THE D7 VISA: 7 TRICKY DETAILS THAT MAY SURPRISE YOU -For Americans Getting The Portuguese D7 Visa

Ola! Are you beginning the seemingly daunting task of applying for your D7 visa for long-term residency in Portugal?  Do you find it a bit confusing and overwhelming? Got questions?

I’ve applied for mine, and have spoken with dozens of folks who are in the process of contemplating applying, are in the throes of applying, or have already applied (and been successfully approved!)

After speaking with them, reading a plethora of blogs, trying to verify and research conflicting information, plowing through hundreds of comments on Facebook groups and perusing articles online, here are the top 7 tricky, perplexing, interesting or just plain confusing issues that have surfaced.

(Please note – requirements, documents, and processes change ALLLLLL the time.  What is current as of this writing may change…actually, count on it changing! Please verify and double-check the list of requirements needed to apply when you’re ready to roll. obrigada!) 

But first… What exactly IS the D7 visa?  The D7 (or “Passive Income/ Non-Lucrative Visa”) is one of the many types of visas offered by Portugal. (if you’re interested in other visa options available in Portugal  including the Student Visa or the Golden Visa, click here to purchase a well-researched e-book guide detailing the various visas available in Portugal, as well as in 16 other European countries.) And if you’re still debating on whether Portugal is for you, take a quick read here and see some of the pros and cons of moving to this Iberian country.

Americans will apply through VFS, a visa outsourcing specialist that processes visas for many countries, working directly with the consulates.  You’ll go through one of the 3 offices in the USA that process Portuguese visas (San Francisco, Washington DC or New York), depending on where you reside.

This D7 residence visa allows any non-EU/EEA/Swiss citizen who has a passive income of a certain amount to apply for residency in Portugal. The D7 visa allows you 4 months to begin living in Portugal with 2 entry/1 exits during that time – one of which is your initial arrival. During that time, you’ll be scheduled to meet with the officials at SEF (Portuguese Immigration Offices) and your in-person appointment will be held somewhere in Portugal (not necessarily near where you’ll be living) to get your initial 2-year residency permit approved. After the 2 years, you can request an additional 3 years residency.  When the 5 years are complete, you can apply for permanent residency – or for Portuguese citizenship, which would grant you the coveted EU passport.

So now that you’ve got a bit of background…without further ado, here are the 7 downright confusing and somewhat tricky components to applying for your D7:

1. How much money do I need to show as income to qualify for the D7?  As of this writing, it is €8,460 per year for the main applicant. For a spouse, you need to add 50% to this (€4,230) and for a dependent child, you would add 30% (€2,538). So, for a couple with one child, you would need to show funds of around €15,300 a year to be eligible for the D7 Visa. (Please check the requirements when you’re ready to apply as this amount is subject to change.) This income can be from online work outside of Portugal (being a “digital nomad” and working location-independent), pensions, dividends, transferable equity, real estate, intellectual property, financial investments, rental property, or social security. You’ll need to open a Portuguese bank account (more about that in a minute) and fund it with this yearly amount – but many people double down and put in two years’ worth of the minimum amount to present a stronger case for the D7 approval. But…you don’t necessarily need to show income that equals €8,460 per year – you can submit proof of enough savings/investments using bank or brokerage account statements showing you can support yourself for a long time, based on the minimum amount per year shown above. From what I can discern, having a steady/reliable source of passive income is preferable to proving you have funds in a savings account but showing substantial savings is acceptable – check the requirements at your VFS location.
2. Opening a Portuguese bank account. After you’ve received your required NIF ( Portuguese tax ID, also known as the Número de Identificação Fiscal), you’ll need to open a bank account in Portugal and plop the above-mentioned funds into it so that you can show proof of these monies for your D7 application.  It’s easiest to open an account when you’re actually in Portugal before your D7 submittal, but if that’s not logistically – or financially – possible, there are services that will open an account for you for a fee.  Bordr is one, and E–Residence is another.

Most Portuguese banks won’t allow you to open an account online if you’re not a resident yet, but one exception is Atlantico which allows you to open the account remotely and do a Zoom call to verify your identity. I have read that it does take some time, so plan accordingly.

