# Moving to portugal. Married to portoguese for 4 years.



## TDMasterpiece (Apr 8, 2013)

I am really looking into moving to Portugal, buying land and building a house/farm from scratch. I work for a company that you can work with from home, on the phone and on the computer and the average salary is about 1,500 euros a month. (Which I heard is very high for Portugal, since everything is cheap. I am not looking to live in the center of anything, the farther away the better.) I am also expecting an inheritance of 20,000 euros, so I thought I'll invest that in buying the land and then I'll obviously add more everymonth. We'll take a mortgage for the land, pay month by month for an extended period of time.

How does it work, what do I do? I personally am not Portuguese but my wife is. I want a place near a lake where I can tame animals etc etc


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Well you're unlikely to get a mortgage, buying land and building from scratch why? a realistic timescale to achieve this is 2 years at a m2 price of between 800-1500€ depending on quality of fittings + plus cost of land + architect fees, + many extras and a lender would not finance your rental living costs whilst you build, so a 20,000€ inheritance and 1500€ pm month isn't going to go that far especially adding in a car which becomes a necessity if "middle of nowhere" a must.

If you want to be in the middle of nowhere there are 1000's of property for sale across Portugal, many with Banks so a mortgage becomes more of a reality but with only 20000€ as a deposit still very doubtful.

Internet working in a real rural location is unlikely to have good ADSL & unless you're lucky enough to have a local mast with 4G would need to go down Sat Internet route which depending on your requirements can be expensive.

"since everything is cheap" depends on your definition of cheap not all or most things are cheap, as an example cars & petrol diesel aren't but insurance is


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## TDMasterpiece (Apr 8, 2013)

canoeman said:


> Well you're unlikely to get a mortgage, buying land and building from scratch why? a realistic timescale to achieve this is 2 years at a m2 price of between 800-1500€ depending on quality of fittings + plus cost of land + architect fees, + many extras and a lender would not finance your rental living costs whilst you build, so a 20,000€ inheritance and 1500€ pm month isn't going to go that far especially adding in a car which becomes a necessity if "middle of nowhere" a must.
> 
> If you want to be in the middle of nowhere there are 1000's of property for sale across Portugal, many with Banks so a mortgage becomes more of a reality but with only 20000€ as a deposit still very doubtful.
> 
> ...


You're very right. Buying land from scratch and the rest of the **** I brought up doesn't make any freaking sense. I was brainwashed by my wife's Portuguese family that told me I can do all of that as soon as I get here but to be honest, I'm not interested in that anymore. I did decide to take the big step and move here, and I did! I live in Sintra now. It's very hard, barely any english and it can be frustrating. Very. Frustrating. I barely speak Portuguese and as much as I'd love to get better at it, I don't go out much to actually get better at it. My job is going downhills unfortunately, I've been working from home and it's been a nightmare for me until ZON / MEO gave me the required internet specifications that basically are too expensive and was so overwhelming to get. (I pay 105 euros just for the internet! It's like extra rent.)

Right now, I just want to chill, live life and enjoy this place. Not buy any land or anything, just get a good job to support me my wife and my daughter and have enough to pay rent, utilities and daily costs without struggling to keep up with the bills.

How do I get a job here? It's so hard for me to search for anything because google is my friend but when it translated to Portuguese it's BAD. And usually leads me to Brazillian websites.

Any tips please?


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## TDMasterpiece (Apr 8, 2013)

And when I said get a good job with a good salary, I'm talking about an unskilled worker, that has been working for the past year in a call center job providing customer service, and before that mainly general labor (warehouses, production, manufacturer). I'm 21 years old and I'm up for any challenge. My wife will work too in a couple-few months once we settle down completely. Cause right now we're one foot in, the other is out. We have no furniture we have nothing and we've been here for 2 months. We had to pay 4 months rent in advance.


I really wish I could get a job where you work on the roads, or construction.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

If you did get a job like that you couldn't pay your current overheads, sorry, your also paying way over the odds for internet, now your here maybe then maybe also the time to look around a bit more but if you want employment then you need the language without it your on a hiding to nothing unless you have a niche skill that language becomes secondary requirement.

