The 4 Things I Did to Move My Family from the U.S. to Portugal

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In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why I decided to move my family from California to Portugal.

• The biggest fears and mindset shifts I had to work through before making the leap.

• How we legally relocated — visas, paperwork, and planning — with two little kids in tow.

• What it was like to move to a country I’d never visited and didn’t speak the language of.

• How we drastically downsized our belongings and learned to live with less.

• The unexpected joys and challenges of starting over abroad — and why it’s been worth it for our family.

Resource Mentioned

The immigration and tax consultation firm I recommend is Fresh Portugal. Book your FREE 15-minute consultation with them here.

Blog Version

If you’ve been thinking about moving to Portugal because you’re tired of the political climate, the rising cost of living, the constant anxiety about your rights, or the fear of gun violence—mama, I see you. 

I was exhausted by the pressure, the fear, and the constant stress of just trying to exist safely in the U.S. as a woman of color, in a mixed-race family. I wanted peace. I wanted stability. I wanted to breathe.

So we moved.

We packed up our lives and left for Portugal—a country I’d never even visited, where I didn’t speak the language, and where I knew no one. I want to share exactly how I made that happen for my family of four (two small kids in tow!) and how you can, too.

If this sounds like the life you’ve been dreaming of, this post is for you.

And, if you’re more of a visual learner, I recorded this podcast episode on my YouTube channel—come hang out with me there!

1. I Got My Mind Right

This move didn’t start with a plane ticket—it began with a mindset shift.

I refused to accept a reality where my children couldn’t go to school without fear. I refused to stay in a system where access to healthcare could bankrupt us. I refused to keep tolerating racism and microaggressions like they were just part of life.

Instead of focusing on what I didn’t have (a car, connections, the language), I focused on what I did have: a U.S. passport, English fluency, a strong sense of purpose, and a fierce desire to create a peaceful life.

If you’re feeling stuck or scared to make a big leap like this, I want you to know: fear is normal. But fear doesn’t get to run the show. I chose to feel the fear and do it anyway. I figured the worst that could happen was that I would return to the U.S. At least I wouldn’t regret not trying. 

2. I Hired the Right People

Trying to figure out on your own how to legally live in another country and be tax compliant  is a recipe for stress. Instead of trying to DIY this part of the process, I invested in professionals who helped me do things the right way—no shortcuts, no legal risks.

I initially worked with immigration lawyers to get my D7 visa, my NIF (Portuguese tax number), and to open my Portuguese bank account. While I no longer work with that original firm, I highly recommend Fresh Portugal—they helped me get my U.S. and Portuguese tax situation sorted, and they can help with visas too.

→ You can grab a free 15-minute consultation with them here.

If you’re wondering whether to spend money on an immigration attorney or shipping all your belongings, choose the attorney. Trust me.

3. I Let Go of My Stuff

We sold, donated, or gave away nearly everything we owned. That’s right—no shipping container, no drama. Just me, my husband, my two little kids, and one suitcase each.

Letting go wasn’t easy (yes, I still think about some of the clothes I gave away), but the freedom of starting fresh on the other side? Worth it.No worrying about whether boxes will get lost or stuck in customs. No paying for overpriced international freight. 

My rule of thumb? If it’s between dragging your couch across an ocean or buying peace of mind, go with peace.

4. I Focused on Earning Income Online

Just four days into arriving in Portugal, I started looking for ways to earn money online. I doubled down on skills I already had—consulting, coaching, content creation, web design, social media marketing, email marketing—and slowly built up my online income by packaging my services and emailing everyone I knew and didn’t know.

This wasn’t about making six figures overnight. It was about sustainability. That momentum I built in my first month in Portugal led to a full-time remote consulting role with a U.S.-based nonprofit, which gave me the stability I needed to stay here long term.

