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Proof of Address

Getting a Proof of Address  Getting a proof of address is difficult in Portugal!  Rental contract A rental contract isn't sufficient - it must be stamped by  finanças ! Or perhaps the documents registering the contract with finanças is sufficient. A statement from a bank In many countries the easily way is to change your address at a bank and have a statement posted out. Here in Portugal, a bank won't let you change your address without... you guessed it, a Proof of Address. The best solution - atestado Your local municipality can issue you an  atestado de morada . Go to your local 'União de Freguesias'. They may require some Proof of Address to give you this atestado , in which case look at the other options below. Another option - Via Verde The benefit of Via Verde is that it can be quick! Ours took just a week. However, you must register your car in Portugal, which took quite a few steps and a couple of weeks. Water, gas and electricity bills Water, gas and elect...
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Enrolling a child in school in Portugal

We finally got our son enrolled in a local Portuguese school. It was very challenging and I hope this information can help your family. These things were required: You must have a permanent address. I don't remember whether a lease was sufficient or if a statement from your "União das Freguesias" is sufficient.  Your must bring school records and they be apostilled (the requirement that they be apostilled varies country to country). Your child must have a NIF. The procedure was crazy but may be specific to our municipality, I'm not sure. The rule was that if five schools reject your child, then the municipality will force one of them to take your child. The first school said they'd help us organise things, but wouldn't be one of the 'school rejections', because they didn't want to be forced to take a child! Ok. Three other schools rejected us. The fourth accepted us. Be aware that each school takes a day or two (typical nonsense - 'please come ...
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First road trip in EV

I decided to buy an electric car in the Netherlands and then drive it home to Lisbon. I hope this will be useful to avoid some mistakes and also help with planning and setting expectations. If you're not living in Portugal, skip this paragraph. Portugal has some high import taxes but these are currently waived for electric vehicles (might be? I'll write another post on registering the car). I would not recommend bringing a petrol car from another country to Portugal (with the following exception: if you have already owned a vehicle in an EU country for more than six months, it might make sense, but you should look into the details; I don't know too much about this). Learning how an EV works  Tesla specific notes This is my first Tesla. I bought a 2019 Model 3, standard range, RWD. Before you even buy the car, download the app. The very first thing you want to do is to claim 'ownership' of the vehicle on the app. When you charge at the supercharger, you don't nee...
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D7 from London

I recently applied for my D7 in London. I'm going to post all the details here, thinking it might be useful to others. I had a 9:30am slot, but they called me in 10 minutes early. I was missing forms, because everything I read online was inconsistent, and they let me go downstairs, photocopy/print it out (50p per page) and come back. Here is what was required print out of the interview from VFS; I didn't have this, so they scanned my phone, but then told me to turn it off, and then when I got to the interview, they asked again, but when I turned my phone on they never looked. application form 2 photos personal statement passport valid for 3 months after the end of the requested visa (ie requested start + 120 days + 3 months) 1 photocopy of passport for non-citizens, proof that you're living in the UK legally travel insurance for 6 months criminal record certificate - in the UK, this must be ACRO proof of accommodation for 12 months 3 months of bank account statements, up to...
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