[USER]

Portugal seems to be a hot spot for FI people to geo arbitrage, is that still the case? i looked into the digital nomad visa and besides the income requirement, is the whole application process pretty straightforward?

we are an American family (kids are 6 &4) and we will live on my husband’s income, he works remotely and can work from anywhere. anyone here is or has done it?

we live in the midwest, so not HCOL area, we are coast FI, my husband and i both work, but we are looking for a change, want a cleaner (food, diet) and more relaxing life style, that’s why we are looking into moving abroad.

my husband makes around $90K a year so barely meets the income requirements.

with this income level, will we be able to afford living in portugal (haven’t looked into the cities yet) for a family of 4?

not sure if my kids will be able to attend school there though.

thanks!!

[Eric]

We moved to Portugal in Jan 2021.
I quit the Fortune 50 IT world after 35 years, and retired at 55 years old.

My wife had left the University hospital pulmonary clinical setting after 30 years (after COVID) to work as a clinical research consultant the year before in 2020.

Before we left we started an LLC for her consulting business, for banking, billing, etc

The D8 Digital Nomad Visa did not exist when we came. We are here on a D7 Visa which can be for retirement or you can work.

We live in southern Portugal and we both love it. I can’t believe how much better our quality of life is.

It is impossible to describe It’s impact on my wellbeing, mental health and happiness.

Having said all that; you really have to love old world Europe to live here. Most Americans can not tolerate the slow pace, and beauracracy.

[Gillian]

We moved to Portugal in October 2025 from California with our 4-year-old daughter. Happy to chat if you PM me.

[Jordan]

I’ve been in Portugal since 2022. Just addressing your money question – 90k is more than what the vast majority of Portuguese make, but without NHR your tax burden will be high, and COL will vary considerably based on where and how you live.

It’s surprisingly easy to spend North American levels of money here if you try and replicate certain comforts of life back home – which many folks from the US here do.

Especially if your reference point in the US is a LCOL area, and you choose one of the higher cost areas in PT.

One very silly example – you can get a coffee (like an espresso) at a Portuguese cafe for a euro, or a galão (like a latte) for less than 2, but if you want specialty coffee, say an oat milk latte in lisbon, that’ll easily cost 5 (so nearly 6usd).

You’ll have to get a lot more clear on where you want to be and how you might live to have a sense of what that’ll cost you.

[Ron]

Hot spot probably means it’s going to be more expensive than other places you might geoarbitrage and also resistance to foreigners raising local prices is also increasing in those hot spots, though places in Spain have been much more in the news than those in Portugal.

Never been to Portugal, but Expats in Portugal FB groups and the Digital Nomads around the World group might be a good places to find out current conditions.

I know I’ve heard about Lagos in the Algarve as a popular digital nomad/expat destination.

Beware of tax traps or other financial issues as EU and US financial regulations don’t jibe.

Some US brokerages restrict activity or have dropped their US citizen customers who no longer have a US address.

Not an expert, but just know of potential issues through participation in many digital nomad and expat groups.

I was an expat from the US, though not an inpat anywhere else, for 5.5 years ending last year.

[Alex]

Our family of 3 moved to Lisbon in 2022 and have been here since. If I had to go back in time and decide to come here again, I would make the same choice.

However, if I was moving from North America now, I don’t think I would choose Portugal.

The main reason being that the NHR tax program that was ended recently was huge and basically only taxed income in Portugal but that has basically gone away except in very unique circumstances.

That plus the fact that costs here have gone up considerably especially in Lisbon.

As far as the actual process of moving and getting visas and all, it was straight forward but a lengthy process and full of bureaucracy.

[Vic]

Our family has been in Portugal since 2019. The tax breaks that initially drew a lot of people have ended, so definitely be clear about what you would owe.

You also need to be able to show that your employer is allowing you to work abroad, usually as an independent contractor or by setting up a way to pay local Portuguese taxes.

[Eva]

Yes, I haven’t visited for some time but imagine prices have only gone up due to popularity but they likely have risen in proportion to your expenses domestically so will still be considerably and relatively cheaper than the USA.

[Barry]

It got much more expensive since 2020. And the government of Portugal shifted and changed the visas available.

Nonetheless it can be less costly than a HCOL area in the US.

And know that you will need to learn portuguese.

[Author]

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