# Airbnb works for residency?



## Mogwatz

Hi guys,

Currently looking for flats in Lisbon and finding it a royal nightmare. I need to sort out being resident here asap, however, as I will get myself into a massive tax malarky (moved in from Oz via Sweden) otherwise.

Administratively and time wise the easiest seems to be to simply get an airbnb as a 6 months+ rental until I find a better place...but will this be accepted as a proof of long term residency? Anyone had experience becoming a resident using this setup?

Thanks a ton!

F


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## travelling-man

Mogwatz said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> Currently looking for flats in Lisbon and finding it a royal nightmare. I need to sort out being resident here asap, however, as I will get myself into a massive tax malarky (moved in from Oz via Sweden) otherwise.
> 
> Administratively and time wise the easiest seems to be to simply get an airbnb as a 6 months+ rental until I find a better place...but will this be accepted as a proof of long term residency? Anyone had experience becoming a resident using this setup?
> 
> Thanks a ton!
> 
> F


Your profile says you're originally from Germany & assuming a German or other EU member state passport you have a right to enter & reside & therefore don't need to prove anything or provide a contract or lease etc to get residency.


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## Mogwatz

I do if I want my specialised profession NHR status!


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## travelling-man

Mogwatz said:


> I do if I want my specialised profession NHR status!


You said residency not NHR registration (so I misunderstood) but you can now do NHR registration online & in about 15 minutes.......... I'm no expert but as you can now do it that way, I'm not sure you need a lease etc................ and would assume that some applicants must arrive here & stay with friends or family in which case they wouldn't have a lease. 

Didion who is a member here might be able to shed more light on that?


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## Mogwatz

Oh that would be interesting, thanks!

Because I have been told I need to prove long term residency and only then I can apply for NHR. 

I find the rental market here harder than in London and Melbourne or Berlin and did not expect that.


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## travelling-man

Mogwatz said:


> Oh that would be interesting, thanks!
> 
> Because I have been told I need to prove long term residency and only then I can apply for NHR.
> 
> I find the rental market here harder than in London and Melbourne or Berlin and did not expect that.


You can only apply for NHR if you're a registered resident & only apply (I think) within the first fiscal year of registering that residency so not sure how you prove 'long term' anything but am sure Didion will have the correct info.


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## RichardHenshall

Mogwatz said:


> ... I have been told I need to prove long term residency and only then I can apply for NHR. ...


The NHR scheme is only open to (new) residents.

You have to become resident in Portugal and remain so for each of the 10 years to avail of its benefits. The ease with which you become resident will depend upon what passport you hold.


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## LA.

Hi,

Indeed, you need to become 1st a resident in Portugal - you go to your local municipality and ask for the residence permit if you are a EU citizen. Then, you will have a residence permit (5 yrs.).

2nd You must liaise with the Fiscal Authority (enrollment online) to be under NHR regime.

In fact, I can help you with the complete process. More details upon request.

Kind regards,
Louis


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## Diddion

Hello, people.

My recent experience is for residency in Tomar, so how well it relates to other areas I cannot say.
1. We obtained a fiscal number using a UK address, well in advance of relocation.
2. Opened a Portuguese bank account in the UK, using our UK address, fiscal numbers and Passports. This was with Millennium bank, but others may do the same.
3. Arranged an address in Portugal, with a 6 month letting contract commencing on the date of our arrival, 11 April 2018. Needed a NIF for this, and passports.
4. After 11 April, went to a local office for the Attestado, attesting where we live - a kind of pre-residency step. Also needed the NIF and passport, as well as the signatures of two people who live in the same local council area, confirming that we do live there. Without specifying too closely, you’ll find, I think, a healthy disrespect for rules and regulations amongst the Portuguese people, so such confirmation should not be too difficult to obtain
5. The next steps were to obtain the residency certificates and also change our NIF addresses to the Portuguese one - but I am hazy as to which of these we dealt with first. All certificates were produced on the spot, with an awful lot of computer input.