Google translate is accented to Brazilian Portuguese it would help if set Google to Portugal but searches need to be in European Portuguese to get anywhere, good luck


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## TDMasterpiece (Apr 8, 2013)

Ahhh... I always leave this place feeling depressed. Let's see.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Sorry about that, but there should be a certain level of realism for people wanting to make a new life in a foreign country, it's very easy to get caught up in the romance of an ideal and then find the harsh reality very different, from your posts then language would seem to be your first priority, most areas offer free language courses, and Meo package shouldn't really be costing you more than 80€ pm so there are things you can do


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## TDMasterpiece (Apr 8, 2013)

canoeman said:


> Sorry about that, but there should be a certain level of realism for people wanting to make a new life in a foreign country, it's very easy to get caught up in the romance of an ideal and then find the harsh reality very different, from your posts then language would seem to be your first priority, most areas offer free language courses, and Meo package shouldn't really be costing you more than 80€ pm so there are things you can do


No need to apologize, I appreciate your assistance. Question out of curiosity, what is the average salary here per month / per hour for unskilled workers. I'm trying to look into shipping /warehousing and logistics, something that would require very minimal lingual interaction so I can avoid the language for the most part. Perhaps search for a job as a delivery postman for parcels or UPS / DHL kind of thing. I know it's probably not easy to get something like that but still.

I pay ZON 105 euros a month because I work from home, they forced me to make a business fiscal / empresa number and basically I'm considered an "enterprise" at the moment, so I'm paying premium fees.

I do have a job at the moment, It's not a Portuguese job, It's an American Job I took with me from abroad. I work from home and I make around 1,500 euros a month but my company is facing crisis due to the collapse in the American economy lately, Obama's not making it easy on anyone - back to the topic, I might have a job for 3 more months or even 6. But I need to find a solution so I will be able to stay here, I just moved here and too tired to move out of here - again.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

Working from home or not I would have told ZON to take a hike, looking at their site their quoting 65€ pm for TV, internet, phone & 2 mobiles for business, min salary 485€ pm but jobs for any Portuguese are few and far between, most Portuguese wortk on a self employed basis, if your after a driving job then you need to sort your D/L out equally for employment you need to sort your Residence out, the easiest way for you with a Portuguese wife is for her to apply for Residence for you under Re-unification of family


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## TDMasterpiece (Apr 8, 2013)

canoeman said:


> Working from home or not I would have told ZON to take a hike, looking at their site their quoting 65€ pm for TV, internet, phone & 2 mobiles for business, min salary 485€ pm but jobs for any Portuguese are few and far between, most Portuguese wortk on a self employed basis, if your after a driving job then you need to sort your D/L out equally for employment you need to sort your Residence out, the easiest way for you with a Portuguese wife is for her to apply for Residence for you under Re-unification of family


We've got all of that sorted out. We both have fiscal numbers, she has her portuguese ID, (I don't) But both of us have all of our legal documents here. We also have a lease here on the Condo we live in. We signed the contract through Remax, they made us go through all of the long annoying aweful process of running around from one office to another. You're right about the driver's license, I should look into that ASAP.

485 per month? Wow! That's rent + gas + water and half electricity bill, lol!


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## anapedrosa (Mar 21, 2011)

Hi TD,

I can appreciate the frustration that you must be feeling. My husband and I moved over last October, I am a Portuguese & Canadian citizen and he is Canadian. My first bit of advice with family is, smile politely, thank them for their help and do your own research. My experience is that they do not have experience with what is required to make the move, but it will not stop them from giving you advice with good intentions.

I agree with Canoeman on the charges for the internet, I would try and find a way to push back, including the possibility of cancelling and going with another supplier. Perhaps your wife's family has someone who can go with you to Zon to challenge their policy and ask them for a better solution. 

You will need a few documents to be able to exchange your Canadian driver´s license for a Portuguese one, including a copy of your residence, a completed form from your doctor (which you can download from IMTT) and a translated copy of your drivers licence which states the type of vehicles you are entitled to drive. 

As you currently have a job, hang on to it for as long as you can and put away as much as you can for the expected loss. The situation in Portugal is dire for work, especially unskilled labour. Your competition speak Portuguese, English and sometimes other languages. Having said that, I do know of people who have managed to find work hear and learn Portuguese.

Again, agreeing with CM, make learning Portuguese a priority. Ask around at the Fregueseia, the post office or with any expats in the area - find Portuguese lessons. My husband is going to a meeting tomorrow in the hopes of joining a local class. This is not only good to learn Portuguese, it will help you feel less isolated, you can meet others going through the same transition you are going through.

I believe you said you are in Sintra, it's a beautiful area. I hope that you find time to enjoy the beauty that Portugal has to offer. the rain has been a bit excessive lately, but the weather here sure beats what they have been getting in Canada. 

All the best.
Ana


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