo onto Portuguese plates and become a Portuguese resident via the D7 visa.
This will entail renting a flat so we have a Portuguese address.
Has anyone done this a using D7 visa or any other options.
Any pitfalls to look out for and do you have a company or agent you would recommend to get through the paperwork.
We would have preferred via spain but we do still need to work in the uk for 2 months of the year and I don't believe they have a visa that's suitable.
We are directors of our own company so we can adjust it to only get dividends not wages.
Thank you for your time.

 

[chaser]

From what I have seen of Portugal central region on YouTube it appears to be totally unpopulated so if you keep your head down and don't start campsites or something how do they know you are there.

 

[Northernraider]

I think quite a lot of people just carry on with a 'catch me if you can' attitude.

I think some do get away with it undetected, at least for a while.

But when/if they do catch you they come down on you like a ton of bricks.

Not just Brits. A lot of Europeans from other countries also treat it a bit like the wild west. They build without planning permission, do illegal extensions, cut down protected trees, ignore fire regulations. Motorhomers that carry on like bears in the woods. Some of this really irritates the locals, but some of it is just par for the course.

The locals are for instance often quite fastidious about certain things - eg not using spark-generating power tools outdoors when it's forbidden. Foreigners seem to just blithely carry on. But under the same fire regulations land owners are meant to keep their land clear of undergrowth. Some do, some don't. (It costs money which they often don't have.) The fines for non-compliance are substantial.

Yes I know , personally I'd just like to buy a small piece of land somewhere inland and central that I can have as a winter base ... I'd like residency which allowed me to stay there longer than 3 months etc and open up Europe to me again , but I don't want to entirely give up UK either. I don't really want to change drivers licences and matriculate the camper either.

Now I know at least 5/6 vanlifers from the UK who are doing this right now and have been for at least the last 3/4 years , I don't want to build etc ...I'd perhaps stick an old caravan on the bit land or build a small utilities shed but the rest would just be growing olives, grapes and fruit and veg ..maybe some chickens keeping myself to myself and doing no harm . If I can eventually pick up the language enough to find some work there then maybe then I'd like to move permanently.

 

[nicholsong]

For those wanting to become 'Resident' in a Schengen country I think my advice would be to 'country-shop' as some countries are easier than others.

For example I got temporary residence in Poland quite easily. Admittedly I did it under the Withdrawal Agreement' which covered the run-off from Brexit, but I have looked up the current regulations, here

Temporary residence- general information - Migrant EN

As far as I can see there are no differences except that I got 10 years and now it is 3 years before re-applying.

I may have been asked about income/capital, but was not asked to prove it and there is nothing in the rules quoted above.

There is nothing in the rules about health insurance, but I was entitled under the withdrawal Agreement to to get a NHS S1 form so I have EHIC and registered in the Polish health scheme, both of which are covered by the UK government.

I know I am permitted to be absent from Poland for 5 years without losing my Residency, but I could not find out whether that rule applies to a current applicant.

As for vehicles, one can be imported after 6 months prior ownership but RHD is now impossible - I got mine in under a loophole, now closed. There is no road tax (VED ). MOT is annual but probably easier than UK.

For Driving Licence I got every category transferred, including C1, but not D1 and D1E.

About tax: Poland like most EU countries has a direct 'Double Taxation Agreement' with UK, which covers income tax, but not Inheritance Tax, so be careful on that point in any double taxation agreement. All my income is taxed in UK so I have never contacted the tax authorities, nor have they contacted me. Anyway they could under Polish tax law only tax me on income arising in Poland, which is nil.


This is just one example of much easier processes than Portugal and there may be many more, so it is worth checking.

Like all other countries, Temporary Residence only entitles one to visit other Schengen countries for the 90/180 days. All EU Citizens have to register, but not leave, another EU country after 90 days. Both these rules seem to be unenforceable or at least not enforced. Also if each trip out of one's host country is less than 90 days one is legal. Thereafter, unless the first trip were recorded anywhere, highly unlikely, then it 'never happened' and the next trip starts from zero.

 

[jumartoo]

From what I have seen of Portugal central region on YouTube it appears to be totally unpopulated so if you keep your head down and don't start campsites or something how do they know you are there.

They know when you suddenly need help. Firefighters called to protect your unofficial property. Hospitals giving treatment to unregistered people. Police attending a break in.

Sooner or later you come onto the radar.

Would you condone immigrants living like this in the UK?

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[OldCodger]

The locals are for instance often quite fastidious about certain things - eg not using spark-generating power tools outdoors when it's forbidden. Foreigners seem to just blithely carry on. But under the same fire regulations land owners are meant to keep their land clear of undergrowth. Some do, some don't. (It costs money which they often don't have.) The fines for non-compliance are substantial.