Finally, NHR - the easiest of the lot. I don’t know if there would be any differences or modifications for those looking for special occupation status; my suspicion (based upon no knowledge whatever) is that the first steps would be the same - maybe someone else could cast some light on this. NHR applications are internet only.
1. Go to the Portal das Financas and sign up. The form is in Portuguese, but is simple, short and obvious. 
2. Within a fortnight a password is posted to your home address. Ours took just 3 days.
3. Login to the portal and make your way to the Nhr registration (get back to me if you need the pathway)
4 then, believe it or not, two tiny questions (the tax year you are applying, plus one other, which I have already forgotten. Could be the email address, or NIF. Something like that.). And just tick a box confirming that you have not been a Portuguese tax resident in the past 5 years.
5 Submit! You should get an immediate provisional acceptance, with full acceptance within 2 days.

It sounds a bit daunting when you read it, but it is not at all problematic. It can be a bit time- consuming in the various offices (but so what!) and our experience has been that everyone in the different offices has been really friendly and helpful

Since then we have obtained a Via Verde card, as our 1 month registration on the motorways has expired, and (with Travelling Man’s great help) are about to start the process of car matriculation and driving license exchange.

Incidentally, I can’t see how airbnb will cut the mustard if the rules are being followed, though presumably you could arrange to rent a place used for airbnb, on a 6 month tenancy - be very expensive, though. Airbnb doesn’t convey an intention to be permanently resident.


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## dancebert

NHR is based on Tax Residency, not Residency. Copied from my notes on Portugal:

Broadly, this [NHR] regime is applicable to individuals who meet the criteria to qualify as tax resident in Portugal under the applicable tax residency rules (namely, if they stay in Portugal more than 183 days during a period of 12 months, or, in any given day of that period, have a place that they intend to use as their habitual residence, which can be the real estate they invested in) and have not been taxed as tax resident in Portugal in the previous five years.

https://home.kpmg.com/xx/en/home/insights/2016/09/becoming-resident-in-portugal.html

===
Relevant tax provision, via Google Translate

Article 16 of Personal Income Tax Code (CIRS) in Portuguese is available at
http://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.p...96-4DC1-B8B3-
23A4AC97947E/0/CIRS_01_2015.pdf

In accordance with Article 16 of CIRS,
1 – As a general rule, an individual shall be qualified as resident of Portugal if, during the year to which the income concern:

a) he is present in Portugal for more than 183 days, consecutive or otherwise, in any 12-month period starting or ending in the calendar year concerned;

b) he is Portugal for a shorter period, but he has, on any day during the period mentioned in the previous subparagraph, an home under circumstances which imply his intention to keep and occupy such abode as his permanent residence;
...
3 – The persons meeting the requirements under subparagraphs 1(a) or 1(b) shall be deemed to be resident since the first day of their stay in the Portuguese territory, unless they have been resident therein on any day of the previous year, in which case they shall be deemed to be resident in this territory since the first day of the year in which any of the requirements provided for in paragraph 1 is met

https://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-...ance/tax-residency/Portugal-Tax Residency.pdf


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## Mogwatz

Hi thanks everyone, for some reason I'm not pinged when someone posts here, so sorry for the late thanks.

Really appreciate you guys being so detailed. From what I have heard elsewhere, they sometimes accept Airbnb, sometimes for long or even short 3 months lets - and sometimes not. I've realised while here that most things seem to be a hustle anyway, rules are bent and ignored everywhere...my poor German heart! 

So in short, sometimes it seems to work. And sometimes not. People recommended going to several offices, until they found one that was okay with it.


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## Oliinla

Can I ask what actually happened here, did you have success using an Airbnb rental agreement in the end?


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## suiko

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I understood that an Air B&B rental coould be accepted by the Camara dealing with one's residency application, but that this form of "contract" had to be registered first in the form of an Atestado de Residencia at the local freguesia (not necessary for a regular rental contract).

What confuses me is that when i search for freguesias in Olhao, for example, there don't seem to be freguesias in the urban area. Is this possible?


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## RichardHenshall

https://www.cm-olhao.pt/en/municipio/juntas-de-freguesia


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## suiko

Ah I see - thanks So there is just one freguesia for Olhao itself (and presumably for other towns).


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## Lisbonfan

Hi Diddion

a question regarding NHR hope you can help, I am thinking of moving to Portugal, but all my income still from UK employment and are taxed at source, I heard with NHR you still need to pay 11% social security in Portugal? I m not sure I can get away from paying UK national insurance either, does that mean even with NHR, I will end up paying more tax as whole than just staying in the UK?


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