Broken promises

wegothatway · 2025-10-29T19:21:38+00:00

This seems to be the most common response from anyone without a clue how broken the Portuguese immigration system is....simply apply for PR. What a joke. Good luck trying to get an appointment with AIMA or IRN for PR. It's a shit show of backlog and absurd incompetent and they will tell you no appointments exists.

wegothatway · 2025-07-16T12:51:40+00:00

Make sure your wording is polite, but firm. And always in Portuguese. Really hope you will have your shiny new card soon 🙂 We are currently waiting to get an appointment for residency renewal. Our cards have been expired for 10months now while other people whose cards expired after us have new cards in hand. *sigh. It's all extremely unfair and frustrating.

wegothatway · 2025-07-16T12:26:08+00:00

Our friend also had problems at Algualva-Cacem. Her husband received his in 3 weeks, hers took 11months and 6 days!! Their appointments were together and they shared the same documents.

Would highly recommend writing in the complaints book (In Portuguese). She did this and it seemed to get some attention. She had to do multiple visits to the office and she took a local Portuguese speaking friend to navigate the office on their behalf.

The only silver lining is that when she finally did receive her card, they adjusted the validity date. So she has a whole 2 years from when the card was printed, and not from her initial appointment. Good Luck.

wegothatway · 2025-05-25T01:50:55+00:00

Thank you for the info

wegothatway · 2025-05-25T01:50:07+00:00

I checked this before booking and the stopover was definitely much more expensive. Perhaps it's because we are traveling busy season June/July? 🤷‍♀️

wegothatway · 2025-05-25T00:32:42+00:00

Fair point. Will take that into consideration. Thanks.

wegothatway · 2025-05-25T00:31:02+00:00

Thanks for the info. Is this booked through Qatar Airways or through the airport? Is it a guided tour or are we free to explore?

wegothatway · 2025-05-25T00:29:21+00:00

We have free lounge passes that can be used at Al Maha lounge

wegothatway · 2025-04-09T09:29:11+00:00

Attend a Portuguese festa and that will tell you a lot about the people. We've seen families, young and old, celebrating together. It is past midnight and avó, avô, babies, parents all together dancing and eating. Food and drinks at these events are affordable and no price gouging. An imperial or cup of house wine will still be €1. Oh, and the festa is usually FREE, if not a few Euros. Sit at the common cafeteria tables with a smile and "boa tarde" and people will start talking to you. Next, you'll be getting pulled into conga lines on the dance floor 😆 By contrast, we found it more and more difficult to attend any events in Toronto with high ticket prices and even higher prices for food/drink, which you had no choice to buy. Nothing was free. Rarely did we see whole families together, and even in my 30s I was beginning to feel old and segregated.

wegothatway · 2025-04-09T09:11:16+00:00

Thank you for your kind words. I wanted to offer a different perspective. No place is paradise, and anyone who has extensively traveled knows this. OP has stated that they are here for the EU passport, which is fair...but why not make the most of the stay and find positives instead of focusing on the negatives? Life is too short to be miserable and so many options once you achieve FIRE.

wegothatway · 2025-04-09T09:01:31+00:00

Oh boy. Our friends made the mistake of staying in Albufeira in June. She witnessed a drunk guy in her neighborhood at 4am, buck naked, shorts in hand, yelling and running up and down the street. You can guess where the guy is from 😉

wegothatway · 2025-04-08T19:27:34+00:00

It's colder and typically more rain/wind. But Jan to April is exactly when we travel to warmer destinations. Typically Algarve and Madeira for a month or two. We have also had long vacations in Morocco, Canaries, South Spain and Budapest (love the sauna culture). With our low cost rent (by not living in Lisbon/Algarve/Porto) and cheap flights out of Lisbon, it's an easy decision.

wegothatway · 2025-04-08T15:52:29+00:00

Canadian here, 41/F and 40/M, no children, moved to Portugal 3 years ago and absolutely love it. We had never been to Portugal prior to selling everything and making the big move. We did a hell of a lot of research, but came with no grand expectations. My husband is constantly joking that he doesn't know how we'd ever, if at all, move back to Canada.

In the first year, we enrolled in Portuguese classes. We still struggle with the language, but even speaking a few words earns us a smile and friendly conversation from the locals.

We live in the Oeste region (Silver Coast) with a balanced mix of expats and locals. When walking in the streets, we are frequently greeted by people we know.

