Thank you all. The information was very helpful. We’d been reading up on the different discussion topics. We’d like to travel more and not have the limitation of having to be in Portugal for 8 months for the first 2 years and then 10 months second 3 year permit.
We are still in the early research stage, so please excuse us for asking stupid questions or not knowing enough.
We plan to sell and close our house in the US by the end of November. After that, we’d like to move to Sao Miguel. We can stay there 3 months, but finding a place to purchase, applying for the golden visa, etc. will take longer than 3 months. What’s the best way to be able to stay there longer than 3 months and continue to get things done? If we go to another country in the EU for a short stay or a vacation, would that reset the clock when we go back or the 90 days cumulative of the stay in the EU?
Assuming you hold a US passport, in addition to the 90/180 days in the Schengen zone, the US have separate visa agreements with individual Schengen states. So you can stay, in theory, another 3 months/90days. Again, these agreements were made before the Schengen Agreement, so your stay beyond 90/180 days rule will be subject to whether a Border Officer stamping you out is having a good day or not.
Ireland opted out of the Schengen zone mainly because it is in a Common Travel Area (without border controls) with the United Kingdom, pre-dating the Schengen agreement. Thus, the Irish passport holder enjoys freedom of movement with the UK, the Schengen zone and the EU.
Thank you for clarification. This is good news since I don’t know just how long GV process would take, and if I have to resort to exiting Schengen for 90 days, this would be a great option (rather than hopping the Big Pond).