(NOTE:  you’ll need your account to be with a Portuguese bank and not just a European bank or online bank account like those offered by Wise, Revolut, or N26. )

The dreaded/scary FBI report. One of the items you’ll need for your D7 application is an FBI criminal report – aka background check – aka an “Identity History Summary Check”. You’ll need to order it online at this website, and then you’ll receive an email confirmation with your Order Number. You’ll need that Order Number to link your electronic fingerprints with the report requested from the FBI. Once the fingerprints have been uploaded by the vendor (usually the United States Post Office) they will connect the two and run the report and send it to you.

So…Here’s what happened to me. I ordered my FBI report online, got the Order Number, and headed over to the nearest USPS location that has the LiveScan fingerprint machines (not all USPS locations do – in fact, most do not. Do a search for one near you. Also, some police departments offer this electronic fingerprinting service.) The woman who assisted asked for my Order Number and then tried, tried again, tried yet again…she valiantly attempted perhaps 30-40 times?? to get a full set of prints from me on the LiveScan touchscreen, but was unable to. Puzzled, she asked me if I was a nurse (nope!) or worked with lots of paper (nope!)  Of course I panicked and Googled this issue as I stood there at the counter. Seems that this is uncommon but not unheard of, and a few solutions online were to try again a few days later after massively hydrating, and/or to use tons of moisturizer on your hands for a week or so, specifically Corn Husker lotion (??!!), Aquafor or Vaseline and come back and attempt it again.

I did this and visited a different USPS location thinking maybe the first machine I tried was wonky.  I explained my situation to the elderly, very kind man there. He smiled broadly and said, “In my 30 plus years here, I’ve only had 3 people whose fingerprints I couldn’t capture; don’t you worry, young lady!”  After 40-50 attempts, he shrugged and said sadly, “Well now. Make that 4 people!” and wished me luck.

In a bit of a panic (yeah, that’s an understatement!) I went back to the first USPS and tried again but to no avail. Now what? I found a private business that offered electronic and ink prints and went there.  The technician there did both the LiveScan electronic prints – and understood pretty quickly that I was a space alien with no known prints – and so she inked my fingers one by one, rolling them on the standard fingerprint form FD-258 (old school!) and gave me a printout of the electronic prints as well so I could submit both versions via mail to the FBI.

Which I did. And it seemed to work because a few weeks later, I received the big brown envelope in the mail and I DID NOT OPEN IT.

I REPEAT: DO NOT OPEN IT.

In order for it to be “official,” you need to present the unopened envelope in your application packet.  If you do mistakenly open it, you’ll need to either start the entire process over again or get this report apostilled. (HINT: When you submit your request online for the FBI report, make sure you check the box to receive an email version of the report so that when this NOT-TO-BE-OPENED envelope comes in the mail, you’re not dying of curiosity and trying to determine what the top-secret report says in the sealed envelope by beaming a flashlight through it to see if you can see inside!!)

NOTE: The unopened FBI report is how the San Francisco and DC VFS offices accept it at the moment; however, if you’re applying through New York, you may need to get this document apostilled (by the US Department of State since it’s a federally issued document.) And although the SF and DC VFS offices are ok with it NOT being apostilled, it wouldn’t be a BAD idea to get it done. Again – this is something you will want to check as you’re ready to apply. Confusing? Yep! 

4. Proof of Health insurance. This one’s definitely confusing. There are two parts to the proof of insurance component. Here’s the first: when submitting your application for the D7 through VFS, you will need to include evidence of travel insurance that also provides medical coverage.  The purpose is to show proof of coverage while you’re in Portugal on your D7 for the 4 months until your SEF appointment, at which time you will be (hopefully!) granted residency and then can avail yourself of the public healthcare system. According to the Portuguese Consulate, “the insurance should cover medical expenses including those of medical repatriation, medical emergency and/or hospital emergency, and the minimum required coverage is 30,000 Euros.”  I used AXA Schengen, but you can find coverage and comparisons of various policies by using a website called Squaremouth. I printed out the purchase confirmation page, highlighted the $30K in coverage, and “Schengen” parts to show that this policy qualified, and made this document part of my application package. It was extremely affordable – I paid $164 for 6 months of coverage as a 60-year-old woman. Sometimes, your SEF appointment won’t be within the 4 months as you expected it – it could be a few weeks or a month after the 4 months have passed. (But don’t worry – you don’t need to get an extension of your D7 or go home! Just stay put and wait for them to set the appointment.)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    And here’s the second part. You will need to secure private health insurance and show proof of such at your SEF appointment.  Expect to pay anywhere from $40-150 per month per person. (This is quite the price difference when you’re coming from the USA, where you may have been paying anywhere from $400-1000 per month for mediocre coverage!!) However…(more confusement coming up!) you don’t need to have private health coverage after you’ve been granted residency, since you will be eligible to use the public healthcare system. Some people cancel the private healthcare policy after they have  met with SEF and have been approved for residency, thereby becoming  eligible to partake in the public healthcare system.  But…many expats to Portugal choose to keep a private healthcare policy because they don’t want to “take advantage” of an already overburdened system they haven’t paid into all their lives. Also, having a private policy enables you to seek medical care anywhere you choose, while still having the option to use the public system.