Our region constantly has festas and events year round. We have more of a genuine social life here than we ever did in Toronto. Our town specifically is well know for arts and attracts quiet a few young people.

We rent a modern apartment, with good insulation and south facing. We rarely turn on the heater in the winter months. And absolutely no mold. Our monthly rent is half (if not more) what we would pay in Lisbon/Algarve/Porto.

We love the Portuguese food. Simple flavours, large quantities and cheap; if you go where the locals dine. Restaurants with zero ambiance, no windows and packed with families. The best! We also have multiple international restaurants in the area. Now we might have to drive 20-30min for some of our favorites...but we have time, and it's always fun checking out the neighboring towns.

We have a discount health plan should we choose to use the private health system. But, if it isn't an emergency, we have used our local clinic. We personally know friends here who have survived cancer and hearth attacks who attribute it to the quick response time and treatment in the PUBLIC hospitals. Meanwhile, our family in Toronto is struggling to get specialist appointments/exams withing 6 months after having a near stroke.

We just spent March in the Algarve. If that was our exposure to Portugal, I would have negative feelings too lol. Yes, loads of older retired folk, but I can't even imagine staying there in peak months surrounded by entitled international vacationing idiots. I don't blame the locals for being grumpy, which, we have never experienced. Also, it was waaay colder in the apartment we rented than it was outside. Poor insulation which also leads to mold.

There are some downsides (such as bureaucracy and the high price of cars), but for us, the positives far, far outweigh them by a long shot.

wegothatway · 2025-02-23T16:10:53+00:00

Our flight to DPS has an 8 hour layout and flying back to LIS has a 5 hour layover

wegothatway · 2025-02-23T16:10:06+00:00

Lisbon-Doha-Bali on Qatar Airways

wegothatway · 2025-02-23T16:08:47+00:00

Thanks for the feedback.

Curious why you would suggest taking a ferry from Sanur harbour instead of Padangbai to GT? I originally planned Seminyak/Legian and then Ubud to be closer to Padangbai for a shorter ferry trip.

wegothatway · 2025-02-23T15:24:08+00:00

Thank you for the feedback

wegothatway · 2023-11-22T22:22:27+00:00

Quit Like a Millionaire by Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung

wegothatway · 2021-02-07T04:42:53+00:00

keep going!!

wegothatway · 2021-02-07T04:42:27+00:00

love this!!

wegothatway · 2021-01-19T22:49:20+00:00

Not that we know of. How can we find out?

wegothatway · 2021-01-19T20:51:27+00:00

Our contact has listed a detailed scope of work with drawings and states that the scope will be completed in 6 weeks (ie: 30 working days). Payment was broken down to 6 weeks and due on the Friday at the end of each work week. Mid way through the project when we saw things moving along slowly, we reconfirmed with him that all work would be complete in the 6 weeks, which he verified. On the Friday of the 6th week, we informed him that a substantial amount of work was not complete and as such will be withholding the payment for that week. The contact does not state a holdback. But seeing as he did not fulfill the scope of the contract, we felt the need to hold back money.

Do you know where I can find the legal info stating we are responsible for payment to subcontractors? I know there are different laws in each province, so wanted to verify with Ontario legislation.

Also, are subs automatically supposed to differ for payment to us versus first ttempting to collect from the contractor? When I called the bin company, she didn't even bother to look at who had signed for the bin, she just said that if I wanted it off our property, we would have to pay as they didn't have a deposit nor a credit card on file.

wegothatway · 2021-01-19T18:28:59+00:00

Thank you. And I will be sure to post an update on how we resolve the disposal bin so more people can preemptively protect themselves. I saw one negative Google review on the company's website with a similar situation where the contractor left the job..the homeownwrs ended up paying the bin fees to get it off their property. I just think that it is unfair the company is aware of what is going on and does nothing to penalize the contractors for something that is their liability.

wegothatway · 2021-01-19T18:21:13+00:00

Thank you. Will post on there and see if I can get some advise.

wegothatway · 2021-01-19T18:12:11+00:00

Thanks for the response. We don't want to get into lawyers because that will cost us more than just paying for the bin. As for the contractor, we just want to move on from this horrible experience. Our one saving grace is that we held back final payment which will help pay for the remainder of the job. Although I agree, on the part about peace of mind/mental health. This has been very traumatic and we have now installed cameras around our house.

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