# American married to EU citizen moving to Portugal



## betelnutz (Jun 19, 2015)

Hi Everyone,

I am an American that has lived in Macau China (former Portuguese colony) for many years. I met my wife here and she is from Croatia. During our time here in Macau we have met many great Portuguese friends that have since moved back 
to Portugal and constantly tell us that we would love it there, so we are considering moving to Portugal to retire =)

I am wondering if we can get residence in Portugal due to the fact that my wife is from Croatia and it is part of the EU. I am uncertain if I as her husband being an American qualify to live Portugal based on my wife being an EU citizen from Croatia?

Neither of us plan to work there, our plan is to purchase a countryside villa or quinta as our primary residence and then a few more apartments in the cities that will be used as rentals to generate rental income. I am aware of the Golden Visa option and we most likely will not spend the required amount on our house so that is not an option.

If anyone has any information or advice related to my situation, I would be very thankful if you share it with me.

Thanks,
Betel


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## MrBife (Jul 26, 2009)

You should be able to apply for a Schengen visa that will enable you to stay and travel freely anywhere within the EU space (but not UK as its not a part of Schengen). You don't need to go the 'golden visa' route as that is only for totally non EU entrants. Make an application now and get it done before you travel. Probably easiest for you to get that via the Croatian consulate with your wife's paperwork/help + hopefully using a family address there.

If you decide to base yourself in Portugal then you can apply for Portuguese residency within six months but that will be very easy if you have the visa in place.


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## MrBife (Jul 26, 2009)

Oops I double checked and found out that Croatia has only applied to join Schengen and will only be admitted in a few months. In the meantime however you should be able to achieve most things with a Croatian visa since Croatian's also have open borders within the EU space. But I would still go that route rather than trying to do all of this in Portugal


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## betelnutz (Jun 19, 2015)

When visiting Croatia as an American I do not need to get a Visa, they give me a stamp upon entry that allows me to stay for up to 90 days. 

Our plan is to go from our current location Macau to Portugal directly and it seems Americans get the same type of Visa stamp up to 90 days in Portugal.

There is no Croatian consulate here, we do have a Portuguese consulate and we plan to visit them to see what they have to say as well.

On another note none of this is urgent, we are a couple years away from retirement. Just doing research now and gathering as much information as possible on the process.


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