Changing from Portuguese GV to Passive Income/Retirement Visa

Has anyone changed from a Portuguese GV to a “passive income” visa?

Background: We purchased a flat in Lisbon 4 years ago that qualified us for the GV. We’ve really had no problems with it but now live in Lisbon full time and I’m hearing horror stories about the GV renewal issues at SEF. We’re coming up for our final renewal in April 2023 and would love to switch beforehand if this is even possible.

Our attorney told us that switching means “starting over”, which isn’t ideal but I’m willing to do it. We are already registered at Finanças with NHR, we have SNS number, etc. I’ve even passed the A2 language exam! So really just wanting to get out from under the GV.

Any suggestions?

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That’s not how it works. We are coming up on the 4 year anniversary of purchasing the property. The GV took about 6 months after that. You have to be in compliance with residency for 5 years before you can apply for citizenship/permanent residency. So we have one more renewal cycle on the GV.

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If you get an extension and can work with that til PR/citizenship, seems the easier option. IIRC if you switch to a D7 or whatever, as long as you were legally in PT previously, you keep the “credit” for time spent in PT for PR/citizenship calculations, it’s not like you have to start the 5 year timer over.

I’d just stay the course personally

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How do you get an extension? I’ve been dealing with SEF for 4 years and never even heard of that. I know for a fact that, excluding the time I was out of status between renewals, I’m still about 2 years short of the required 5 years. So I have to do a renewal. As I’m sure you know, SEF isn’t currently processing GV’s, or when they do, it’s still a yearlong backlong. That means I’ll be out of status for almost a year as I await my next renewal.

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The extensions to residency cards are automatic, and typically drop the day-of expiry. Google around.

Your status doesn’t drop between renewals, AFAIK. So the 5 year clock starts once you get first approval and then never stops

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That’s interesting. My attorney told me the opposite - that the time between cards is NOT counted. I’d be very curious if you’re using an attorney for your GV and who that might be. The extensions were automatic during the pandemic, but according to many people in this forum, that’s no longer the case.

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https://community.nomadgate.com/t/residency-extensions-counting-towards-5-year-timeline-for-citizenship/48361

I haven’t asked my lawyer this specific question as it hasn’t come up (I don’t even have pre-approval). But That’s the common knowledge around here

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Either way, it’s not really relevant to my question. I’m trying to CHANGE my visa status, not renew it.

You asked for suggestions. My suggestion is don’t stress about renewal and just ride it out until you can get citizenship shortly

But then I have a dim view of Portuguese bureaucracy and them being able to deal with multiple visa types for one person

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