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My pension is way way more than the requirement specified for a D7 VISA.
I have read and have been told wildly different numbers regarding how much in savings you should have. Some have told me its not required, and some woman on Facebook was ready to fight me because she kept saying the requirement is $30k USD.
A lot of people have told me they really don't care how much you have as long as your passive income is about 35% more than the requirement and you have at least $3000 in savings.
Here is my situation: I keep about $5000 USD in my main account as emergency funds. That is in the savings portion of my bank account. In my checking, where my pension is deposited every month, I try to keep around $1000 constant.
The rest of my cash I put in my Schwab account where I have my 401k. It has a CASH savings account where I earn better interest than I do at my credit union.
I do NOT want to take money out of that and dump it in a Portugal bank account. I have been told by people that the Portugal bank only requires about $1000 USD balance and the rest can stay in my Schwab and credit union as long as I have the 6 months of bank statements and the Schwabb statements to show on my D7 application.
BUT several people (mainly from the UK) were vehement that you MUST have 12000 Euro deposited in a Portugal bank or you can forget getting a D7. They were almost militant about it, which struck me as odd.
I am VERY leery about putting such a large amount in a foreign bank without me BEING there. My finances are far far far more than enough to qualify and I feel as long as I show my statements I am ok.
SO....can anyone shed light on this?
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Whoever grants you the visa does not care about your savings in the USA. It is more valuable to prove that you have a steady passive income (as your pension), than to have a larger amount in a portuguese bank. The minimum deposit is as follows, but it is advisable to have a little more and stay away from the minimums. Maybe some member of this forum can contribute to this answer. Between aprox 9000 and 12000 ( as was suggested to you by some UK applicants) let's agree that the difference is not so great....
D7 visa - Minimum Resources (2022)
(Post #14)
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@ElSteveo I have just received my D7 visa 2 weeks ago,
From start to finish took 8 months and easy to do.
You need to show 7000K euros in a Portuguese bank account -Â per person applying for D7 visa
You need to show the same amount again in your home country bank account - per person
If you have savings, bonds, shares etc, show them proof as well , the more income & savings you can
show the better.
You need to prove you have a passive income of more then 7000K euros a year as well
We had to present our last 3 months of bank accounts for UK and Portugal and the last 2 years of accounts for our passive incomes.
Good luck , Sue
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1@sue883
That is literally the exact opposite of what someone who messaged me here who is from the USA said. They told me they had only had to show the passive income requirement AND a Portugal bank account which they put $1000 USD in. They were not told and were not required to show anywhere near the amounts you just stated and that no one gave more than a glance to their 6 months of bank statements from the US bank.
For some reason everyone from the UK seems to say the same thing and I am starting to wonder if its some sort of hidden UK requirement thing they are not disclosing officially.
Its all very odd and even the embassy when I asked them said nothing about a minimum amount of savings as long as you had the passive income.
AARRGGHHH
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maybe it is just a UK requirement .
I always dealt with the Portuguese Consulate in London for any information I required.
Maybe contact the Portuguese Consulate in the States , it should have the full list of requirements on their
website. Better than info from people on FB :-)
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My wife and IÂ were just approved for D7 visas in July and moved to Portugal in July.Â
Regarding financial statements:
I can't say what will and what won't work, but here's what worked for us:
Monthly passive income (3 months of statements). Showing several times the minimal salary.
Bank accounts in USA (3 months of statements)
Investment accounts in USA (3 months of statements)
We had a cousin vouch for us regarding housing, so we didn't have to show a rental contact. An Airbnb may work until the SEF interview, then it needs to be permanent like an annual lease.
Bank account in Portugal with a total of €18,000, 2 years of minimum salary (3 months of statements). I understand it used to be 1 year of minimum income, now it appears to be 2 years.
We were approved by the Washington D.C. embassy in 4 weeks.
There may be differences between Portugal embassies in Washington D.C. and what's going on elsewhere.
It's like customer service, if you don't like the answer, hang up and try again, you might get someone who actually knows what's going on.Â
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1Yeah I am NOT pulling $18k out of my US bank to dump in a foreign bank that aint happening.
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54
The banks in Europe are extremely reliable, and they are tightly controlled by EU law.
My bank even recommended I place my transferred money into an investment account, which was very positive and I ended up with significantly more than I put in!
If you are coming to live here, of course the authorities want to know you can pay your own way, as there are others (mostly refugees) who are then a liability on taxpayers.
