[jIyajbe]

My wife and I did this immediately upon retiring: Pacific Northwestern U.S. to Lisbon, Portugal. Early days yet (less than one year), but so far has been fantastic. Much lower cost of living, the culture is similar enough to be comfortable, and different enough to be fascinating and fun. Plus, meeting people from all over the world. Met a couple from Croatia today in the pet store.

I strongly recommend moving to a different country, if you can. It's a big, interesting world out there.

[lbrito]

I really like Portugal. Great weather, excellent food, everything is cheap. And I speak Portuguese, so its more or less like home.

Income taxes are high though, and I'm not sure about health service, schools etc.

[jIyajbe]

lbrito, do you currently live in Portugal? And, how did you learn Portuguese? My wife and I are working on it (she is much farther along than I am), and man is it tough! So many times I thought I was speaking really clearly and correctly, but the person at the pastelaria just gives me a really confused look. (At which point I dig out my translation app. :-/)

[twox2]

What's it like doing that as a US citizen? What are the costs involved? I imagine you have setup your whole life in Lisbon with a place to live, bank accounts, residency, etc... but then you have to maintain ties the US as that's where your retirement accounts are, etc.? And you still pay US taxes?

[jIyajbe]

To start with: We decided to apply for what's called a "D7" visa. Skipping over the details, it allows us to reside in Portugal long-term; it is somewhat analogous to the U.S. "green card". And, after 5 years, we can apply for Portuguese citizenship (which, of course, gives us access to the entire EU).

The application process was straightforward, if tedious; mainly obtaining a bunch of documents that proved that we were not wanted criminals in the U.S., that we have our own health insurance, and that we had sufficient financial resources that we would not become dependent on the Portuguese social system. It took us about four months to get everything together, and cost in total ~ $200USD (fees for various agencies, both U.S. and Portuguese). You have to submit your documents to the Portuguese consulate that is "attached" to your part of the U.S.; in my case, that was in San Francisco. It was a hassle (made worse because of COVID), but just bureaucracy, nothing worse that that.

We spent about three months in Airbnbs around Portugal to decide where to live, so that cost some. We just signed a two-year lease on a nice 3 bedroom apartment. We were able to do that prior to opening a Portuguese bank account (we used Wise to transfer the money from our U.S. account), but we are working on getting a local account; it'll make paying rent, utility bills and random purchases much easier. (Example: I managed to find a local store that has a Raspberry Pi 4 2GB, but I couldn't buy it online, because their website could not accept a U.S. billing address for my credit card. Grr.)

And yes, we still have financial ties with the U.S., primarily our retirement accounts, and we still pay U.S. taxes. Fortunately, Portugal and the U.S. have a "no double taxation" agreement, so we do not also pay Portuguese taxes on our retirement funds.

The cost of living is significantly lower here than it was in the Seattle area. Our money goes much further. The people are wonderful, the country is beautiful (by and large), and it is much safer than the U.S.--and feels that way! And, all of Europe is a short plane or train ride away.

If you are truly interested in trying this, I strongly recommend the "Portugalist" website: https://www.portugalist.com . James, the man who maintains the site, has a wealth of information on visiting and moving to Portugal. So far, all his advice and suggestions that we've used have been excellent.