If you’re thinking, “I don’t have any online skills,” I want to challenge that. You do. We live in a day and age where most skills and knowledge can be sold online, you just need some help overcoming your obstacles and taking action. This is  something I help women do. —If you’re curious about what that looks like, reach out to me here. 

What Living Here Really Looks Like

We live in a small apartment. For the first year, we had no car. We walked or took public transportation. We are a one-income family, we live simply—and it’s enough.

We lucked out finding our long-term rental (I used idealista.pt and suggest you do the same). We have a great landlord, but it can be difficult to find those things, so if you’re trying and coming up short, it’s not you—it’s just the way the housing market in Portugal is now.

Throughout your search for housing, I recommend being flexible. Tourist-heavy areas like the Algarve or Lisbon can be trickier, so don’t get too attached to a specific location. Focus on making it work—not making it perfect. And, know what your top three non-negotiables are. These are the three things you absolutely need to be satisfied even if other things aren’t great.

For our family, the three non-negotiables were:

• A school where our kids are safe

• Access to healthcare without risk of financial bankruptcy

• A break from relentless racism

Everything else? We can handle it. Bureaucracy? Inconvenience? We’ll figure it out because those three things matter most.

Final Thoughts

This journey isn’t about escaping—it’s about choosing peace, on purpose.

I’m not here to sell you a fantasy of easy living abroad. Portugal, like anywhere, has its pros and cons. But if your heart is calling for a different life, one where your nervous system can finally exhale…You owe it to yourself to listen.

Your peaceful, beautiful, No Longer Last life is waiting.

Start paving the way. 

→ If you have questions, DM me on Instagram @nolongerlast or contact me here.

→ Subscribe to my YouTube channel for real talk on life in Portugal, motherhood, self-care, and mental health.

When you’re ready, here’s how I can help you.

• Free 4B Self-Care Framework© Guide: A great way to get started on your self-care journey, this guide provides an easy-to-use framework that makes self-care actually supportive rather than another burden on your to-do list. Get the Guide →

• Rituals that Replenish: Instant Access Workshop: This DIY 3-hour workshop (1 hour per week) will help you get to know your true wants and needs and will help you develop the habit of practicing one self-care ritual in your daily life. Learn More →

• The No Longer Last Journey®: Live Coaching Program: This 12-month program includes monthly coaching & community calls, classes, reflection guides, and weekly self-care reminders to help you overcome obstacles, improve your self-worth, and make self-care a sustainable and supportive part of your life. Learn More →

Episode Transcript

[00:00:00] Hey, I am Mia, he's dad. I'm a wife. I'm a mom of two kids, and I'm a trauma-informed self-care coach. I also live with diagnosed PTSD and depression. I started sharing my mental wellness journey online in 2017 when I was diagnosed with postpartum depression and anxiety. And since then I've heard from hundreds of women who all struggle with the same thing.

Putting ourselves last. This is a struggle that's keeping so many women burned out and unhappy through no fault of our own. By the way, I've been working on my own healing as an abuse survivor since 2013, but when I became a mom. I really started to do the inner work of figuring out why I was putting myself last, and how to start prioritizing myself for the first time in my life.

This podcast is about sharing all of those lessons with you. So if you're interested in hearing honest stories, life advice and inspiration that encourages you to make your health, happiness, and wellbeing a priority, [00:01:00] and definitely stick around. Welcome to your no longer last journey. Hello everybody.

Welcome back to my channel. If you're new, welcome for the first time. Today I'm gonna be talking about how I move my family from the US to Portugal. If we're new here, I'm Mia Hempstead. I have two children. They're both elementary school age and I'm married and my husband and I moved our family from California to Portugal in 2022.

That was three years ago. I made a few videos on my channel, which I'll link below about why I moved to Portugal, some moving myths, and I think another one was about the D seven visa process, which is the visa I have. Um, but I thought it was time for an update, especially given the incredibly stressful and distressing and sad news that continues to unfold in the United States.