(NOTE- your current American healthcare policy will not fulfill the requirement for the D7 time period or the 2-year residency time period).

5. Notarized Color Copy of Passport – with Specific Details for Californians. I made a color copy of the 2 adjacent inside pages with my signature and photo, and wrote on the copy page, “I (notary name) attest this is a true and correct copy of (my name)’s valid US passport” and showed the notary my actual passport. The notary inserted his name where designated, signed and dated it, and affixed the official stamp to it.  I had him notarize two copies so I’d have an extra, just in case.

I’ve seen some confusion with this one, especially in California. Unlike notaries in many other states, California notaries are not allowed to certify a copy of anything except a Power of Attorney. The workaround is to use a “California Acknowledgement” which states “this document verifies the identity of the individual who signed the document attached”, and you will attach a copy of your passport page which you will sign in front of the notary.  Voila!  (Whew!)

6. Proof of flight to Portugal.  This is another item on the list of necessary documents.  If you’ve got a flight already booked, perfect. But many applicants just searched online for a flight that met the date requirement of when they would need to arrive in Portugal after their D7 approval and just printed out the potential itinerary (without purchasing the tickets).  Make sure you check the website for the VFS office you’ll be using to make sure you’re in compliance with timing your arrival in Portugal – for example, the San Francisco location has recently changed the required arrival date to be within 60 days of the D7 approval – not 90 days.

7. The Proof of Accommodations. I’m gonna be paying for an empty apartment? Do I hafta?? Ugh. This was the most stressful for me and for so many others.  If you’re renting, you’ll need to find an apartment (not an easy task these days!) and potentially start paying the monthly rent 2, 3, or even 4 months before you even arrive! The reason is that you’ll need this 12-month lease in hand for your D7 appointment, which is most likely 4-6 months before your target date to move to Portugal because you need to give VFS 3-4 months to process and approve your application and put the coveted visa stamp in your passport.

One thing that was uncomfortable to me: as a former Realtor who was used to working exclusively for clients (in the US, buyers often sign an exclusivity contract with one Realtor and work with just the one agent who looks for property for them) it felt weird to me to have 3 or 4 (or more!) real estate agents looking for an apartment for me.  But that’s perfectly ok. They usually have access to just their office’s listings – they don’t have an MLS (Multiple Listing Service) like we do in ‘Murica – so they expect you to work with a few competitor agents. You don’t need to feel like you’re sneaking around behind their back.

And as a landlord myself, it was making me cringe to think I’d have to pay for an apartment sitting empty for months on end. But such is life. Consider it part of “the cost of doing business” to obtain residency and factor in this expense when you’re figuring out how much this process will cost. Although I lucked out and found an apartment with my preferred occupancy date, it’s a strong possibility that you’ll be paying for an empty domicile for a few months.

And there ya have it!  That’s all 7 tricky/befuddling/weird/confusing items. But fear not – the entire process is not unduly cumbersome – take your time, print out the guides you’ll find online that offer step-by-step instructions and details on how to properly assemble your packet of information, be organized and stay on task.

Hope this helps clear up some of the questions you may have about the process – and I certainly hope to see you in Portugal!

Boa sorte! (good luck!)

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See you there! 😉

 

“Wet or fine, the air of Portugal has a natural happiness in it, and the people of the country should be as happy and prosperous as any people in the world.” – HG Wells