Hello
This is what the place where the WebSummit is held looks like:
Nations Park
And this is exactly how I first saw Portugal, having arrived here in 2014. And now I decided to share with you what I have seen and learned over the past 5 years, as well as what is remarkable about the country for an IT professional.
For those who need a quick, subjective:Pros:
- Climate
- People and their attitude towards you as an emigrant
- Food
- IT companies for every taste and color
- Beaches
- Most sanely speaks English
- Documents are not so difficult to obtain
- Security
- 5 years and you have citizenship
- Medicine and its cost (relative to Europe and the USA)
- You can open a company in half an hour and not pay taxes for the first year
Cons:
- Low salaries
- Everything is slow (receiving documents, connecting to the Internet…)
- IT companies do not yet know how to work with emigrants (do not know how to process documents, etc.)
- High taxes (VAT - 23%. With an income of 30 thousand a year - 34.6% will go to the state, cars are 30-40% more expensive than in Russia)
- The population is conservative. It's hard to promote something new, but it's changing
- Bureaucracy is scary, but that's changing
- Finding a job for your wife, girlfriend, and non-IT boyfriend will be quite difficult, because the job market is not very diverse.
- Real estate prices - space, including rent.
- Too tolerant population (more on that later)
Let's start with...
I decided not to write the pros and cons in the expanded version. It's all very subjective, so everyone will decide for themselves.
I came to Portugal on a study visa at the University of the Algarve (Universidade de Algarve).
Algarve is a region in the south of Portugal where there are many tourists, beaches, hotels, etc.
The university itself is quite good and is located in a picturesque place and looks like this:
The cost of training in the direction of informatics engineering was about 1500 euros per year, which is nothing by the standards of Europe. The quality of education specifically in this direction and at that time - from "very good" to "so-so". Very good, because some professors were active employees of companies who knew modern things, plus they were very interesting, lively and gave a lot of practice. So-so, because not all professors spoke English (in 2 subjects the training was in the form: take lectures in English, read and there will be a test at the end of the year) and the organization of training for foreigners left much to be desired (responsible for our course was only called responsible, but in fact, it was hard to get something from her). A study visa allows you to work if you supplement it with a work permit, the main thing is that work does not interfere with your studies. Masters studies are mostly evenings, and within a couple of months I found a job in a small company installing TV and Internet for hotels and private villas. It was not so easy to get the documents, but if the employer does their part, then everything should go without much incident. There are several development companies in the Algarve, but salaries are low, around 900-1000 euros net for Java middle. I lived for about a year in Faro, a city in the Algarve. There are very beautiful beaches, cozy cities, palm trees, the feeling of a resort, very pleasant and friendly people. The only problem is that in winter life stops and there is nothing to do, nothing at all. Everything is closed or closes at 6pm. Except one mall. Transport runs every 3 hours on weekends. In general, in the winter you can go crazy with nothing to do, especially if you do not have a car to go somewhere. After a year, I got tired of it all. By that time, I had completed Java programming courses and started looking for a job in Lisbon.
Lisbon
The search took some time, about 2 or 3 months. Basically, the salary or conditions did not fit, or they did not want to take without the Portuguese language. As a result, I got a job as an intern at a large bank that has a development office in Portugal. The next step was to find a place to live. With this in Lisbon, everything is very bad.
Briefly about the housing problem in LisbonSomewhere in the bowels of the Portuguese government, smart heads came to the conclusion that it would be nice to make money on tourists, since they have a lot of money, and we have something to sell. So Portugal began to advertise throughout Europe as a resort for any budget. And it's true, the resorts here are really for every taste and budget. Tourists began to come in large numbers, which means they need to be accommodated somewhere. Since space in Lisbon is very limited, there are not as many places for hotels as we would like. Here, in fact, the center of the Portuguese capital:
As you can see, it's not that much to turn around with the construction of hotels.
