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e had the pleasure to take part in the first Living in the Algarve seminar. This was the first of a series of seminars that are planned to take place in stunning locations along the Algarve Portugal.
Organized by the Open Media Group, the Living in the Algarve events provide an excellent opportunity for anyone who is planning to either move to the Algarve or buy a property here.
The participation to these seminars is FREE.
The speakers are all seasoned experts and local residents who will be available before and after the seminar presentations to answer any questions you may have.
SEMINARS AVAILABLE IN 2022
Seminar sessions are held all over Algarve Portugal, in breathtaking locations, 2 times a day, all with identical content.
Following the success of the first Living in the Algarve seminar event held at the Tivoli Carvoeiro Hotel on April 14, the organizers have now announced a further two dates and venues for this year.
The next “Living in the Algarve” live Seminar will take place on Wednesday, June 15, at the Cascade Wellness Resort in Lagos and provide expert information on all aspects of living in the Algarve, from residency, taxation, property, legal matters, healthcare and more.
Other will be held in September 2022 at Conrad in Quinta do Lago.
Seats are free but the seats are limited, so you need to register here.
My impression of the event
This first event was held at a superb location in Carvoeiro Algarve Portugal, at Tivoli Carvoeiro Hotel.
We arrived there early and had time to visit also the hotel, the lobby and famous terrace with the breathing view to the pool and ocean before diving into the content of the seminar.
At the entrance we received a goodie bag with magazines from the organizer, Open Media Group. You might have seen their magazines – Essential Algarve, Inside Carvoiero and others – or maybe read the newspaper Portugal Resident. In the bag you also find a notepad for taking notes and other few goodies that I let you to discover for yourself. The bag in itself, being from canvas I think I will use it at the supermarket or even at the beach!
We chose a back seat but close to the speakers area, to be sure we catch every bit of information offered. Someone from the organizers came and greet us and invite us to take a coffee or a tea. I took a coffee, and as I waited for the conference to start, I was looking at the people in the room (not in a creepy way), imagining the life story of each person in the room. I do that sometimes when I am nervous. Or very calm.
The British people were 80% of total presence at the seminar. You can say that the information was tailored to them, but really, they made sure to offer information that benefit everybody!
In the room were also presentation boots for each firm that had a speaker at the event. You can interact with them, ask question, set up meetings and, all in all, get to know them and their services. At the end of the conference they also took questions from the public and discussed issued that applied to any nationalities.
The seminar had a small break and people socialized, help themselves to more coffee or tea, and even taste some delicious pastry.
A very nice surprise and quite an attraction for everybody was the wine tasting organized at the end of the conference by Quinta dos Vales – a very nice winery in Algarve, that you must visit!
We took our wine glasses and sat on the hotel terrace watching the ocean, the cliffs and thinking about the state of the world. Wine does that to you. Also talking to much about taxes goes very nicely with wine.
I wrote down some lines about what was discussed so you can have an idea of the content, if you plan to attend Living in the Algarve seminar.
This is just a small part of the content, many more subjects were discussed and we had even a small presentation of some properties suitable for Golden Visa.
WHY YOU NEED A LAWYER IN PORTUGAL
We are discussing about everything and anything you need to know about buying a property in Portugal, the legalities of the subject. Pedro Rosado from Rosado Lawyers explains why you need a lawyer in Portugal. He said that in other countries as US and even UK, people don’t use lawyers. But here in Portugal is necessary because of how laws are and how bureaucracy works. Here are a few pros of having a lawyer in Portugal, according to him:
- stress free because the layer check if there are debts, mortgages and other strings attached to the property
- checks if the previous owner didn’t make modification on the house that are outside the law simply having a notary is not enough, for example the notary will not check the boundary of the property, the debts of condominium and stuff like that, this is what a lawyer will do.
Once the price of the property is agreed, the lawyer begins his due diligence. Pedro Rosado says that when you are buying a new construction it would be advice not to pay more than a 10-15% deposit. And as an example he says that 80% deposit is risky for a new construction, even if you are dealing with a big and established construction company.
After you buy a property it is very advisable to make a will under the Portuguese law, in order to avoid enforcing some of the unwanted Portuguese laws, for example the forced heirship that is in effect here.
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Residency options
Shelley Wren from Sovereign Group Portugal talks about the services they provide. They are specialists in residency programs, D7 passive residency visas, Golden Visas, end to end service to navigate the bureaucracy in Portugal and worldwide.
She talks about Passive residency and how only an income of 8.000 euro/year is necessary when applying for this visa, as long as you can demonstrate is from passive income. Also, you have to live in Portugal 6 months per year. The type of income required for this visa depends on your country. For example for UK is accepted an income from: dividends, rentals; from Japan they want you to have the money in the bank.
Also she explains how the Portuguese government thinks about your right to move freely, and that you maybe have affairs in other states, and if you let them know and explain them why you need to be outside Portugal, you can go without losing the visa.
Referring also of UK citizens, because they were the majority in the room, she said that there is a massive use of Golden Visa for the ones moving here from UK post Brexit. In the future the process will become harder because UE is thighed the borders, especially because of the situation with Ukraine.
The Golden Visa is very flexible – only 14 days per year are necessary to reside in Portugal and even if the budget is somehow scary, the value of the properties in Algarve is the best comparing for example with the south of France.
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Want to attend the Living in Algarve seminar?
If you are interested to attend Living in the Algarve seminar, you can visit their site and REGISTER there. As I said before, the attendance is FREE.
You will have a wonderful and pleasant couple of hours, learning new things, meeting people like you and taste a very good wine. Also you can remain and spend the day in the location, a magnificent hotel or resort. You can always take the whole day and visit the surroundings.
We had a wonderful time at the seminar and we would go to each and every one if it would be possible! If you attended the seminars and want to share your experience, please leave a comment below!