Agradar a gregos e troianos – “please the greeks and the trojans”. Obviously means find a solution that pleases everyone
A vida é uma corda bamba – “life is a tightrope”. Pretty obvious really.
Agradar a gregos e troianos – “please the greeks and the trojans”. Obviously means find a solution that pleases everyone
A vida é uma corda bamba – “life is a tightrope”. Pretty obvious really.
At work the other day, in an effort to make my tasks stand out better in the planning software, I decided to swap my default icon from the orange disc with LC on it to a picture. Usually I use a small picture of someone waving the Bandeira portuguesa* but I couldn’t find it so I opted for this instead.
So far, so whatever, but the next day when I was arriving at work, my email pinged and when I looked at the company email app, there was the six-year-old Fernando Pessoa looking at me, from the corner of the screen. As it turns out, the software is part of office suite and they’re all linked together, so the picture had become my official photograph on the intranet. I got rid of it later that day but a few people were curious as to what had happened.
I sort of miss it actually. It was the only black and white icon there which made it really easy to spot. One of those times when professionalism and efficiency are in opposition.
*I suppose I should really say “The Flag of the Portuguese Republic” since there are still monarchists who insist that the old royalist flag, a blue cross on a white background, is the real Portuguese flag.
Ouça 9. The Flag de HISTÓRIAS DE PORTUGAL de Saudade e Outras Coisas #np na #SoundCloud
Ouça 9. A Bandeira de HISTÓRIAS DE PORTUGAL de Saudade e Outras Coisas #np na #SoundCloud
I’ve got obsessed with this song by Márcia (she’s the one in the video I posted a couple of weeks back). I don’t like this one as much, but it has a hidden secret: it has a Spanish pronoun (“Usted”) in it for no reason I can fathom. It isn’t needed for a rhyme, and no other Spanish words appear in it. She uses a more conventional “você” in a different verse. It’s well random. It’s as if an anglophone singer just decided to say… Oh I don’t know – “Though I put you on a pedastal, they put vous on the pill”
Anyway I made a translation (not a good one, I think) to try and get to grips with it to understand why, but I’m none the wiser.
Durante a minha estadia no Porto, fui assistir a uma “revista” no Teatro Sá de Bandeira. Foi a um espectáculo longe fora da minha experiência, consistiu numa série de canções, juntadas por uma peça de teatro. Os protagonistas chegaram um a um: os músicos logo no início, depois o José Raposo, depois a Vera Mónica e finalmente a Sara Barradas (que estava grávida e quase a dar à luz a sua bebé*!).
O enredo da peça deixou os dois actores mais velhos falarem com a Sara sobre as suas viagens pelo mundo, e então, cantaram músicas de vários países. Havia canções em espanhol, francês, italiano e até uma dos The Beatles**. Os actores mudaram de roupas muitas vezes, ou pelo menos colocaram um chapéu ou qualquer outro acessório entre as canções. Também havia alguns “sketches”, tal como “A História da Minha Ida à Guerra de 1908″de Raul Solnado. Isto e duas canções (duas!) foram as únicas coisas que já conhecia.
A maioria da audiência era sénior mas havia algumas pessoas mais jovens e crianças, e acho que foi um evento adequado a toda a família. Enfim, gostei muito da experiência.
* = isn’t that lovely? I’d never noticed how the articles and prepositions work together until Sofia corrected my grammar. “Estava grávida e quase a dar à luz a sua bebé”. She was pregnant and “almost ready to give her baby to the light”
** = On the other hand, “os The Beatles” os not so pretty.
Acabo de ver uma apresentação dum novo livro escrito por uma autora portuguesa, chamado “A Inglesa e o Marialva”. É baseado em factos verídicos, sobre uma inglesa que chegou em Portugal nos anos sessenta. Tem um bom aspecto.
