DIY low cost method for a Portugal D7 visa
I've always believed in doing things by myself as much as possible and trying to lower the costs of doing each activity by understanding the entire process.
So I've written this post to explain the steps I took with my "Do it yourself (DIY)" application process and recorded the cost of each process.
To begin with the process, I enquired about the D7 visa with the Portuguese Consulate in Sydney Australia, and this is the list of the requirements they provided me (note: amount requirements was based on November 2021 eg. minimum income in Portugal at the time):
The official application form and passport requirements are self-explanatory. You should follow the steps accordingly esp. application of the NIF is the very first step, without this you cannot open a Portuguese bank account and sign a registered rental lease.
1. Application of a NIF
Use either NIFonline.pt (cost 59.90 Euros plus extra VAT which totals to 73.68 Euros), bordr.io (cost 150 Euros), or AlgarveKnowHow (I read they charge 35 Euros, I cannot 100% confirm this). Note: I used NIFOnline as it was the cheapest option to do online but it took one month to get your NIF. Also consider, all prices are at the time of writing, as it may vary in the future.
2. Open it yourself bank account
There are a number of bank options to use and services providers such as bordr.io. But I opened with Banco Atlantico Europa, for steps on opening follow this link. Note: the minimum monthly fee is 2.99 Euros. I used Atlantico because from what I read on forums it was the only bank that was possible to open remotely while you are not in Portugal. Bordr.io charges like 350 Euros (at the time of writing) to open a bank account with Millennium Bank and yet you have to continually pay the 15 Euros monthly account fee.
Refer to Section 9: Proof that you have access to funds below regarding transferring money to fund your Atlantico (or any other Portugal) bank account.
3. Passport Photos
Go to an Australia Post Office to get the passport photos (default comes with six photos) which cost $19.95 AUD.
4. Valid Travel Insurance
The only travel insurance I found in Australia with medical coverage that includes emergencies and repatriation was NIB Travel Insurance. It cost me $655 AUD for an individual based on age and travel destination/duration.
5. Police Clearance Check
Go to the Australian Federal Police website and search for national police check. The cost of each of the services at the time of writing are $42 AUD (standard) or $99 AUD (including fingerprinting provided which needs to be done at a state-level police local command station involves additional costs). Note: this takes 15 to 30 business days to the letter to be mailed back to you.
6. Authorisation for Criminal Record Check by SEF
All you need to do is print out the form and sign it.
7. Proof of Accommodation
This has to be a 12 month lease and registered with the Ministry of Finance. There is a typical form how the registration with Financas looks like (just Google it). Apparently AirBnbs and other short term rentals via platforms like Flatios aren't accepted.
Yes there is a flip side to this, you may ask: How can you sign a lease when you can't personally inspect the property you want to rent? and also pay usually 6 months in advance too? I don't set the rules but this has to be done.
I used real estate agents such as Century 21 or ReMax and got in contact with various agents, told them my budget and list of preferences eg. which city, close to a metro station or not, list of areas, etc.
8. Proof of Means of Subsistence
This is how you are going to support yourself while in Portugal. I demonstrated this from passive income from rent and dividends (showing a standard property rental contract under my name as landlord with the tenant), stock portfolio statement), and a 3 month Australian bank statement showing I have access to funds in excess of the minimum income of Portugal.
9. Proof that you have access to funds while living in Portugal
To prove this, you will need to open a bank account in Portugal and show the annual minimum wage which is 8,460 Euros (705 Euros per month) as of 2022. Refer to Point 2 to open the account remotely. To transfer funds from an Australian bank account to your Portuguese bank account, I used my local bank to do an international wire transfers for the initial 1,000 Euros (it took 1 business day for the transfer to complete), and I used WISE for the remaining amount to meet the 8,460 Euros bank balance because the transfer fee was lower and the exchange rate is virtually the spot rate with little to no spread.
If you want to transfer funds in parts to your Atlantico account, you can. I did this method because I have a mortgage cost at 3% per annum where I park surplus money to lower the cost of borrowing. I couldn't bare the sight to have funds such as 8600 Euros or approx. $14,000 AUD sitting in a Portugal account where there is no interest earnt for a month or more when you aren't ready to submit the documents until you got all the other steps complete.
So what I did was:
- The first 1000 Euros had to be from an account under your name, but WISE was not allowed as per account opening process condition. So I transferred 1000 Euros from my local Australian account via international wire transfer.
- After seeing the 1000 Euros in my Atlantico account, then I transferred another 591 Euros (approx. value of up to 500 GBP or British pounds) using WISE to test it out. I used a code that allowed me get a FEE-FREE transfer.
- When I finally got a Finanças registered lease (took around 6 weeks after I opened my account), I transferred the remaining amount via WISE to fulfil the minimum income requirement.
Total Cost Summary
Here is the total for the costs I've occurred for all the steps on excel. Note: other costs not on the table include printing documents I used Office Works for $0.08 per page and Atlantico's monthly account maintenance fee of 2.99 Euros.
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