Category: Relocation

When it comes to proving your residence, whether for legal, administrative, or even personal purposes, the residence certificate is an essential document. It officially confirms your current address and has a wide range of applications in various contexts. In this article, we will explore what this document is, why it is important, and how to obtain it.

What is a residence certificate?

A residence certificate is a document issued by government authorities, usually municipal entities, that proves a person’s residence at a specific address. This document is an official way to validate your place of residence and is often required in various situations, including importing goods to Portugal.

Importance of the residence certificate?

In addition to the usual applications such as proving your address, accessing services and benefits, and being necessary to resolve administrative issues, the residence certificate also plays an important role in the process of importing goods. When conducting imports, it is necessary to provide documentary evidence to confirm the importer’s place of residence. The residence certificate is a valid and internationally accepted document that can be used as proof of the importer’s address. It is required by customs authorities and is essential for complying with customs regulations and requirements during the importation process.

Without a proper residence certificate, the importer may face difficulties throughout the process and be subject to delays and potential legal issues. It is important to consult the customs regulations of the destination country and specific information related to importing goods.

How to obtain a residence certificate?

The residence certificate is issued by the competent municipal authority, usually the local parish council. Typically, you need to provide documents such as proof of address (utility bills, rental agreement, deed, among others), identification document, and possibly other documents requested by the competent authority.

Depending on the municipality, this document may be requested in different ways, through various means, and each entity may require different documents, proofs, or even witnesses.

How to simplify the process?

With Global International Relocation, the entire process can be streamlined! In addition to managing the importation process to ensure everything runs smoothly, we can assist you with the documentation request.

This way, we ensure that the entire process goes smoothly and without any headaches for you.

Quality of life, safety and hospitality are highlighted as positive factors for expatriates, who continue to choose Portugal as their new home.

However, the formalities and bureaucracies of the relocation process can be quite demanding and often difficult, especially when you don’t speak Portuguese. To make it difficult, there are several documents that often require a face-to-face visit to the different government institutions.

Fortunately, at Global International Relocation you will find a team specialized in immigration and relocation processes, with a complete and comprehensive service that gives full support to the expatriate throughout the process, guaranteeing continuous support.

We have a multilingual and multicultural team, and therefore, very sensitive to the needs of expatriates.

To deal with the bureaucratic part, our team starts by providing a prior advisory service. Once the customer’s wishes and needs have been established, the documentation and bureaucracies are handled by our team so that you don’t have to worry about anything.

The entire process can be monitored by each client through a specialized platform where they can communicate with the process manager and consult all the information.

After the bureaucratic part is dealt with, it is necessary to move and bring all the goods to the new country. This is also where companies like Global International Relocation make a difference.

The vast experience and professionalism of our moving team, allows us to meet all your needs, listening and noting all the details and ensuring from A to Z the successful removal of your goods, to any part of the world.

From the export license, to sea freight and transport insurance, everything is taken care of so you don’t have to worry. And where applicable, everything is lined up to make shipping tax free.

We pack at origin, transport all your goods and guarantee assembly at destination.

Coming to Portugal? Yes absolutely! But with our support, it will be even better…

“I want to bring my car or my motorcycle when I move internationally, how can I do it?” This is a frequent question we hear around here, so we decided to post the 7 main steps to bring your vehicle with you on your international move to Portugal.

The whole process can be done by you, but you will have to face many processes, bureaucracies, and sometimes pay unnecessary fees. We can do all the transportation and all the legalization process of your vehicle and in some cases even with exemption from some fees, but we explain here how the process is.

Before the steps, let’s explain a few points.

First of all, before thinking about the taxes and fees you will have to pay, you must decide how you are going to bring the vehicle to Portugal.

Basically, there are two options:

1. Hire a company (like ours) that will do the vehicle transportation. Talk to us and ask for a proposal.
2. Deal with the transportation yourself. Ensuring the trip from Portugal to the destination where the car is and then buying temporary insurance and registration to be able to make the return trip (valid only for EU countries). You must also add to these expenses, the cost of fuel and tolls to be able to bring the car to Portugal.

