Fatima M. Says:
We are U.S. citizens and plan to spend some time in Portugal during our retirement. I know we are not supposed to stay for more than 90 days. Is there any way we can do that? Would we need a visa?
IL’s Chief Global Diversification Expert Ted Baumann Says:
Hi Fatima,
U.S. citizens are allowed to enter Portugal without having obtained a visa ahead of time.
Portugal is part of Europe’s Schengen Zone, and as a visitor from outside this zone, you’re limited to a maximum of 90 days in the country in any one visit during a period of 180 days, or around six months.
You can take your 90 days all at one time… or you can enter and leave the Zone at will, racking up your 90 days bit by bit. But your 90 days are a rolling total… that is, at any given time, you can’t have been in the Zone more than 90 days over the previous 180-day period.
That means that “visa runs” to an adjacent country, followed by immediate return to “reset” your 90 days, are not really viable.
The Portuguese immigration agency, SEF, does accept applications for an extension of a further 90 days, which can be granted twice for a total of nine months in Portugal.
This is basically the same process as applying for a Portuguese visa as if you were not entitled to visa free entry.
Here’s what you need:
- The appropriate application form, filled out and delivered personally.
- Your biometric data.
- Two recent passport style photographs.
- Your passport.
- Evidence of sufficient means to remain for the next 90 days.
- Evidence of adequate accommodation.
- Permission to check your criminal records.
- Ticket for your return travel.
According to knowledgeable people on the ground, don’t count on doing this more than once.
If you try to do it year after year, the Portuguese will assume that you are trying to get around applying for a long-term residency visa.
Your best option would be to spend 90 days at a time in Portugal, scouting it out to find a community you want to call home part-time. Then you can apply for one of the residence visas available to you, which are detailed in Chapter 5 of our Escape to Portugal guidebook.