Snap shot of the relocation scene

We asked Luisa of Lisbon Relocation Office, a relocation agent based in the capital, for a snapshot of the relocation scene in Portugal.

Her top tip for relocating employees to Portugal was to get in touch with the experts to help you really understand the local picture and to save you and your employees valuable time and energy. Her advice is to contact a local relocation company. Make sure the company you choose is registered with an acredited association like EURA - european relocation association, or TIRA - the international relocation associates.

We wondered if there anything expatriates or companies should be particularly aware of?

"The cost of living in Portugal (especially Lisbon) is much higher than internationally believed” she said. “Beaurocracy is still quite heavy although considerably better than 10 years ago. International schools are few and families should consider registering their children as early as possible in the relocation process."

We were interested to know where the majority of expats come to Portugal from and a bit more about the types of companies.

"Most relocateees come from the European countries and in particular Britain, France, Belgium, Spain. The main industry sectors they work for are financial, services, pharmaceuticals, technology - although we get a bit of everything!

Some examples of global companies relocating people to Portugal are - Nestlé, Renault, Ford, Barclays, Roche, Pfizer. The typical assignments we deal with are for 2 and 3 years although we have noticed a tendency towards 6 months to 1 year assignments."

Finding employees somewhere to live is obviously crucial and we wanted to know the situation in Portugal.

Luisa confirmed that the main areas expatriates move to in Portugal are Lisbon and Cascais although there are obviously other major centres such as Oporto in the north. "As a guideline, in Lisbon the cost of a 4 bed house ranges from €2000 to €4000 per month, depending on location, with a 2 bed apartment costing €700 to €2000. There are various neighbourhoods in Lisbon which are popular, like Chiado and Lapa and the coast of Estoril and Cascais also very popular especially for families."

For further details contact Luisa Piló of Lisbon Relocation Office,
Tel: +351 213 830 777. www.lisbonrelocationoffice.com

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