Here is a partial checklist of things to think about when you eventually leave Portugal
- Get quotes from removal (international moving) companies
- Global International Relocation portugal@global.pt
- Moveforce alexandre@moveforce.pt
- TMCG logistics info@tmcglogistics.pt
- Portugal “exit customs”
- When you move to Portugal from Canada where you have to deal with the absolute circus which the Portuguese bureaucracy in order to import your personal goods, but getting your goods out of Canada requires zero paperwork.
- However, when you move your own personal goods out of Portugal, of course there is paperwork! You must provide proof of relocation to their satisfaction, including proof of residency in your new location, a work contract, a lease agreement, and an egregious “Bagagem de Mudança”. If the Portuguese “Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira” determines that you are shipping too large a quantity of goods, or too high value goods, you will be in trouble. Get a lawyer or customs broker, not to have your personal effects enter the new country, but to try and get them out of Portugal!
- If you are a renter:
- Be happy you didn’t buy anything here. Congrats!
- Stop paying rent immediately
- Use a lawyer to break your rental lease
- If you are an owner, get on the phone with a real estate agent.
- Cancel your utilities
- Water
- Electricity
- Gas
- Internet & Mobile Phone (you will most likely have to wait until your contract ends)
- If you have car, you can sell it here at a profit in many cases
- Cancel your insurance
- When moving a car from Canada to Portugal, it is a nightmare scenario to register your car with IRN and get plates on it. However, leaving Canada and bringing your car is as easy as cancelling your insurance online. Nothing is easy in Portugal. Unlike leaving Canada, when you leave Portugal, you have to de-register your car with IRN, or else you will eternally be paying IUC tax. If this tax goes unpaid, you may be barred from re-entering Europe, even as a tourist. De-registering is as difficult as registering, be prepared for a painful, drawn out experience.
- Cancel ViaVerde. This is actually easy.
- Close your bank accounts. This has to be done from within Portugal, and it took me months for each bank.
- Cancel any gym or club memberships
- De-register with AIMA
- De-register with Finançias
- De-register with SNS
- Cancel any private medical insurance
As you know, doing any of these things in Canada would take minutes online. In my experience, most of these bullet points have taken months and many visits to a physical office. Most of these things can only be accomplished while you are still in Portugal. There is often no way to accomplish these things after you have left Portugal. I wonder if some of these things are even possible at all, I have given up on a few of them. The same persistent dystopian disfunction that you experienced when moving here, you will experience when moving away from here.
Best of luck! You will need it!