D7 Accommodations

Looking for an Apartment 5600 Miles Away

As we discussed in our post on getting a D7 visa, one of the requirements is to secure 6 months of accommodations. We had read on forums that some folks secure 6 one-month Airbnb rentals that are refundable. We are not sure why, but our immigration specialist advised against this. She believed that Portugal looked more favorably on an actual 6-month lease agreement.

Rua das Orquídeas (Orchids Street), Estoril

What we Got

So we scoured Airbnb and VRBO. We choose 6 properties that seemed to meet our requirements. We wanted 2 bedrooms. We weren’t expecting any visitors but knowing European bedrooms typically weren’t that large…we assumed we would need the storage space. We were correct. We wanted an outdoor area for Onix. We wanted 2 bathrooms…but that proved hard to find. We wanted a kitchen.

We didn’t know we should ask for heat.

Note fleece and casseroles, required to keep food warm.

RTP assisted us by contacting the hosts and asking if they would be willing to convert their properties to 6-month lease agreements. They also assisted, just a bit, with negotiating the rent. The property we really, really wanted fell through unexpectedly. We were then left with 2. One for $3000 a month and this one for $1600 a month. We choose the cheaper in part due to frugality and in part because it is adjacent to a golf course. Unfortunately, the proximity to the golf course was for naught given the temperature and the lockdown.

Why Multiple AirBNBs Make Sense

As it turns out, if it is permissible, the 6 one-month AirBNB stays would be the better route. First, because you can put up with just about any place for 30 days. Second, because it allows you to check out different towns or neighborhoods to see what fits best. [Oh yeah, perhaps we failed to mention this before. We had never visited Portugal before we began this journey. If you were drinking coffee, as you read this, you can take a moment to clean up what you just spit across the room. We’ll wait.]

The other major reason the AirBNB route makes sense is the process one goes through to move from a 4-month D7 visa to a 2-year temporary residency card. You see, when we submitted our D7 paperwork we included a form to request our SEF (i.e. residency) appointment. When our passports were returned with the visas attached we received a letter with the dates and times of our SEF meetings that had been scheduled (23 and 24 March). A requirement of the SEF meeting is ownership of a property or a one-year lease.

Like many instances in government, it would appear the folks that created the D7 requirements did not consult with the folks that created the SEF requirements. As designed one must cancel one agreement, or forfeit payment, to begin another.

Remembering OLGA

So in just two weeks, we are moving on. Not only because of the lack of creature comforts. We have decided we prefer Cascais and want to be in town. Currently, we live a 30-40 minute walk from any supermarket and at least 15 minutes from a corner coffee shop. I guess you would say, “We are in the ‘burbs.” We lived in the burbs most of our adult lives…it is time to go back into city life.

If you followed our RV travels, you may recall that we owned two motorhomes. A used 22’ Winnebago Sunseeker and a Renegade Villagio. The latter was definitely an upgrade having been built on a Mercedes Sprinter chassis. As we woke one morning, having worn fleeces to bed the night before, Denise said, “It is a good thing we owned a motorhome before renting this place. This is just like camping.”

“Yes,” I responded. “But this is a lot more like the first OLGA than the second!” Again, file this under, these are the things that color our memories of travel.

Follow Up: After publishing this piece yesterday we heard from an American acquaintance that is currently applying for her D7. She wrote that the information we posted here was incorrect. She had contacted an Expat Facebook Forum and was told a 1-year lease is not required. Certainly, it is not our intent to publish inaccurate information. And, as I mentioned in an earlier post we are NOT relocation specialists and have relied on the advice of such an expert. I reached out to her this morning to reconfirm the advice we had received from her. Here is her response:

SEF has been more lenient due to Covid and I have heard of people who presented shorter leases and they accepted it. However, it is a requirement to have a 12-month lease. You can try with what you have now. If they don’t accept it they will give you ten working days to present them a longer-term lease.

Though Portugal is a relatively small country, there are quite a few SEF offices. It may be that different offices interpret the rules differently. This may explain some of the contradictory information we often find on forums. However, we have spoken to people who recently completed the SEF process and were required to present a long-term lease.

As we paid for relocation assistance and sailed through the D7 process in 31 days … we are following the advice provided by RTP. Given my disdain for bureaucracy, the last thing I need is to be told to come back in 10 days. We will also note that when we received our visas, our SEF meeting was scheduled just 2km from where we are staying. We have spoken to many expats who arrived without an appointment and spent weeks trying to get an appointment and/or were given an appointment more than 1 hour from their home base.