The solution was found as follows: if you are a rich Chinese, Brazilian, or anyone with money, you can come to Portugal, buy a half-ruined palace building in the center for more than half a million euros and get a Golden Visa, which, like citizenship, only you cannot vote. All these guys started buying real estate in the center of Lisbon, restoring and making hostels, mini-hotels or apartments for tourists. A large number of those who want to buy such real estate, who come to Portugal, understood that you can earn money just on apartments, even if they are not in the very center. And then, recovering from the crisis of 2008, a bunch of Europeans, realizing that the rising price of real estate with the possibility of renting it out is a great asset, began to come to Portugal and buy housing that is any closer to tourist places. All this rapid demand for real estate, as well as the fact that most construction companies went bankrupt during the crisis without building anything, led to a vacuum in the real estate market and prices higher than in more developed European countries. And so, an apartment that was rented 3 years ago for 600 euros a month will now cost you at least 950 euros and this will clearly not be what you expect to get for this amount. Not to mention the purchase, when for a stunted kopeck piece (in our opinion) in a good area they ask for 300 thousand euros. The government is on the side of this, because they partly sought it, so prices are unlikely to go down. People with an average salary in Lisbon of 1000 after taxes, of course, are not happy, but they endure and live in the suburbs.
In general, three years ago, after looking at many options and having lived first in a room, then in a bad area with all the ensuing charms in the form of police under the windows, sometimes an ambulance, etc., I still found an apartment close to the center, not so far from subway and in a good area. But I got lucky.
Lisbon itself is a controversial city. On the one hand, the city is very beautiful, quiet, comfortable and safe. On the other hand - dirty, graffiti walls, a bunch of immigrants and homeless people, some of which are not the most pleasant.
Now, actually, about IT
IT in Portugal is growing by leaps and bounds. That is, about a thousand new startups a year, some of which are quite successful both in Portugal and around the world. Also, every year large companies come to Portugal, such as Siemens, Nokia (who doesn’t know, Nokia is not only and not so much Chinese mobile phones, but telecommunications, 5G, etc.), Ericsson, KPMG, Accenture, etc. and so on. Now they are talking about Amazon and Google, but it is not yet clear when. Each such company that hires a lot at once is given good tax preferences for 5 years, and then as you agree. Local IT specialists have a good education (in Portugal, education is generally good. By the way, do they all know that Harry Potter was written off from the Portuguese students of Coimbra?). Recently, smaller players like Mercedes, BMW, etc. have started to create their own hubs for development here. In general, there is a company in any field that you may like.
But all this excitement is not just. Despite a good education, the Portuguese are in no hurry to ask for large salaries, so a middle with a salary of 1200 euros net in Lisbon is a fairly common occurrence.
About taxes and salaries.
Also, in Portugal, taxes are quite high, with an income of 30 thousand per year - 34.6% will go to the state. As the amount increases, the percentage of tax will increase obscenely. It will rise not only for you, but also for the employer, who pays social security and other taxes for each employee. At what it will be even more obscene to rise. But there are cunning accountants not only in Russia, so there is a tax avoidance scheme here as well. Now there are about 200 consulting companies in Lisbon. In fact, this is not even a consulting company, it is such a gasket between you and the company in which you work. A large company will not cheat with taxes, because it is difficult for a large company, but a small “gasket” is welcome. It looks like this: you go for an interview at company X, which then tells you that you will have a contract with company Y, which in turn receives money for you from company X as a service. And you get paid a low base amount plus bonuses, "travel" compensation, and so on. All this allows everyone to remain happy and not pay high taxes, with the exception of ordinary people, who are paid pensions and unemployment compensation from the same basic amount. But who cares? The main thing is that here and now you get more money, and they pay less taxes, so everyone is happy.
And how much do they actually pay?
Difficult question, but the approximate amounts are. 1-2 years of experience and good knowledge in Java is 1200 euros net (you get 14 times a year), 2-4 years of experience 1300-1700 euros net (also 14 times a year), 4 or more years of experience 1700 - 2500 euros . Haven't met any more. At a certain point, people go to managers within the company or somewhere else ...
What about those who came?
Usually, when you need to bring a foreigner, they bring Brazilians or EU citizens, who are easier to help with documents ... But the rest have to go through 3 circles of the bureaucratic hell of the local system, which companies do not want to deal with. Local companies are not good at working with immigrants, but they are getting better and are also invited to work from third countries. As elsewhere, the employer needs to prove that you are irreplaceable, get a stack of documents for you, which is very slow, etc., so they most likely won’t bother with inexperienced people.
Also, your family may have a problem, if any. Job problem. If your soulmate is a representative of the profession not IT and not the service sector, then finding a job will be problematic. In general, there is a problem with diversity. 20% of vacancies are IT, managers and HR for IT. 60% is the tourism industry, cafes, restaurants, hotels, and that's it. The rest are single vacancies for accountants, engineers, economists, financiers, teachers, etc.