Alguém fez uma pergunta que muitos devem ter-se se perguntado: o que é que é um “marialva”. Foi explicado que esta palavra tem dois significados: pode ser um bom cavaleiro ou um homem que se traja como o Marques de Marialva, e tem o comportamento daquele fidalgo; forte, bem vestido, tipo Dom João. Mais recentemente, o nome tornou-se mais negativo, portanto muitas vezes significa um bêbado, ou um homem que corre atrás de mulheres.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvAGG_HAYFf/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=19jshjfc41kl2
Está muito frio aqui em Aylesbury, e sinto o tempo ainda mais porque ontem estive no Porto. Fui para pedir a cidadania portuguesa. Como alguns de vocês já sabem, a nossa família é anglo-portuguesa (ou seja luso-britânica). Não votámos para aquela tolice do Brexit mas quer queiramos quer não, parece cada vez mais inevitável que vai acontecer portanto todos nós ingleses casados com estrangeiros temos de pensar no futuro. Ninguém sabe precisamente o que vai acontecer, nem sequer a Primeira Ministra.
Eu e a minha mulher decidimos que o melhor plano de acção era obter dupla cidadania para todos nós. Portanto, ela está a pedir atribuição de “settled status” (estatuto de residente permanente) e eu e a nossa filha vamos tornarmo-nos portugueses. Depois, venha o que vier, ficaremos juntos e se Deus e o partido conservador quiserem, teremos mais opções do que teriam tido senão.
Pôr o processo em andamento foi um desafio. Foi muito acidentado, e encontrei alguns funcionários pouco simpáticos mas afinal, o Porto é uma cidade lindíssima, e adorei o meu pesadelo burocrático no paraíso. Acabei por ficar lá mais um dia. Um homem muito prestativo ajudou-me. Ainda não marquei golo, mas a bola passou por cima do guarda-redes e está quase através da linha do golo*
Tenho sentimentos mistos sobre isto da dupla cidadania. Não é algo que consideraria antes do Brexit, mas sinto-me confortável com a decisão, apesar disso. É a terra da minha esposa. Falo a língua (mais ou menos). Gosto da música, a comida, adoro a literatura. Claro não sou literalmente português, mas espero que cada dia que passe, merecerei a honra de dizer “eu sou português”
*There y’go, a futebol analogy – I’m half way there already!
Updated 12/3/19 in light of what I learned in Porto
Well, it looks like some people voted for a national act of self-harm and those of us whose families straddle more than one country need to think about planning for the future. In our case, we’re doing that by applying for dual citizenship (me, daughter, both currently british) and leave to remain (Mrs L, Portuguese) to ensure we’re all in the same boat and can act together in future if some future government decides to make life properly difficult for EU citizens or punish them financially or it becomes difficult to live and work in the countries we used to be able to move around in freely, all thanks to the actions of a bunch of divs who didn’t do the homework before getting into the voting booth.
I thought I’d write down the steps here in case it’s helpful. I’m going to focus on UK citizens living in the UK. If you’re an expat, you’re pretty well covered by other sites like this and of course if you’re Portuguese in the UK there’s a lot of info here.
The obvious point first of all is that it’s almost certainly going to be easier while we’re still in the EU than it would be after we leave and britain is towed across the ocean to be moored off Mar-a-Lago or whatever these idiots have in store for us. In other words, if you’re reading this, you’d better get your skates on.
Have a think about how you are going to submit your applications because that will determine some of the later choices you make. Options are:
You need to have been married for 3 years to use the marriage route so if you’re not already hitched, tough (but there are other routes you can use – see below). If you got married in the UK, make sure the marriage is registered at the Portuguese consulate too. You will probably have done this if your other half updated their citizen card with a new surname. It’s slow and awful because it involves the consulate. They require all the same documents as described in this blog post, plus you’ll have to use their bloody awful online appointment booking, both turn up in person, and deal with various indignities.
The cost for an adult is €250. When you go to download the forms (“modelos”), there’s a big warning up front. Translation:
IMPORTANT WARNING
Applications that are not accompanied by the required payment will be rejected outright with all the documents. If payment is made by cheque, it must be a certified cheque or bank cheque issued in Euros from a company with representation in Portugal to the order of “IRN, IP” [this just means the Institute itself] issued on portuguese banks.
