Berliner Boersenzeitung - 'European California' Portugal woos Americans seeking better life

EUR -
AED 4.235403
AFN 79.363955
ALL 97.487163
AMD 442.360586
ANG 2.063732
AOA 1057.407949
ARS 1489.237275
AUD 1.777494
AWG 2.078493
AZN 1.962137
BAM 1.955141
BBD 2.329215
BDT 141.43236
BGN 1.952577
BHD 0.434715
BIF 3438.871478
BMD 1.153117
BND 1.487199
BOB 7.971384
BRL 6.439691
BSD 1.153611
BTN 100.83391
BWP 15.593883
BYN 3.775228
BYR 22601.085083
BZD 2.31724
CAD 1.590471
CDF 3332.506966
CHF 0.929993
CLF 0.028226
CLP 1107.30368
CNY 8.275806
CNH 8.290776
COP 4773.833478
CRC 583.208611
CUC 1.153117
CUP 30.55759
CVE 110.227871
CZK 24.559112
DJF 205.422587
DKK 7.461783
DOP 70.296321
DZD 150.269881
EGP 56.147783
ERN 17.296749
ETB 160.038481
FJD 2.605409
FKP 0.864513
GBP 0.86211
GEL 3.13682
GGP 0.864513
GHS 12.113025
GIP 0.864513
GMD 83.024321
GNF 10007.629044
GTQ 8.851019
GYD 241.350797
HKD 9.051907
HNL 30.34178
HRK 7.535269
HTG 151.37901
HUF 398.77481
IDR 18924.949407
ILS 3.881851
IMP 0.864513
INR 100.816412
IQD 1511.190973
IRR 48560.584773
ISK 142.202557
JEP 0.864513
JMD 184.589424
JOD 0.817536
JPY 171.011222
KES 149.04039
KGS 100.840022
KHR 4620.483712
KMF 491.802937
KPW 1037.708708
KRW 1595.763973
KWD 0.352279
KYD 0.961385
KZT 627.104205
LAK 24899.828712
LBP 103361.080364
LKR 348.522604
LRD 231.297105
LSL 20.615056
LTL 3.404853
LVL 0.697509
LYD 6.274941
MAD 10.488158
MDL 19.680542
MGA 5091.329197
MKD 61.540605
MMK 2420.279605
MNT 4140.247065
MOP 9.32776
MRU 46.039492
MUR 52.789849
MVR 17.759913
MWK 2000.343554
MXN 21.617471
MYR 4.889038
MZN 73.753269
NAD 20.615056
NGN 1768.350541
NIO 42.455699
NOK 11.780885
NPR 161.332657
NZD 1.939202
OMR 0.443371
PAB 1.153621
PEN 4.09752
PGK 4.774433
PHP 66.350301
PKR 327.442005
PLN 4.267406
PYG 8640.089685
QAR 4.194987
RON 5.073023
RSD 117.183152
RUB 94.20923
RWF 1668.052601
SAR 4.325588
SBD 9.506481
SCR 16.931234
SDG 692.445632
SEK 11.142629
SGD 1.486765
SHP 0.906169
SLE 26.522168
SLL 24180.282798
SOS 659.27793
SRD 42.302605
STD 23867.185194
STN 24.491963
SVC 10.0936
SYP 14992.763444
SZL 20.604238
THB 37.464179
TJS 11.028281
TMT 4.047439
TND 3.402854
TOP 2.700712
TRY 46.79501
TTD 7.828431
TWD 34.271201
TZS 2963.510065
UAH 48.160995
UGX 4135.696601
USD 1.153117
UYU 46.16445
UZS 14420.14274
VES 141.472703
VND 30214.537341
VUV 137.769629
WST 3.179275
XAF 655.741808
XAG 0.030413
XAU 0.000346
XCD 3.116356
XCG 2.079
XDR 0.799582
XOF 655.736123
XPF 119.331742
YER 277.497077
ZAR 20.599619
ZMK 10379.429112
ZMW 26.503303
ZWL 371.30307
  • SCU

