After a 90-day wait, Ted and I received our two-year residency permits in the mail last week. Whew!
It’s a big milestone for us, our ultimate target when we began this quest one year ago. We can finally say we’re no longer visitors to Porto, Portugal’s second largest … and, we think, most beautiful … city.
We live here.
Here’s a brief video sharing the joy.
And a few photos from our celebratory lunch.
The restaurant Cozinha Das Flores is a contemporary spot in this historic city, serving unique northern Portuguese cuisine with sleek, open-kitchen style.
Nice cocktails, too.
And lovely decor.
The restaurant is situated on Largo de São Domingos, one of Porto’s busiest streets, filled with pedestrians on this sunny Sunday afternoon.
Sure, the wait for our residency cards was stressful. More than once, Ted and I said, “Maybe we’re too old for this.” What’s more, Portugal’s immigration agency is overloaded with visa applications. Response time, we learned, is quite random.
Our neighbors from Atlanta, for example, received their residency cards within weeks of their application in Lisbon. Other applicants wait for months on end … even though the agency is required by law to respond within 60 days. It’s just not happening in many cases.
The fact that our initial four-month travel visas, obtained last September and expired in January, added to the stress. There is a 90-day grace period after that expiration date, but still … Not a good feeling as we watched the days tick by.
At last, we are fully legal again. And able to travel freely inside and outside the European Union.
Our joy is compounded this morning by news of Viktor Orban’s defeat in Hungary by a landslide. Peter Magyar’s centre-right victory is viewed by many as a sign that authoritarian voices in Europe are losing their edge.
Maybe it’s an indication that those hateful voices are losing their edge in the U.S., too.
We hope so.
Have a good week, everyone.
Or as we say in our new home, Boa Semana!
Mike Coleman 