This seems a bit repetitive but basically, get thee to a bank that has branches in Portugal (Santander for example), open a bank account if you haven’t already got one, and ask for a banker’s cheque/banker’s draft.
There are two other alternatives. One is to get a “Vale Postal” (postal order) which you can buy at a post office (CTT) in Portugal. Again, make sure it’s made out to IRN, IP and has the correct address. The Vale Postal route is relatively straightforward if you have all the bits you need – the details of the payee (on the form itself) and the recipient, but on the downside, you have to do it in Portugal 3 working days before you submit to give it time to reach them. This is because a Vale Postal doesn’t work in quite the same way as a UK postal order. They mail the slip to the recipient and you need to note the reference number (and keep the receipt) as proof, and then wait for the order to show up at their office.
You’ll also need a “contribuente” (also known as Número de Identificação Fiscal – Or NIF) if you have one. If you don’t have one, you can pop down to the Serviço de Finanças and get one. It takes 20 minutes and costs €10. And if all else fails, just use your UK Unique Taxpayer Reference instead which seems to work.
The final option, if neither of the above is suitable, is the simplest of all, but you can only do it if you go to the office in person: bring cash.
The main hub for the different “modelos” (forms) is on the site of the Instituto dos Registos e Notariado.
Choose the one that best fits your situation. In my case, they were these:
Templates and forms regarding nationality
Model 1C
For children of a portuguese mother or father born abroad that registers their birth in the portuguese civil register or declares that they want to be portuguese.Model 3
For a foreigner married for more than 3 years with a portuguese national or who lives in a de facto union for more than 3 years.
You need to print the first two pages double-sided and the third and fourth pages are just guidance. Fill it in in black, in Portuguese (Duh!) and using crosses, not ticks in the boxes. I’m not going to translate the whole thing I’m afraid. You can use GTranslate can’t you? Most of it is pretty straightforward, but there are a few weird ones:
Some of this isn’t really spelled out because portuguese bureaucracy can be a bit hatstand sometimes, so it’s best to go the extra mile and do more than it requests rather than less
If you’re visiting the consulate, you’re probably doomed and will have been driven to insanity within a few weeks. I pity you. If you’re visiting Portugal, the addresses of the offices are in the last page of the guidance on the Modelo. Since it says “Balcões da Nacionalidade instalados nas seguintes Conservatórias do Registo Civil” and doesn’t give any addresses for the offices in smaller towns outside Lisbon, I went to the wrong place at first. This seems to be the place in Porto, anyway:
SEF Porto
Av. da França 316, 4050-276 Porto, Portugal
+351 22 207 3810
https://maps.app.goo.gl/fL7zP
It’s a kind of one-stop citizen shop and there are several different services in the same office, so ask at the desk if you can’t find the right option on the machine that dispenses tickets (the tickets are known as “senhas” not “bilhetes”) . Ask for Conservatória and you should end up with a senha with a number that starts with a Q.
Make sure you arrive between 8AM and 8.30AM or you’ve no chance.
Obviously don’t be rude or anything, but do be prepared to be assertive. My wife gave me some samples of indignant customer dialogue to use in case of intransigence but I was quite glad I didn’t need to use them. Apparently the tone to go for is polite but with a menacing air of superiority.
Minha senhora /meu senhor. é preciso ser razoável e justo.
Ora eu já cá estive na sexta e nada foi resolvido ou esclarecido. Isto não pode ser.Veja lá por favor o que pode fazer porque sinceramente eu estou a ficar desorientado e preciso clarificação
The process can’t even be started without payment. If anything else is missing, you’ll get a case number and can submit the missing docs by post, but the one thing you can’t forget is the money. Owing to the large number of applicants expect to hear back after a year – or 18 months for children. We’ll have left by then but hopefully they won’t have started stoning remainers to death in the public square yet, so we should be OK, I think.
Well, that’s the sum of all my knowledge. I hope it’s some help to someone. Good luck.
I’d like to thank my friends Barbie (who gave me a lot of advice on her own family’s involvement in this process) and Marcos (who by amazing luck happened to be very close by the SEF on Friday and actually came to help out with communication, which was incredibly generous of him)