Would just like to remind everyone on who has posted in the past three days on every other NomadGate thread:
You are being too negative. You should be focusing on the positives of this situation, which are… ^checks notes^ nothing. Therefore, all future NomadGate posts should be moved to this “Rage, Tragedy, and General Madness” thread.
I, for one, am not surprised by recent developments. A government and system that has treated us with utter deceit, disregard, and disdain for the past 4+ years is continuing to treat us with deceit, disregard, and disdain.
Portugal Golden Visa is the world’s slowest rug pull.
My wife and I were discussing this yesterday. At every stage we’ve had things thrown at us and we have had to adapt/react. This new amended law is yet another obstacle that we have to deal with. Frankly, we are tired of fighting for what we have been promised.
The positives of this situation are: I’ve realized I’m very glad I have a Golden Visa and still living in the USA, as opposed to having gone D7 and fully committed to a country that increasingly hates me.
Worst case of the Golden Visa going sour I can drop it and forget about Portugal. Lost some money.
Worst case of a D7 … could be subjec to anti-immigrant violence. Could have kids falling behind on education and losing their English skills because I tried to integrate!
I am completely unsurprised, but for a completely different reason.
I posted somewhere else here about a conversation I overheard in a small town of a Brazilian kid flat out telling a couple “hey, I moved here to get EU citizenship, I want to live in (some other European country) in a few years, I can make more there”.
Multiply by how many other kids saying the same thing - in public! - all over the country.
And let’s face it, how many GVers have been approaching it the same way - transactionally? Hell, what did a lot of the advertising for GV come right out and say?
There was no way on God’s green earth that there wasn’t going to be some terribly unpleasant reaction by the populace to having their national identity reduced to “a free pass to the rest of Europe”. Under the hood, from what studying I’ve done, the Portuguese are a proud people, and they take their national identity seriously, even at the same time as they disparage themselves.
There are topics around which people will seemingly cut off their nose to spite their face, so to speak. Topics associated with identity - your religion, your culture, your belief systems - invariably fall into this category. They’re topics where you start fighting for what you think is right, and the law and the cost and what other people think be damned. The economics have to be really, really bad before people change their minds, and even then it can just harden people into their positions even more.
I guess I was rather more hopeful that some carve-out would be made for GV - but I had my doubts. But, as is often the case in human affairs, I leaned on hope. Besides, I threw the dice in 2021, by 2023-2024 when I started seeing it, it was far too late to back out anyway, so you’re stuck going along for the ride.
Don’t think for a moment I like any of this, or that I’m not… well, mad isn’t right, more depressed and frustrated and sick of it I guess. I’m just not surprised.
Sometimes I like to express my anger, frustration and irritation through music. I like making themed playlists. In fact, I have made one for this Portugal ARI boondoggle. The first song I added is Won’t Get Fooled Again by the Who.
