# 181 day residency requirement



## highlands1234 (May 25, 2015)

Hi all,

So the following questions are probably just another classic example of me overthinking, but can't seem to find info on these questions anywhere.

So we are still working on our residency permit, when we came into the EU from the US in Barcelona, they gave us the standard 90 tourist visa stamp. 

So my question is, say we get our residency permit after the 3 months have passed, that's not an issue since I have the residency permit, correct? Would I just show them the residency permit when flying out back to the US? I dont want to be penalized or have my tourist visa rights taken away. Also, normally as a US citizen after the 90 days are up on the tourist visa, I would have to travel outside the EU for I believe 91 days to reset it, but how does that work with a resident permit? Also say I want to go to France or Germany for a few weeks while here, do I have to deduct that from the 181 days used to establish residency here, or could I do that as part of the 181 days as long as I kept a place in Portugal while in France/Germany?

Sorry about all the questions, I just tend to run through different scenarios in my head. 

Thanks!


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## RichardHenshall (Jul 26, 2009)

I thought you had to apply for (and be granted) your residency visa before you left the US and that a Schengen tourist visa cannot be 'converted' to a residency/working visa.


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## highlands1234 (May 25, 2015)

Hi Richard,

I did get my residency visa before coming to Portugal. I am now working on getting the 1 year residency permit. 

Regarding the 90 tourist/schegen visa and how it works with the residency permit is what I am trying to figure out.


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## grammymissy (Jun 21, 2009)

We traveled to the UK several times before our residency cards were issued, both the Portugal immigration passport control and UK viewed our VISA's in our passports, and told us, no problem. Leiria SEF told us that vacation travel is fine on initial VISA, since by applying for residency VISA you are stating that you are making Portugal your home. However, we did notice they are tracking how many days out of Portugal, they took copies of all the pages of our passports, both at the original residency card appt and they did it again when we received our first 2 year residency cards.


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