Once here, you can live off the amount, or send it back!
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I contacted The Embassy to get a straight answer. I also talked to am American on Facebook who just got his D7 last week and only had $5000 in the bank and was approved with $1200 a month passive income.
I think it depends on the consulate...he DID say that the attitude of the applicant seemed to matter as he was very enthusiastic when he went to the consulate and the person who was processing everything said it was a nice change of pace from most Americans applying who were basically giving off the attitude of either leaving the US because Portugal is cheaper OR were flaunting how much money they had.
Like I said, its all very odd.
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70
ElSteveo,
It's only seems odd because we don't or didn't understand the process, there's conflicting information on the internet and there may be embassy inconsistencies.  I personally wouldn't rely on someone I don't know on Facebook.
We didn't go to an embassy.  We handled everything through email and FedEx.
If you want to talk to someone who actually knows the process and what works, try talking to
eimigrante.pt/en/about-us/
You can schedule a consultation and get your questions answered by people who do this process everyday.
williamstony360 is right. Once you're here you can live off that money or move it.
Good luck.
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Just got off the phone with the Consulate in Washington DC,
She said they are more interested in the passive income requirement being met than anything else. She said as long as you have a Portugal Bank account with "something" in it and the bank statements from the USA thats all they really care about UNLESS some red flags are raised.
According to her the RED FLAGS are:
The age of the applicant (they tend to scrutinize younger applicants more because there is a question of where the money comes from in their opinion).
The criminal record check
Bank accounts that are already overseas such as in Switzerland or Luxembourg or any of the Carribbean Islands (money laundering concerns).
She said based on what I told her I am good to go.
So now I feel a lot better.
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1
Thank you
Cheers
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1 70
ElSteveo,
when do you plan on submitting your application?
When do you want to move to Portugal? Â
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@ElSteveo
Hello
I think the latest bank balance required by SEF is €9500 so deposit €10,000 and you'll be more than covered.
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1@Andrew Rockwell
Kinda want to be there by September 2023
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@ElSteveo
I could't tell if you've been here or not. You have a lot of time.Â
If you haven't been here you should come, get your NIF and open a bank account. We use Millennium BCP. As modern as any bank I've used in the US. The offices we've used were personal bankers, no tellers.
Travel to the areas you think you'd like. For us it was the Porto area since we want cooler weather, great seafood, and wine. We spent a month here last August. Loved it!
We had four requirements for an apartment:
- the building had to accept our dog
- the building had to have an elevator
- It had to be close to a Metro
- It had to be close to shopping, restaurants, etc., we don't want a car
We just bought an apartment after arriving in July. I don't know what's going to happen to property values, but they may go up after the covid lockdown days and the fact that more gringos are moving here.Â
Good luck, let us know your progress.
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@ElSteveo
you must have misunderstood. to obtain the golden visa :
Requirements of Portuguese residence by investment
Applicants can choose any one option in any of the three categories: capital transfer, property acquisition, business:
Capital transfer
One of the following options:
EUR 1.5 million minimum capital transfer into a Portuguese bank account or approved investments
EUR 500,000 for the acquisition of investment fund or venture capital fund units committed to the capitalization of companies incorporated under the Portuguese law, with a maturity of at least five years and with at least 60% of the investment portfolio in companies with a registered office in the national territory
EUR 500,000 for research activities of public or private entities that are part of the national scientific and technological system
EUR 400,000 in a low population density area*
EUR 250,000 in support of artistic production or in the recovery or maintenance of national cultural heritage
EUR 200,000 in a low population density area*
So good luck
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The D7 Visa is NOT a Golden Visa - GV is an entirely different visa proposition, whereby a substantial investment into certain types of real estate are required.
I believe there are at least 9 visa types, and they are provided on the basis of circumstances. (That is: retirement, entrepreneur, remote working, work placement, etc).
I believe there are at least 9 visa types, and they are provided on the basis of circumstances. (That is: retirement, entrepreneur, remote working, work placement, etc).
The GV assumes a large investment to gain residency over a longer period of time, (5 years), and then provided you maintain the investment, and ultimately pass the language tests, a qualification for Portuguese passport.
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1you must have misunderstood. to obtain the golden visa :- @victorcabrita71
Hi Victor,
No one here has mentioned Golden Visa, except you ...
@williamstony's explanation is clear.
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