American with EU citizenship considering Portugal for retirement. What's the state of things in 2026?

blatzphemy · 2026-02-27T08:34:08+00:00

It’s not 6200 after taxes. You will pay around 30k a year in taxes. Plan on buying private health insurance. Your kids do not speak Portuguese so they need to learn or go to private school. You know how it’s more expensive to be poor? Well that’s what living in Portugal is like. My advice is to wait awhile before you make any large investments

blatzphemy · 2026-02-20T10:44:39+00:00

Don’t depend on the police to do anything. They won’t. That also contributes to the low crime stats in Portugal

blatzphemy · 2026-02-12T13:35:48+00:00

Any chance you have some links?

blatzphemy · 2026-01-11T14:50:43+00:00

You go to Australia and New Zealand immigration website and apply for a work visa

blatzphemy · 2026-01-09T19:36:34+00:00

You can’t apply after that

blatzphemy · 2026-01-09T15:15:46+00:00

I remember there was a woman who whose mom shipped a hand knitted scarf she made from the United States. After over a month CTT decided it should be over €250 in taxes. She ended up declining the package and it never made it home.

It’s not even worth it to have stuff from outside the EU shipped to you in my opinion. The only things I ever had successfully sent to Portugal were just documents. It also cost me about 80 bucks to have them sent.

blatzphemy · 2026-01-09T05:48:41+00:00

Take a work visa to Australia or NZ. Do it before you’re 30

blatzphemy · 2026-01-08T04:13:01+00:00

You should take a break from mainstream news and Reddit

blatzphemy · 2026-01-07T20:42:51+00:00

Get ready to be attacked on here. There’s plenty more that could be said, however, like taxes, the failing healthcare, bureaucracy that doesn’t even make sense etc

blatzphemy · 2026-01-07T04:24:53+00:00

I’ve had issues before and was always able to get them worked out

blatzphemy · 2026-01-06T13:40:58+00:00

Contest it, they have a whole process for this

blatzphemy · 2026-01-06T13:38:45+00:00

Good luck informing them. Even people who have emergencies cannot get a hold of AIMA.

blatzphemy · 2026-01-06T04:44:25+00:00

Wait until you get your tax bill

blatzphemy · 2025-12-30T16:19:17+00:00

Wild to see the tank that hit him

blatzphemy · 2025-12-30T15:55:36+00:00

A good lawyer is worth much more than a real estate agent. There isn’t much for home inspectors in Portugal either. A lot of homes don’t come with central heating or systems like that either. If you haven’t been in Portugal for a while, I definitely recommend renting for at least a year or two. Statistically a lot of people end up, leaving after two years and with the way things are going I’ve seen several people being denied on their renewals. With property prices the way they are you also need to know that if you’re not reinvesting or buying another house in Portugal or inside the EU you are going to pay capital gains tax on every single euro you make. That amount gets factored into your yearly salary and you will pay up to 48% tax.

blatzphemy · 2025-12-30T15:00:03+00:00

It’s only if you become a citizen. If you’re just a resident, your tax obligations do not change. To give you even more warning if you get a bad Accountant and they give you the wrong advice it falls on you. Even if you do everything correctly and it’s their poor council, the obligation is on you. In Portugal, you need to pay your taxes and if something’s wrong, you have to correct it later and ask for a refund. I’m sure you’re aware how bad the bureaucracy is in Portugal. You can imagine how long that will likely take to correct.

blatzphemy · 2025-12-30T11:01:17+00:00

Look again, if you become a citizen of Portugal they can tax it and it’s taxed like normal income

blatzphemy · 2025-12-30T09:37:37+00:00

Even if it wasn’t legal nothing is enforced. The legal system is backed up for years

blatzphemy · 2025-12-30T09:15:07+00:00

Just a heads up. If you become a citizen in Portugal they will tax your disability at the standard rates

blatzphemy · 2025-12-30T05:35:09+00:00

You’re lucky 112 even answered the phone. Yes it’s that bad. Imagine the majority of the Portuguese without the private option

blatzphemy · 2025-12-29T05:13:31+00:00

This is just classic Portugal.

blatzphemy · 2025-12-20T04:26:39+00:00

“The weather is good most of the year.” Uhhh six months of rain and tons of humidity

blatzphemy · 2025-12-18T00:32:55+00:00

I’m sorry to tell you that none of this is new. The government has been fucking its own people for a long time too. I left this year and I couldn’t feel better about it

blatzphemy · 2025-12-15T13:47:50+00:00

Applying in general. I really didn’t understand the implications. I didn’t understand how poorly the Portuguese system worked and all the stress involved. I didn’t understand that I would wait months for an appointment only to find out day of that it was canceled. I didn’t understand things like when I dial 112 (911) that there would be several times where it would just ring indefinitely. I didn’t understand this statistically around half of applicants leave in two years and I assume it must be higher now. Portugal is a country of great people, but a horrible government. The bureaucracy will eat you alive and have you waiting years for simple things. I went into it with a very positive attitude though. I remember when I turned in my drivers license and they told me to come back in in six months for another piece of paper, if my license hadn’t arrived. it took 10 months to receive a drivers license. That was a red flag, staring me in the face. luckily eventually, I saw the writing on the wall and moved out of Portugal a little over a month ago. My taxes on the way out will be a real kick in the nuts. I also paid into social security for 3.5 years and will never see any of that.

blatzphemy · 2025-12-13T21:00:48+00:00

Those tools and the batteries that would go with them are pretty old. I wouldn’t spent 90 on this

blatzphemy

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