# Moving to Portugal (I'm Clueless)



## Poker (Nov 21, 2011)

Hello, 

I have a bit of a story to tell on my background and my current situation and am hoping you can bear reading it and help me. 

I have been a professional poker player for a few years now. Before April 15th I was making very good money playing online but on the 15th of April the US Department of Justice shut down the major sites including the site I played on - Full Tilt Poker. 
Full Tilt never paid players back and around mid June they had their world-wide gaming license revoked and have been offline since. I had nearly all of my net-worth on the site, well into 5 figures. 
There is a good chance they will repay as an investor has agreed to buy the company but until the money is in my bank account I will continue to plan forward assuming I will not ever see it again.


There are not currently any good options for me to make anywhere near the income I was making playing online poker in America - so I have been seriously considering moving to Portugal. I choose Portugal because I have been told it will be very easy for me to get citizenship there - I am a first generation American, both of my parents were born in Portugal. I am not in touch with any family living in Portugal, it seems I would have to rent an apartment on my own. 


I don't have much free money right now, a few thousand dollars at best.

Basically I have never moved outside of my state, I have no clue how to go about this, how much money it will take or how to even go about planning for it. 
I do know that no matter what I will have to go with less wiggle-room than most people. I can't visit to scout the place out, I won't have a ton of money saved up, etc.
The good news is once I am set up over there I will be able to start making money very quickly.


So I need to know how to find a place to rent quickly, with reliable internet (very important) and how to get setup from scratch over there and how much it will cost. What can I expect? etc etc. 


Thank you for your help.


edit: I don't speak Portuguese fluently but I do know a little bit. I spoke it as a child and hopefully it would be easier to pick it up for me than most non-speakers.


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## MrBife (Jul 26, 2009)

Poker said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have a bit of a story to tell on my background and my current situation and am hoping you can bear reading it and help me.
> 
> ...



I would be tempted to take a look at Macau instead, formerly a Portuguese colony it could provide you with a far more interesting set of options than Portugal - if you do a Google search for 'macau gambling' you will get some reading material. Be lucky

Macau ? gaming capital of the world | Travel | The Guardian


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## Poker (Nov 21, 2011)

gambling in the country doesn't matter. i won't be playing many live events. i could just as easily play online from canada or russia or practically any other place in the world outside the USA.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

if you can prove your Portuguese ancestry then yes formalities here are easy for you, finding an apartment and good internet it not difficult, but should be concentrated around major cities , or areas that have fibre optic cable which does increase options, but a few thousand dollars is not going to last you very long, you would need more than that just to make the initial move, find, rent, outfit a flat. More sensible to wait until you have sufficient funds.


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## Poker (Nov 21, 2011)

canoeman said:


> if you can prove your Portuguese ancestry then yes formalities here are easy for you, finding an apartment and good internet it not difficult, but should be concentrated around major cities , or areas that have fibre optic cable which does increase options, but a few thousand dollars is not going to last you very long, you would need more than that just to make the initial move, find, rent, outfit a flat. More sensible to wait until you have sufficient funds.


Yes, this is why I was wondering if you could help me figure out what the cost was and how much I would need to have saved up as a minimum to make the move.


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## canoeman (Mar 3, 2011)

It's too big a question to give any sort of an answer without some parameters, 1-2-3 bedroom apartment, major city or town, furnished, unfurnished, car, just for starters, the easy one is internet your looking at around the €40 pm mark, flights easy just do an internet search.


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## cisk2008 (Nov 22, 2011)

Hi Poker,
I fully understand your situation. I work in iGaming myself, been doing this for over 12 years and am quite aware of the situation US players are going through after black Friday.

I would definitely recommend moving to Malta. If not definitely then at least as a staging point for future moves within Europe. Advantages to moving here include:

- Huge poker player community from all over EU and US & Canada.
- Everybody speaks English.
- Malta is in itself an iGaming hub with hundreds of online casino and poker rooms based in the island which is an advantage when looking for new deals, hanging out with other poker players/pros, playing live games, etc.
- Cost of living is cheaper than the rest of EU and quality of life is better in many aspects.

Just run a quick search on Google about Malta and poker and check out some real estate companies (remax malta, frank salt, sara grech) to see the kind of lifestyle we can afford here 

If you want to know more feel free to pm me for more info. I've been living in Malta since 2006 (when the UIGEA first hit the US) and have been helping people and companies relocate here for quite a while.


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## IneedPOKER (Mar 15, 2012)

Hello, I'm trying to reach member 'cisk2008' for some information about moving to Malta. I'd like to make the trek there sometime this summer, and would love to get as much information about what is needed in advance. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and have a wonderful day.


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## siobhanwf (Mar 20, 2009)

IneedPOKER said:


> Hello, I'm trying to reach member 'cisk2008' for some information about moving to Malta. I'd like to make the trek there sometime this summer, and would love to get as much information about what is needed in advance. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and have a wonderful day.


cisk2008 has not been back on this forum since the day he joined  so you are unlikely to be able to contct .


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

IneedPOKER said:


> Hello, I'm trying to reach member 'cisk2008' for some information about moving to Malta. I'd like to make the trek there sometime this summer, and would love to get as much information about what is needed in advance. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and have a wonderful day.


Hi

we don't have a dedicated Malta forum, but if you post your questions here Rest of The World Expat Forum - Expat Forum For Expats, For Moving Overseas And For Jobs Abroad there are a few posters living on Malta who will hopefully be able to help you


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