# Residencia



## dhream (Jan 30, 2012)

No posts on the topic for a while, and as someone who has just been and gone and done it, I thought I'd report.

Went to see a friend of a friend yesterday, who very conveniently works at the local Camara (town hall) here and speaks fluent Ingles.

Arranged with them to visit the Camara first thing today 0930 hrs. And to bring my Passport (UK edition) NIF Certificate, and copy of my apartment rental contract, and, perplexingly, proof of funds in Portugal (which they never looked at, and don't in fact need nowadays, I understand).

Thursdays (it being a Thursday as I write this) are apparently 'Residencia registration days.

I'm not sure if that is a Portugal-wide thing or a Santarem thing, but anyway, it took ten minutes, then the computer crashed, and we had to do it all over again, and just for the hell of it, yet again! 40 minutes later, nice certificate printed out and EUR15 out of pocket, I was told they would call me, and to bring in the receipt, and get the certificate, having been duly signed off but someone upstairs...

I thought I'd have to wait a week or two for this, but they've just called in under two hours and asked me to go and collect my new Residencia Certificate!

It's Super Bock time after that  

With this bit of dead tree I can then go on to get certain other current local advantages which need not detain us here, the other, bigger, thing is that I personally tend to have a healthy respect for history, let me explain. 

European history is as tumultuous as any out there... we are living it now... Scotland may break away from the UK next year, the UK itself may break away from the EU. The whole shebang may go down the bottomless pit that is the GFC toilet bowl. The optimists at BBQs tend to think they can remain aloof from Residencia if these things happen because 'they need our money' oh really? I'm sure similar hubristic opinions were aired at many a Jewish owned Viennese salon on the eve the Nazis took power. 

My point is not to compare modern Portugal with the fall of the Weimar republic, but that given Europe's history, and given that the unthinkable is not only often thinkable but do-able, I would not be at all surprised that some future UK Government might manage to cheese off the EU so much that, yes, shock-horror, Britons without pre-arranged Residencia are unceremoniously booted out! When things go pear shaped, the rules can change overnight.

It would be an utter tragedy to fall prey to such draconianism all for the want of an hour of your time and 15 Euros. (currently)

You might not *want * to hang about were relations to descend to that level, but isn't it nice to have the choice, rather than have some future Moseley or Salazar make it on your behalf?

An extreme scenario perhaps. 
But I am willing to bet this cold Bock before me, that at the very least, one day not too far away, a less amicable law may likely come to pass, and those dragging the chain will come to bitterly regret their tardiness...


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## JedBartlet (Oct 2, 2013)

Lol


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## dhream (Jan 30, 2012)

Updating my post on the usefulness of not dragging the chain on residencia...

I approached the Thai Embassy in Lisbon to get a Tourist visa for Thailand in my UK passport, this is the one that you can extend for up to three months abroad, not the 28 day visa EXEMPTION on arrival in BKK that is more common for most visitors.

The requirements included... Proof of Residencia! See, you never know when you're gonna need it folks!  If that little anecdote does not persuade you, then nothing will.

PS: I swear I never knew about this requirement in advance, in fact I was rather taken aback by it!


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