After the arrival of the car in Portugal, you will have to deal with several taxes and bureaucracies, or, if you bring the vehicle with us, we can already expedite the process while the vehicle is in transit.

Taxes

Regardless of how your car will come to Portugal, some taxes will have to be paid and we explain below the main ones.

• ISV – The Imposto Sobre Veículos (Vehicle Tax) is paid only once, on the date of first registration. This tax is over on the cylinder capacity, fuel type and CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Depending on the age of the vehicle, it is possible to have discounts that gradually increase from 10% in cars less than 1-year-old to 80% in vehicles that are 10 or more years old. Note, also, that all diesel cars are subject to a fixed tax of $500.
• IUC – The Imposto Único de Circulação (Road Single Tax) is paid annually. This tax is also calculated according to the cylinder capacity and emission of polluting gases and corresponds to the date of the 1st registration in the country of origin and not the date of the 1st registration in Portugal.
• VAT – In addition to these two taxes, imported cars may also be subject to Value Added Tax. Imported cars will only have to pay this tax if they are new, and by new, we mean cars with less than 6 months or less than 6.000km.

How to legalize the vehicle?

When importing your vehicle make sure you know the regulations in effect at your new destination, which will allow you to legally and safely drive your vehicle. It is fundamental to comply with the fiscal rules regarding vehicle importation, because when not observed they motivate serious penalties.

To regularize your vehicle the following 7 steps are necessary:

1. Realize the mandatory vehicle inspection through an authorized inspection center for registration, which will issue an inspection certificate.
2. Then, at the Instituto da Mobilidade e dos Transportes (Institute of Mobility and Transport – IMT), arrange for the approval of the vehicle. To do this, fill out the forms for your vehicle, taking into account the corresponding instructions.
3. Then go to Customs to fill out the Vehicle Customs Declaration (DAV) and deliver it along with all the documentation gathered in the previous steps. Customs will issue the ISV assessment notice, which must be paid within ten working days.
4. Once the ISV is paid, a national license is assigned to the DAV. With the documentation provided at the customs office, you must ensure that the license plate is produced at an authorized body for that specialty. With the VAD and the license plate, it is possible to drive for 60 days. It is also important to take out automobile insurance.
5. Once these 60 days are over, return to the IMT and deliver all the documentation obtained at customs (DAV and a copy of the registration certificate certified by customs) so that the process can be sent to the Conservatória do Registo Automóvel (Automobile Registry Office).
6. Afterward, you must go to the Conservatória do Registo Automóvel to pay the fees and request the Documento Único Automóvel (Single Automobile Document).
7. Finally, and although it is not directly related to the legalization process for a car bought abroad, but for all cars, it is essential to pay the IUC within 90 days from the date of registration.

Regardless if you hire a company for the legalization of your vehicle or if you want to do everything yourself, the steps above are the same, but with us, a company with employees used to this type of process and transport, we guarantee the delivery of the documents on time, the correct processes, and besides you avoid wasting your time on this type of procedure, we can get fee exceptions and even money savings during the whole process.

Summary

In summary, the legal procedures and fixed costs of importing a car are based on the new certification, inspection, and new registration of the vehicle.

In order for the vehicle to circulate legally in Portugal, it will have to undergo an inspection. And after such an inspection, the vehicle will have a legal certificate that attests to conformity and safety to circulate on Portuguese roads. After that, you will still have to register the car in your name, that is, make the owner transition and the holder change in the carnet.

In addition to the registration, owner registration, and inspection, you then add the ISV, IUC, and in some cases, the VAT as well.

To get rid of all the bureaucracy, comings and goings in the regulatory public organs, in the inspections, count on Global International Relocation to do the complete procedure, from A to Z and with analysis for exemption or discounts in some fees. From picking up the car at your residence abroad to delivering it to you in Portugal already with all the documents and authorized to drive on Portuguese roads.

Any questions, talk to us and have a good road trip!