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Move abroad checklist
A move abroad checklist, in the order that matters: get your destination tax number first, check that your passport clears the entry rule with margin, open a foreign currency account and start converting money in stages, build a document system and refresh it monthly, confirm the income or savings floor your visa route sets, talk to a cross-border tax professional before you leave, then work the visa sequence (background check, apostilles, health insurance, accommodation proof, proof of means, appointment). Most moves need six to twelve months, and the order matters more than the list, because several items expire while you wait on others.
Reviewed and current as of 2026-10-04.
This is a planning checklist, not legal, tax or immigration advice. Rules change, so confirm each item for your own situation with the consulate and a qualified professional.
1. The item that unlocks everything else: your destination tax number
In Portugal it is the NIF. A local bank account, a lease and most utility contracts all expect it, so until it exists much of the rest of the list is waiting. Start it first, because it is also the item most likely to sit half-finished for weeks.
2. Passports, with margin
For Portugal and the rest of the Schengen area, a US passport must be valid for at least three months after the date you intend to leave and must have been issued within the last ten years.
Source: European Union, Your Europe, "Travel documents for non-EU nationals".
A residence visa outlasts a tourist trip, so renew early if your passport is anywhere near that line. A renewal takes weeks you will not have later.
3. The money, set up early
A foreign currency account. Trivial to open, and it needs to exist before you can convert anything.
A conversion plan, not a conversion day. Moving a large sum on whatever day a deadline lands means taking whatever rate that day offers. Staging conversions over the months before the move turns one large bet into a series of smaller, evidenced decisions.
4. Documents are a system, not a pile
Build the folder structure before you have anything to put in it. It is the difference between finding a birth certificate in four minutes or four days.
Refresh on a monthly rhythm. Visa applications want recent documents, recent at the moment they are reviewed. Collect everything in one weekend nine months out and you will be collecting half of it again.
Then the long-lead items: recent US tax returns, an employer letter if you work remotely for an employer, certified copies of marriage and birth certificates. Each has its own issuing office and its own turnaround.
5. Know the income or savings floor for your route
Every visa route sets a means test, and knowing the number early changes what you do all year. For Portugal's D7 passive-income visa the reference is the Portuguese minimum wage: 100 percent for the first adult, 50 percent for each additional adult, 30 percent for each dependent child (Portaria 1563/2007). With the 2026 mainland minimum wage at 920 euros a month, that is 920 euros a month for one adult and 1,380 euros for a couple. Treat that as a planning reference, not an approval threshold; consulates assess stability and household circumstances case by case.
Sources: 2026 minimum wage of 920 euros set by Decreto-Lei 139/2025, reported by Euronews; D7 percentages and 2026 worked amounts, Live in PT; D7 document list, Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa portal.
6. A tax conversation before you move, not after your first filing
The United States taxes its citizens on worldwide income wherever they live, and your new country will usually tax you too once you are resident. Both sides have tools that prevent paying twice, but they work best when planned before the move. See our companion piece, "US taxes when you live abroad."
Source: IRS, "U.S. citizens and resident aliens abroad, filing requirements".
7. The ones people forget until they are expensive
Language study, started early enough to matter. For Portugal that means European Portuguese, which is not the Portuguese most apps teach.
Rental market research, well before you need somewhere to live.
Pets, if you have them. For Portugal from the US: a working microchip before the rabies vaccination, at least 21 days after the primary vaccination before travel, an EU health certificate endorsed by USDA within 10 days of arrival, and written notice to Portuguese authorities at least 48 hours before you land.
Source: USDA APHIS, "Pet travel from the United States to Portugal".
8. Then the visa phase, which has its own sequence
Once the foundation holds: an FBI background check, apostilles on the documents that need them, visa-compliant health insurance, proof of accommodation, proof of income or savings, then the appointment. Portugal's residence visa list asks for a criminal record certificate carrying a Hague apostille.
Source: Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa portal.
The apostille is the step that surprises people. An FBI check is a federal document, so its apostille comes from the US Department of State, not your state. That is two queues in sequence: the document has to exist and be recent before the apostille can start.
The honest part
None of this is thirteen months of work. It takes months of elapsed time because ordinary life keeps happening while you do it: an office that takes six weeks to return a form, a renewal that arrives late. A checklist in the right order does not make you faster. It gives you slack.
Take Root Abroad keeps this sequence for each country, with every fact sourced, dated and re-checked, and a clear flag where we are estimating rather than confirming. Find the countries that fit how you live at takerootabroad.com/find-your-country.
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