# American moving to Portugal with Wife, is it time?



## hotelchow88 (Jun 14, 2021)

Kind of a complex situation but wondering if anyone can offer advice, my wife is from Portugal and we have been married for almost 3 years (this September). We are looking to relocate to Portugal from the US for the next year and possible permanently around September, at which time I can apply for citizenship in portugal/EU.

I currently work for a US company in IT making 100k, they have allowed me to work from Portugal for 3 months in the past while visiting but I'm thinking the possible tax implications of moving there permanently won't fly. I understand portugal NHR and my tax implications but has anyone done this successfully from the US company side? Wondering if the only way is to convert me from w2 to 1099, just know that IRS has a strict guideline on what 1099 is....

Thankfully my IT skills can get me another job easily but it won't be easy finding a job in the US that allows remote from Europe, retaining my existing job as long as possible would be ideal. Thankfully we have zero debt, a decent amount in savings (approx. 60k) and that buffer does provide some comfort.

It may sound odd as a man in his early 30's but I really want someone to offer me reassurance that things will most likely be OK as family obviously thinks we are crazy. I love Portugal, my wife misses portugal, we would rather have a baby and start our family in portugal. My initial goal was to save for 3-5 years on my US salary so we had enough to purchase a property in Portugal but missing the country so much, getting sick of America's culture and overpriced living (housing especially) has pushed us towards the edge.

Really the biggest thing holding me back is work, I have a solid job that I like a lot (worked here 5 years), they let me work 100% remote from home and it really couldn't get much better, removing those golden handcuffs will hurt. I know I can get another job easily living within US but it's that unknown of trying to get a US company to hire me overseas or taking a 50% paycut that's bothering me, maybe it's the American greed inside me that want's more, maybe that's something I need to work on.


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## Strontium (Sep 16, 2015)

As your circumstance are/will be different from other immigrants it makes sense to collect information/make contacts in the US of A about possible remote working (via agencies?), tax, etc then arrange for a 3 month (remote workng?) visit here to collect the corresponding information/make contacts, immigration, wages, work/remote work, tax, accommodation, hospitals, transport, doctors, cost of living (related to the way you live) etc in a few locations where you may like to live. In reality only you can decide whereas choices I make/made will not relate to your circumstances. At that point you can then decide on what to do based on all the relevant information you have and still be able to either return to the US or arrange to stay or some combination of the two.


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