    0.0000

    12.72

    0%

  • RBGPF

    -3.5200

    74.03

    -4.75%

  • JRI

    0.0300

    13.06

    +0.23%

  • CMSC

    0.1100

    22.61

    +0.49%

  • SCS

    -0.3400

    10.51

    -3.24%

  • GSK

    0.2200

    37.67

    +0.58%

  • NGG

    0.2000

    70.52

    +0.28%

  • BCC

    -0.6000

    86.14

    -0.7%

  • RIO

    0.0800

    62.27

    +0.13%

  • CMSD

    0.2200

    23.12

    +0.95%

  • BTI

    0.9900

    52.77

    +1.88%

  • RELX

    0.1500

    51.92

    +0.29%

  • RYCEF

    0.3500

    13.5

    +2.59%

  • BP

    0.2900

    32.96

    +0.88%

  • AZN

    2.1500

    73.98

    +2.91%

  • BCE

    -0.1700

    23.66

    -0.72%

  • VOD

    -0.0500

    11.11

    -0.45%

'European California' Portugal woos Americans seeking better life
'European California' Portugal woos Americans seeking better life / Photo: PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA - AFP

'European California' Portugal woos Americans seeking better life

Nathan Hadlock moved to Portugal to escape the violence and lack of social welfare he saw in the United States, while still enjoying the sun and sea he had loved in California.

Text size:

"Lisbon checked all the boxes," the 40-year-old American entrepreneur told AFP.

It even has a suspension bridge that is almost a dead ringer for San Francisco's Golden Gate.

"My partner and I were looking to slow life down and enjoy things more. And so we made a list of the top 10 places in the world and Lisbon quickly made it to the top."

The couple, who started a family when they moved to the Portuguese capital in 2020, were drawn by the weather, the good food, the cheaper lifestyle and the ease of travelling to other parts of Europe.

They also wanted to escape the darker sides of US society.

"One of the main reasons (US) investors are looking to move here, is their kids' safety. They often say, 'I don't want my kid to go to school and get shot,'" Hadlock insisted.

"And that's a real thing in the United States that just no one here in Europe has to experience."

Jen Wittman, who uprooted from the Golden State to Lisbon during the pandemic with her husband and teenage son, said the United States was "really kind of falling apart at the seams".

"The George Floyd incident and the pandemic, the political division, the racism... Everything was just getting overwhelming in America."

Having a European social net made a big difference too.

"America is terrible with health care. And it's terrible if you're a retiree and you have a health condition. Essentially in America you can be bankrupted by an illness," the 47-year-old said.

At around 7,000, the number of US citizens living in Portugal remains tiny compared to the 42,000 British expats who had made the country their home.

But while the influx of Brits -- the largest expat community from western Europe -- has begun to tail off, incomers from the States have doubled since 2018.

This year Americans are jostling with the Chinese for top spot among overseas investors lured by Portugal's "golden visas" -- residents permits issued for foreigners prepared to buy property or transfer capital to the Iberian country.

But most come on a D7 visa, which demands they have a regular "passive income" from pensions, rents or investments.

- 'Different mentality' -

Joana Mendoca, a lawyer for migration consultancy Global Citizen Solutions, speaks "almost every day" to US clients.

"Some come because they're digital nomads and want to work from home by the sea," she said.

"There are also entire families, who dream of one day getting their children into European universities.

"And there are retired people who sell everything in the States so they can enjoy a good retirement in Portugal."

Mendoca said Americans had "a different mentality" from other foreign investors, who were drawn to Portugal essentially by residency permits and tax exemptions.

"They really want to come and live here and adopt a different lifestyle," she said, even though the introduction of the golden visa scheme in 2012 has contributed to an unwelcome surge in property prices.

Hadlock started off as a digital nomad in Portugal. Now he works for an investment fund that buys up land for olive and almond groves in the rolling hills of the Alentejo.

The region south of Lisbon reminds him of California's Napa and Sonoma valleys.

- 'Surf and good wine' -

In Lisbon, Hadlock runs get-togethers to develop business ties between California and Portugal. The group calls itself Red Bridge, in a nod to the red suspension bridges spanning San Francisco Bay and the Tagus estuary.

Jonathan Littman, one of the members, still lives in California but is learning Portuguese.

He got to know Portuguese start-ups in Silicon Valley when Lisbon started organising yearly international web summits in 2016.

"We sort of see this as the California of Europe," he said.

"The surfing, the coast... We both have great wine. We both have a love of seafood and healthy cuisine. We both can be a little laid back."

Like her compatriots, Wittman and her family left the States to escape a "divisiveness" that Hadlock said is "pulling the US apart" and is palpable "as soon as you get off the plane".

But Portugal was not their first choice.

"We tried to move to Italy but they were not accepting American visa applicants at all," she recalled. "And so, we were like, 'Who in Europe will take Americans?' And it was Croatia and Portugal."

She and her husband run their own digital marketing company and have no plans to move back.

"It's safe. It's inclusive. We feel safe walking around, we feel safe at night. We do things that we could never do in America without being in constant fear," she said.

(T.Renner--BBZ)