Transport
Transport in Portugal is both pain and joy. On the one hand, you can get where you want. Even remote beaches and tourist sites are served by public transport. Buses, trains, electric trains and river transport run to the suburbs of Lisbon. All this in the morning, in consequence of the mentioned real estate problems, of course, is crowded. And it's late. No one bothers with being late at work, and the most common excuse is getting stuck in a traffic jam on a bridge, waiting for a bus for a long time, and stuff like that. At the same time, if you want to drive your car to the city, then you need to think three times where to leave your car. There are no places for cars and prices bite (up to 20 euros per day, depending on the zone). Parking in the company's parking lot is usually played in a lottery between employees. Managers receive automatically.
Medicine in Portugal
Here you can say a lot of things, but the main thing is this: the state - slowly and free of charge. The queues for doctors stretch for weeks, with operations even worse. Private - fast and not very expensive if with insurance. In 99% of cases, the company will provide you with insurance. in 60% of cases will do your family too. In other cases, you can buy it for yourself and / or your family from the insurance company with which the company you work for cooperates. (20-30 euros per month if you have an affiliate, 30-60 if you have any other). These prices include dentistry. Usually, a consultation with insurance in a private clinic costs 15-20 euros. Blood test and the like - 3-5-10 euros.
Life in general
The Portuguese are very good to normal immigrants. That is, if you are not rude, do not throw garbage and do not thump under the windows, then they will help you, advise you on what to do, etc. The Portuguese can be very slow. Connect the Internet - a week or two. Standing in line at the store for half an hour while someone discusses the birth of a granddaughter with the cashier is easy. But at the same time, many services are placed online, which allows you to do many things conveniently and quickly. For example, you can draw up utility contracts, file an income declaration, take out insurance, register your company, and so on. The vast majority speak English well. Movies are not dubbed, menus are made in English, including etc. The weather is good, you will see rains and gray skies for 20-30 days a year. Almost all of these days are concentrated in the month of April. Most apartments and houses do not have heating. At night, the temperature in the capital can drop to +6. Therefore, a heater and a warm blanket for the winter are a must. Daytime winter temperatures range from 14 to 18 degrees. Sunny. In summer it can be both cool and good (+25), and slightly hot (+44). Hot is rare, 5-6 days during the summer. The beaches are half an hour from Lisbon. Wide and not very crowded with people even on weekends.
If you want to learn Portuguese, finding government courses is not a problem, where you will be taught to speak sanely and understand almost everything that the interlocutor says for the minimum price or for free.
There are already legends about local bureaucracy and queues. For example, if you want to apply for a residence, then you need to register to submit documents six months in advance. If you want to change your license, you will have to wait in line for about 5-6 hours in the morning:
Also, Portugal has a developed banking system. All banks are tied together with a rope, so now you can send money from your mobile phone to another person's account in 2 clicks for free, you can withdraw money from an ATM of any bank without commission, and also pay for services and purchases from your mobile phone or through an ATM.
You can open your own company and not pay taxes for the first year. If you want to create a startup, then you will be helped at all stages. Starting with the opening of the company and ending with the search for funding, they will give a place in the incubator, etc.
By the way, if you live legally in the country for 5 years, without interruption, you can apply for citizenship. You will need to prove that you did not leave for a long time and pass an exam in Portuguese.
And a couple of lines about the Portuguese. What makes them very tolerant and friendly, perhaps makes them very tolerant of all kinds of homeless people and so on. This is quite normal when in the middle of one of the main squares, volunteers distribute food to the homeless. At the same time, homeless people do not go far from food, so this is a completely normal situation for Lisbon when a homeless person lies at the window at the entrance to a billionaire company. The government even passed a law banning supermarkets from throwing away food. Now all food must be delivered to food banks, from where it is distributed to the homeless and the poor.
All in all, Portugal and Lisbon in particular are very comfortable to live in. You will never get bored in Lisbon because there is always something going on and there is always a place to go or go on weekends. The climate is very good, it is rarely cold or very hot. You are in Schengen, so most of the EU is open to you. From an environmental point of view, everything is very good here. There are also disadvantages - these are salaries and taxes. But here's how you get on.
Source: habr.com