Our Visa Journey (so far!)
Applying for the D7 and the D8 accompanying family member visa Portugal
Those who have been following our journey will know that getting our visa has been the biggest stress and roadblock to our life in Portugal. Our complications began when the D7 visa (which was originally acceptable for digital nomads to apply via) became more restrictive and added the requirement that it would only accept purely passive revenue streams like rental income, pension payments, dividend payments, or revenue generated from investments. Any other income was deemed ‘active’ and a new digital nomad visa was created which quadrupled the income requirements. The requirements of the new visa were too much for us to earn consistently, so we quickly scrapped the idea of that visa being an option for us and we had to find another way.
After reviewing other available visas we decided that the D7 was still the best option for us, the question now was how we structured our income to meet the requirements. After doing research and reading other peoples experiences, we realised there was a way to structure our savings in a way which met the monthly income criteria. This meant saving up a lump sum and putting our money into a flexible annuity to pay ourselves monthly. Another option can be to set up a company and pay yourself in dividends. Savings alone are unlikely to be accepted under the D7 visa (no matter how big the number) because what they’re looking for is steady monthly income.
If anyone is interested in the company we used to structure our income in this way please reach out and I can pass this on for you.
The next stage was getting all of our ducks in a row for the VFS appointment. We booked our appointments online at the Edinburgh office. The office you can attend depends on your home county, if you’re from the south your office will most likely be London, if you’re from the north or Scotland you can attend either Manchester or Edinburgh. The official list can be found at: https://visa.vfsglobal.com/gbr/en/prt/apply-visa
Dan applied for the D7 and I applied for the D8 accompanying family member visa. This way we kept the monthly income requirements as low as possible. The monthly requirements for the D7 is €870 per month, plus an extra 50% for accompanying spouse and an extra 30% for each child dependant. There also needs to be 12 months of the minimum monthly wage + any extra percentages for dependants in a Portuguese bank account. Again these requirements are always changing so check on the VFS website for updates figures.
These are the documents we brought:
Dans folder:
Blank D7 visa checklist
Completed application form - x2 copies
2 passport photos
Cover letter - x2 copies
Photocopy of passport - x2 copies
Big cat travel insurance (6 months from date of appointment) - x2 copies
ACRO - x2 copies (acro now needs to be apostilled)
Land deeds - x2 copies
Notarised Term of Responsibility - x2 copies
Joint UK Statements (3 months)- x2 copies
Joint Portuguese Bank Statements (3 months) - x2 copies
Personal UK Bank Statements (3 months) - x2 copies
Annuity Confirmation Statement - x2 copies
Private Pension Statement -x2 copies
State Pension Forecast - x2 copies
Birth Certificates - x2 copies
Marriage Certificate - x2 copies
NIF - x2 copies
Proof of other assets - x2 copies of each
Evidence of Portuguese lessons invoices- x2 copies
VFS appointment confirmation letter
Lauras folder:
Blank D8 visa Checklist
Completed application form - x2 copies
2 passport photos
Cover letter - x2 copies
Photocopy of passport - x2 copies
Big cat travel insurance (6 months from date of appointment) - x2 copies
ACRO - x2 copies *acro now needs to be apostilled*
Land deeds - x2 copies
Notarised Term of Responsibility - x2 copies
Joint UK Statements (3 months)- x2 copies
Joint Portuguese Bank Statements (3 months) - x2 copies
Personal UK Bank Statements (3 months) - x2 copies
Annuity Confirmation Statement - x2 copies
Private Pension Statement -x2 copies
State Pension Forecast - x2 copies
Birth Certificates - x2 copies
Marriage Certificate - x2 copies
Certified Photocopy of Dans Passport - x2 copies
NIF - x2 copies
Proof of other assets - x2 copies of each
Evidence of Portuguese lessons invoices- x2 copies
VFS appointment confirmation letter
Please note that these documents were accepted at the time of our appointment, the requirements change quite often so to get an updated checklist head to: https://www.vfsglobal.com/one-pager/portugal/uk/english/?_gl=1*12lebaq*_gcl_au*NzY1OTQ4ODEwLjE3NDA0Mjg0MDY.*_ga*ODY5ODM2NjY1LjE3NDA0Mjg0MzM.*_ga_Z8LKRKHHG4*MTc0NDczNTU0Ny4yLjEuMTc0NDczNTcxMi4zMC4wLjA.
The appointment went well, and after only 2 weeks of waiting we received an email that our visa had been accepted and that we had to go to the Portuguese consulate in Manchester to have our passports stamped with our temporary stay visas.
The process at the consulate was simple, taking only 20 minutes for them to hand us our passports back with the stamped visa inside. We were hoping to be given our stage 2 AIMA appointments at the same time but we were told that we’d have to contact AIMA in Portugal to arrange our appointments. AIMA has a backlog of over 400,000 applicants and they’re incredibly difficult to get in touch with so this is going to be another obstacle to overcome.
But for now we’re grateful that we can stay in Portugal knowing that we no longer have to leave every 90 days!
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For anyone who’s wanting to know more, there is a very helpful Facebook group called British Immigrants in Portugal. There are lots of files on there with all kinds of helpful information about moving to Portugal. The admin Steve Robinson also offers consultation calls for a very reasonable price which we found super helpful! https://www.facebook.com/groups/413115937699774