Just done mine. Currently waiting for the bonfire permit. I have till the end May. It was april
But it kept raining

 

[chaser]

They know when you suddenly need help. Firefighters called to protect your unofficial property. Hospitals giving treatment to unregistered people. Police attending a break in.

Sooner or later you come onto the radar.

Would you condone immigrants living like this in the UK?

They already do but get paid for the privilege.

 

[jumartoo]

They already do but get paid for the privilege.

They do. But you don't condone it, do you?

 

[chaser]

They do. But you don't condone it, do you?

If they were camping in Dartmoor or the Highlands not having any handouts, fine.

 

[jumartoo]

If they were camping in Dartmoor or the Highlands not having any handouts, fine.

Really

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[ORPP2]

How did you get on with entering France and leaving Spain a year later ? Did the Spanish understand the French visa “stopped the 90 day clock”

We didn't leave Spain a year later, it was just over 7 months but had no issues at all. The guy at passport control Bilbao port thoroughly looked at our passports and stamped them out. The French visa is stuck into the passport and takes up a whole page so it's hard not to see it.

 

[OldCodger]

We didn't leave Spain a year later, it was just over 7 months but had no issues at all. The guy at passport control Bilbao port thoroughly looked at our passports and stamped them out. The French visa is stuck into the passport and takes up a whole page so it's hard not to see it.

Thanks. I’m in Pt on a D7 residency visa, we came in via France in the bus, but will leave after about 5 months via Spain and we are concerned that if they don’t know the Schengen clock stops while we are in Pt. We could be fined or worse, banned.

 

[nicholsong]

Thanks. I’m in Pt on a D7 residency visa, we came in via France in the bus, but will leave after about 5 months via Spain and we are concerned that if they don’t know the Schengen clock stops while we are in Pt. We could be fined or worse, banned.

You will be in no different position from those of us with residents cards leaving Schengen to UK after years inside Schengen but in country of residence and/or 90/180 outside country of residence. Your only difference is length of stay in PL, but it was still legal.

I do not anticipate any problem.

 

[ianp]

Thanks. I’m in Pt on a D7 residency visa, we came in via France in the bus, but will leave after about 5 months via Spain and we are concerned that if they don’t know the Schengen clock stops while we are in Pt. We could be fined or worse, banned.

You'll have no trouble......I had to return to the UK via CDG airport in Paris and because i'd arrived from Seville on route to Manchester I had to pass through the Schengen exit passport control where the guy wanted to stamp my passport until I disabused him of the idea and he went to consult his boss...returning a few seconds later, returning my unstamped passport and spanish residence card......

 

[starquake]

It's not the food in Asia it's the decent hotels that rack up the costs.

Good trick is gettign a longer term one month rental in Thailand, usually is less than a week at a midpoint hotel with more facilicitys.
Unforuntalty with thai property you need to do that once there...

And I agree Singapore is expensive, but Thailand even post 2020 has been quite reasonable.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[jongood]

They know when you suddenly need help. Firefighters called to protect your unofficial property. Hospitals giving treatment to unregistered people. Police attending a break in.

Sooner or later you come onto the radar.

Would you condone immigrants living like this in the UK?

I dont condone it but there is a lot of it happening and not just brits, on one of the Algarve camper stops there was at least 2 Germans and one Brit, all had apparently been there 5 years+ all with vehicles registered for their home nation. The one guy you would never have guessed.

IMHO one of the flaws with Schengen is that it allows anyone regardless of their background to move hundreds of miles to a different country without any checks. We used to call parts of Spain costa del crime because there were so many criminals hiding down there with the authorities seemingly unable to do anything about it. I'm not against people moving countries but do think that there needs to be a cutoff when they re required to migrate to the system of their chosen country and that country should be given the right to decide whether to accept them.

 

[jumartoo]

I dont condone it but there is a lot of it happening and not just brits, on one of the Algarve camper stops there was at least 2 Germans and one Brit, all had apparently been there 5 years+ all with vehicles registered for their home nation. The one guy you would never have guessed.

IMHO one of the flaws with Schengen is that it allows anyone regardless of their background to move hundreds of miles to a different country without any checks. We used to call parts of Spain costa del crime because there were so many criminals hiding down there with the authorities seemingly unable to do anything about it. I'm not against people moving countries but do think that there needs to be a cutoff when they re required to migrate to the system of their chosen country and that country should be given the right to decide whether to accept them.

As always, there are regulations. In Spain it's to register with the National Police if you stay longer than 90 days. As always, these regulations are ignored by the authorities and people just come and stay.

Sloppy governing.