We chronicled the saga of obtaining our visas through the San Francisco Portuguese consulate in several previous posts. The visas which we received in June are temporary and allow us to stay in Portugal for 4 months or until our assigned appointment with Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras (SEF) which is the equivalent of immigration/border services. Because of the influx of refugees and expats from many different countries, SEF tries to spread out appointments so that larger cities like Lisbon, Porto, and Braga are not overwhelmed with too many appointments and other branches have almost none.
Andrew’s appointment is Wednesday, October 19 in Bragança in the very northeast of the country and well over 700 kilometers from where we live in Olhão which is in the very southeast. Because of administrative nightmares with SEF you are highly discouraged from trying to change your assigned appointment. Our appointments are documented in a URL right in our visa in our passport. We have four pets in the Finazzo fam and haven’t found a replacement house/furry buddy sitter as of yet, so Andrew will be making the trip alone. His current plan is to rent a car, leave after language class Tuesday night, make an overnight stop in Coimbra where our friends The Goulds from Eagle Point live now, and continue his trek to Bragança the next day.
My appointment is Thursday, November 10 in Alguava-Cacém which is between Lisbon and Sintra and just under 300 kilometers from our home. I also plan to travel alone, likely by train, and do my very best to get back to Olhão in order to attend language class Thursday night. We really want to limit school absences if at all possible.
We have to complete an application and bring much of the same paperwork we already provided for our visa: NIFs (Portuguese tax number), proof of private health insurance, bank statements, permission for checking criminal records, a lease, our passport and visa. While we understand the meeting to be a formality, there are stories of people struggling with the process because they didn’t have the appropriate documentation. If all goes well, we should receive our residence cards a few weeks after our appointments. The residence card is valid for 2 years, and then must be renewed in 3 year increments. After 5 years we have the option to apply for permanent residency if we meet the language requirements.
Wish us luck, we hope to post some fun pics of travels to our respective SEF appointments in future posts.
