[il_admin]

Apologies for the inconvenience. We’re currently experiencing technical difficulties on the forum, but our team is actively working to resolve the issue. Rest assured, all your questions will be answered once the problem is fixed. Thank you for your patience!

[il_admin]

Apologies for the inconvenience. We’re currently experiencing technical difficulties on the forum, but our team is actively working to resolve the issue. Rest assured, all your questions will be answered once the problem is fixed. Thank you for your patience!

[il_admin]

@CLIVINGS345-0 Hi, not sure why you are not getting discounts on AirBnB, I almost always do. Keep trying. My suggestion to you is that you do AirBnB or a hotel for the first week you are in Spain (you can get one last minute if necessary) and then walk the streets looking for. a more long-term solution. And join any Facebook expat groups for your specifici community–they are always great resourcces. Search for “expats Malaga” for instance (or whatever town) and you should find something.

[il_admin]

@SPREZIOSI-0 Thanks for joining the conversation! This is a text-based Live Q&A, and the post won’t be taken down afterward, so there’s no need to worry about time sensitivity. Feel free to ask any questions you have on the topic; Suzan will respond if she can. And all the questions and answers will be here to read through later at your convenience.

[il_admin]

No, Costa Rica is not in the United States. It is located in Central America and borders Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south. Canadian Passport holders can travel to Costa Rica as tourists for up to a maximum 180 days, no visa is required.

You can find a lot more information on our Visa and Residency in Costa Rica page on the website: https://internationalliving.com/countries/costa-rica/visa/

[il_admin]

Hi Wade,

Learning the language of the country you choose to live in is always a good idea and will help greatly with everyday living. Even just knowing enough to understand when the shopkeeper is asking if you would like a bag makes life smoother.

That’s not to say you need perfect Portuguese in order to live here. Many Portuguese do speak English, especially in the Algarve, Lisbon and Porto. And for those that don’t, broken Portuguese combined with their broken English will often be enough to get by.

It’s a good idea to pick up some basics of the language before you move, and you can always study more in depth once you arrive. A word of warning if using apps like Duolingo: often the Portuguese these apps teach is Brazilian rather than European. That version of the language will be understood, but it’s not the correct version for Portugal.

It is almost universally agreed that the “purest” Portuguese is spoken in Coimbra, a riverfront city in the center of the country.

Coimbra is Portugal’s former medieval capital and home to the University of Coimbra, the largest university in Portugal and one of the oldest universities in continuous operation in the world. Its Faculdade de Letras offers summer, annual, and intensive courses (in September and February) in the Portuguese language.

The Portuguese government also offers free language classes for immigrants. These are held at local high schools that run in conjunction with the school year.

There is a detailed section on learning Portuguese in our Escape to Portugal country guide (recently updated by me).

[Author]

Posts