# Long-Stay Visa Questions



## portugalexpat (Mar 24, 2018)

Hi all,

As a US citizen, I have a few questions about applying for the Portugal long-stay visa as a person living off my own income. I will be applying through the New York consulate. I have tried calling them as well as e-mailing them with my questions, but so far have received no response. I'm hoping that someone on here have some experience with them and would be able to help.

1) Regarding the proof of income requirement, do you know how much is sufficient? I can produce bank statements show more than 50,000 euros balance. Do you know how many months of bank statements is required? Also, the NY consulate asks for "evidence of how the funds will be transferred to Portugal". I don't have a Portuguese bank account yet, but all of the funds in my account will be accessible in Portugal via ATM withdrawals. Do you know if it would it be sufficient to provide a note on the bank statements indicating as such?

2) Regarding documents related to accommodation: I don't yet have permanent accommodation in Portugal (since I'm still in the US), so I was planning to rent an AirBnB initially until I can find an apartment of my own. I've read that certain consulates (like SF) are somewhat strict regarding accepting AirBnB rentals as proof of accommodation. Do you know if the NY consulate would accept an AirBnB receipt? If so, how many months' rental do they require?

3) Regarding evidence of medical insurance, would travel insurance be acceptable? Do you know what the specific requirements are (e.g., minimum coverage) to be considered acceptable?

4) Which size passport photos should I get, US-sized or Portugal-sized?


Thanks in advance for your help!


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## grammymissy (Jun 21, 2009)

portugalexpat said:


> Hi all,
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Unfortunately, you need the answers from the embassy you are applying to, due to the differences....I would recommend that you also email the Washington DC Portugal Embassy and explain you are not receiving a response from the NY office, perhaps Dina can help, get a response. Good Luck!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## dancebert (Jun 4, 2015)

There are facebook groups for Americans considering living in or already living in Portugal. Searching those will answer most of your questions, or at the very least will be responded to people with various degrees of having a clue. I'll answer the harder ones.

>I have tried calling them as well as e-mailing them with my questions, but so far have received no response. 
Did you email in Portuguese? There are translators online. One rule of thumb for any visa anywhere is bring all the documentation people have reported being asked for. Will be a total waste of time unless the consulate person asks for it.


>"evidence of how the funds will be transferred to Portugal"
Consensus is this is ignored by consulates. Seems to be a requirement from the past that is still part of the law or tradition.


> Regarding evidence of medical insurance, 
Appears SEF is changing this. Consulates have their requirements, but SEF has the final authority.


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## Strontium (Sep 16, 2015)

Hi,

And welcome,

As you know from your extensive research of Portugal, a small country far away, it has a history, which is ongoing, and still recovering from the authority of António de Oliveira Salazar and the "New State" and it's subsequent administrations but has resulted in a wonderful human level of interpretation. Here different offices of the same organisation will have different ways of implementing their perception of the "rules". Asking the half dozen people in a department the same question will elicit 6 different answers. Locally here I have found offices (including things like Banks) often do not respond to phone or email so a personal visit is the way to progress things. 

Thus asking "what size should my photo be" will depend on the person in the office who is looking at your application photo but often they don't care as they are not following the anal US of A inflexible immigration rules. 

You need to put some effort into progressing this personally and not rely on "rules", here "official things" take 10 times longer then you expect BUT that is why people choose to live here as it is on a human level. 

Good luck.


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