# Moving to Portugal from US during COVID fun!



## hoserama99 (Aug 7, 2020)

Hi all,

Longtime lurker, new poster here!

My wife, kid and I are moving from the US to Portugal at the end of this month, and as you might expect, we have some uncertainties about the process, particularly around COVID19.

For background, wife and kid are Portuguese nationals (dual US/PT citizenship), I am just a US citizen. Wife has US and PT passports, kid only has US passport, I only have US passport. We registered our marriage (and the kid's birth) in Portugal ages ago, and have current copies of those forms from Portugal. The kid has a citizen's card but it is currently sitting in a drawer in Portugal lol.

We retained a lawyer to help us with the process way back in last October, and were due to fly out mid-March to initiate it in full as I didn't have all the paperwork we needed back in October. That obviously blew up, but he did advise a month ago that we should have no problems flying in as we are a "family", even though I don't yet have a residency card and could not get the process started before they locked everything down with SEF.

So my question: has any non-Portuguese, non-resident spouse from the US traveled to Portugal with their Portuguese spouse during the COVID19 restrictions, and have you had any issues? We believe we won't have any trouble getting the COVID19 test done, so not too worried about that part.


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## John and Cecil (Dec 22, 2019)

hoserama99 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> Longtime lurker, new poster here!
> 
> ...


I have not done so, however this document might answer your question:

https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work...rus-pandemic/travel-and-eu-during-pandemic_en

Although US citizens are barred entry to the EU there are exemptions, and one of the exemptions is family members. You will have to read through it but it sounds like spouses are exempt from the restriction depending on how the marriage is registered or something. Good luck.


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## hoserama99 (Aug 7, 2020)

Thanks, we've been operating under the assumption that spouses and kids are A-OK even without residency visas.

Mainly I am hoping to hear from someone in this same bucket who has already done this to further ease my worries.


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## cleokep (Apr 29, 2020)

hoserama99 said:


> Thanks, we've been operating under the assumption that spouses and kids are A-OK even without residency visas.
> 
> Mainly I am hoping to hear from someone in this same bucket who has already done this to further ease my worries.


I just came to the country last week with my US wife. I'm an EU citizen, we came from Boston, we just had to show our passports when we went together thru the EU line, no questions were asked. We did have to take a Covid test at 100 euros each since the American test we took at Walgreens didn't explicitly say it was a PCR test. Results from the airport Covid test were emailed 24 hours later, we quarantined until we knew we were negative. Met other Americans in line with us who also had to take the Covid test.


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## hoserama99 (Aug 7, 2020)

cleokep said:


> I just came to the country last week with my US wife. I'm an EU citizen, we came from Boston, we just had to show our passports when we went together thru the EU line, no questions were asked. We did have to take a Covid test at 100 euros each since the American test we took at Walgreens didn't explicitly say it was a PCR test. Results from the airport Covid test were emailed 24 hours later, we quarantined until we knew we were negative. Met other Americans in line with us who also had to take the Covid test.


Ah, now that's interesting! It was my impression that everyone - US citizens and nationals - had to get the Covid19 test before boarding, although I understand this slight change is new as of Aug 1.

I am also mildly worried that TAP may forbid us (read: me) from boarding due to the spouse-but-no-visa rule, but I do feel better hearing how it went for you.


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## cleokep (Apr 29, 2020)

hoserama99 said:


> Ah, now that's interesting! It was my impression that everyone - US citizens and nationals - had to get the Covid19 test before boarding, although I understand this slight change is new as of Aug 1.
> 
> I am also mildly worried that TAP may forbid us (read: me) from boarding due to the spouse-but-no-visa rule, but I do feel better hearing how it went for you.


OK so first you have to understand that there are a few different types of Covid tests that are being done in the USA, but Portugal requires a PCR type test. 

A Covid test in the past 72 hrs is required for everyone to even get on the airplane. We took a rapid Covid test at our local Walgreens, got our negative results and thought all was fine. At the airport check-in TAP looks at your test results to make sure the test was conducted within the past 72 hrs. 

It isn't until you get off the plane and meet your first Portuguese official that they look at your Covid test results to make sure it's a PCR type test. If it doesn't say "PCR" anywhere on your test, then you and your family will have to take the airport's test at 100 euros each.


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## hoserama99 (Aug 7, 2020)

cleokep said:


> OK so first you have to understand that there are a few different types of Covid tests that are being done in the USA, but Portugal requires a PCR type test.
> 
> A Covid test in the past 72 hrs is required for everyone to even get on the airplane. We took a rapid Covid test at our local Walgreens, got our negative results and thought all was fine. At the airport check-in TAP looks at your test results to make sure the test was conducted within the past 72 hrs.
> 
> It isn't until you get off the plane and meet your first Portuguese official that they look at your Covid test results to make sure it's a PCR type test. If it doesn't say "PCR" anywhere on your test, then you and your family will have to take the airport's test at 100 euros each.


OK, this is helpful - thanks!

Do you know how it might go if the test results are purely online? Can I pull up a webpage or email on my phone and show that to the officials? I ask because there's a near-certainty that I won't be able to print any results myself before we board.


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