Essencial Portugal is above all my story: Victor, from Lyon, who decided in 2015 and overnight to sell everything, get in his car and drive to Portugal. So before leaving, I had to find out about all the steps to take to live in this new country and I had to face the first problems:
- Sorting through the many contradictory pieces of information on the web
- Find local correspondents who speak French / English to enlighten us.
- Understand the real estate market to define a place of installation
- Starting certain procedures remotely, such as choosing the right health insurance company or registering the vehicle.
- Preparing a plan of attack for all mandatory administrative procedures
- Understanding how health care systems work for our son
A difficult but necessary step which, due to a lack of interlocutors and information, led me to make mistakes that I was able to correct over time: bad choice of insurance, countless trips to and from administrations, poor knowledge of the order of the steps to be taken, a lot of money lost in seasonal rentals, problems of communication or understanding of documents in Portuguese, looking for support in the creation of my company in Lisbon and so on.
The idea was then born that I could have saved a lot of time, money and energy if I had had the right contacts, the right information and that I could have called on French / English -Portuguese people capable of accompanying me throughout the process of setting up my business in Portugal. So I decided to create Essencial Portugal (Essential Portugal) based on my administrative knowledge and the problems I encountered myself. I have only one objective: to facilitate the installation and the steps of everyday life for all French / English-speaking people who would also like to try the adventure in Portugal.
You will find on this website all the information that I think is important to inform you and prepare your expatriation. Do you have a question? A particular request? A clarification? Contact me, I will try to inform you and to redirect you as well as possible towards serious and trustworthy people.