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Portugal’s digital nomad bubble

politico.eu

81–90 of 184 posts

Re: Portugal’s digital nomad bubble

#81
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Expats complain about bureaucracy everywhere. A German expat in Sweden will complain about Swedish bureaucracy. A Swedish expat in Germany will complain about German bureaucracy. It does not mean anything. Expats complain about everything.

I'm not sure about Portugal, but a few years ago my wife was studying in Spain on a study abroad program. She is from another EU country, and we'd visited Spain a few times, so figured it would be easy. Pretty much every step of the way we encountered so much more bureaucracy (I am an immigrant to her country) than we could even imagine. She spoke Spanish, but if she didn't it would have been a million times harder.…

When i was was apartment hunting in barcelona 7+ years ago and failed straight for weeks to get a single reply on idealista, and went to the real estate agencies and found they had siestas, still, in barcelona, i quit the country. good to visit, not to live.

ps: when i wanted a bank account, the people there acted like they didn't spoke english, until it was clear they won't give me an account, then suddenly english was not a problem.

Re: Portugal’s digital nomad bubble

#82
post #59

I wouldn’t say Lisbon is an ideal city to settle down in. https://www.air-worldwide.com/publications/air-currents/from...

You should read the article to the end. We get multiple small (i.e., hardly felt) quakes throughout the year that point to a steady release in pressure in the fault.

Re: Portugal’s digital nomad bubble

#83
post #24

Young Portuguese have been emigrating for the last 50 years. The country is full of second residences, bought by people who took advantage of cheap real estate until recently. Blaming today's inflation and cost of living on a few digital nomads or crypto people doesn't make much sense. What also chocked me when visiting Lisbon or Porto is the number of old abandoned buildings in what I would consider nice areas. I ha…

In central Europe this is often done to bypass a Historic Bureau. Target of those guys is to preserve current "genus loci" of the city forcing owners to use traditional materials and processes to fix the building so outside it is still looking the same.

The loophole is that if building is too damaged, that there is no viable way to repair it, then it can be destroyed and new one can be built. So you can just let it be as is and wait you can help the decay by removing roof and let rain and cold do the work. Or in most extreme cases, just set it on fire "by accident".

Re: Portugal’s digital nomad bubble

#85
post #16

Currently living in the Algarve after moving to Lisbon with my partner for her studies years ago. I know a few non-crypto entrepreneurs who came here for the NHR (non habitual resident scheme - the scheme mentioned in the article which allowed for the 20% tax cap on foreign income). I can confirm that a lot of them were incredibly frustrated with the bureaucracy they encountered, not just when dealing with the govern…

> I can confirm that a lot of them were incredibly frustrated with the bureaucracy they encountered You need someone (in Spain it's called gestor) who does all of that for you. I live in Portugal, by now I speak the language but I don't get the rules etc. I have a guy who does everything, never had any issues. It's very cheap.

Does he take crypto as payment? If yes, pls pass me his contact :)

Re: Portugal’s digital nomad bubble

#86
post #16

Currently living in the Algarve after moving to Lisbon with my partner for her studies years ago. I know a few non-crypto entrepreneurs who came here for the NHR (non habitual resident scheme - the scheme mentioned in the article which allowed for the 20% tax cap on foreign income). I can confirm that a lot of them were incredibly frustrated with the bureaucracy they encountered, not just when dealing with the govern…

Expats complain about bureaucracy everywhere. A German expat in Sweden will complain about Swedish bureaucracy. A Swedish expat in Germany will complain about German bureaucracy. It does not mean anything. Expats complain about everything.

What's wrong with complaining about sprawling bureaucracy? I can only see downsides and no upsides. Don't you want it to be eliminated? I think people are not yet complaining enough.

Re: Portugal’s digital nomad bubble

#87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Expats complain about bureaucracy everywhere. A German expat in Sweden will complain about Swedish bureaucracy. A Swedish expat in Germany will complain about German bureaucracy. It does not mean anything. Expats complain about everything.

Slightly off topic but I see this often enough and I’m curious to know, when do you call someone moving to another to work an expat instead of an immigrant.

I moved abroad on a work assignment. As soon as I decided to stay in the country long term, I stopped calling myself expat and labeled myself an immigrant instead.

Re: Portugal’s digital nomad bubble

#88

Lots of Goan friends have finally opted for that "ancestral" Portuguese passport and none of them have any intention of either working or staying in Portugal ever.

Why would you not get a free EU passport if you could?

One reason could be that Goa has the highest GDP per capita among Indian states and Goans are the richest among Indians. Goa is famous for its Susegad lifestyle and there is relative prosperity in Goa that's not usually present in other regions. However the Goans who leave shores head to UK skipping Portugal altogether.

Re: Portugal’s digital nomad bubble

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The problem is when housing prices are at an all time high and it's almost impossible to find somewhere to rent, even with money in your pocket (...) I have to call bullshit on this one. A few years ago I moved to a different country and I had an awful time trying to find an apartment to rent. Between awfully expensive flats and squalors, I was forced to extend my stay at an hotel for an additional month. This all…

There would be a lot more long-term rentals available if there was no airbnb (because airbnb is the reason that you were unable to find a long-er term rental in the first place). Limit the rentals to 1 month (or 2) minimum and you have all the bases covered.

> airbnb is the reason that you were unable to find a long-er term rental in the first place).

No, the reason for that is that demand exceeds supply. The reason demand exceeds supply is that voters don’t want more people living there. Democracy gives the people what they want, good and hard.

Re: Portugal’s digital nomad bubble

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. I'm an expat in Switzerland and dealing with the government and other institutions has been great - can't even call it a bureaucracy. For reference, I found the UK pretty sensible, Spain frustrating, and my native south american country a nightmare.

Argentina!

Uruguay, close enough!
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