Um, so if you have been feeling overwhelmed, if you have been feeling scared for your children at school, if you have been tired of living under the threat of gun violence, if you have been [00:02:00] tired of politicians messing with your livelihood, the cost of living, inflation, et cetera, and you are contemplating this crazy idea of uprooting your family to live a different life, a calmer.

More peaceful, more safe life. Then hopefully this video can inspire you and give you some of the how for how I did it. To give you some background and context, which I think is important. Um, I am American. I was born and raised in Guam. Um, but I'm not chamorro. And the reason why I say this is 'cause I want you to understand that, um, I grew up without a lot of connections without any extended family around.

Um, and when I moved to the US to go to college in California in 2012, I, um, went on a plane for the first time alone at 19 years old. And I say this because I think a lot of people think that, um, I don't want anyone to think that, like wow. [00:03:00] It is, it's brave to move anywhere, but this moving to Portugal wasn't the first time that I did it.

But what I also wanna communicate to you is that if I could do it at 19, if I can move from Guam to California, which was a culture shock, which was overwhelming, and I was completely financially. Providing for myself at 19 years old. If I could do it, then you can do it in your grown age. Okay. I used to take a lot of one-on-one consulting calls with people that wanted to move or were thinking about moving, and the number one issue that I always saw was people just like allowing their fears to hold them back from the life that they wanted, and you know.

Fear is totally understandable. We all go through it. I've experienced it as well, and I just think that it's really important to feel your fear and do it anyway because we only get this one life and truly my life in Portugal has, has been everything that [00:04:00] I've wanted it to be and more. And yeah, I just, it, it breaks my heart that.

Every American can't just experience the peace and security and safety that I feel here in Portugal. And I'm sad that I moved all the way to America at 19 years old just to have it not pan out, right? I, I moved all that way to build the American dream and it just didn't happen for me. So. Hopefully that can encourage you to know that I'm not more special than you or anything like that, or smarter than you, or even have more resources than you.

Like I said, I've been providing for myself financially since I was 19 years old. I'm in my thirties now, so just know that yes, I also felt scared, but I did it anyway and I'm so glad that I did. Um, so. The first thing which kind of leads into this, I got ahead of myself in terms of how I moved my family to Portugal was getting my mindset right.

I decided that I was gonna make this happen no matter what [00:05:00] I, you know, there's as many solutions as there are roadblocks and obstacles, and I think if we just focus our energy on the solutions, we can pave our own way, and I'm not. You know, ridiculous. I know that this is impossible for everyone. There are people who live in countries that are war torn and disadvantaged and going through so much at no fault of their own.

But if you are an American and you have a US passport, you are already so fortunate and your economic opportunities are so much broader than so many other people. But I talk to so many Americans in these one-on-one sessions who are just like. So fixated on the one or two things that might not go their way, and I think that's such a lost opportunity because you already have so much at your disposal just being in American, just having a US passport.

So many countries are willing to open up their doors and to give you visas and et cetera, et cetera, and you speak English, which by the way, so many people have to work so hard to learn [00:06:00] English so that they can get other jobs and opportunities. Um, I think it's really important. The first step in the how was like I got my mind right?

I focused on the solutions. I focus on what I had going for me, not on what I didn't have going for me. And that was key because this is not gonna be a smooth process. Moving to a new country, immigrating to a new country is not a smooth process. And I think where a lot of people go wrong is they want it to be as smooth.

As anything else, like they act like, you know, there shouldn't be red tape or bureaucracy or difficulties or hurdles, but you're moving to a new country that you're not a citizen of. So I think you need to get your mind right if you're gonna make this decision. Don't expect everything to go your way and just be prepared that you're gonna make it happen.

You're gonna make a way no matter what happens. And that was definitely the mindset that I had to adopt before I made this decision to move my entire family to a new country of which I had never visited before and did not know the language when I moved here. Okay. Number two is I hired professional help.

Moving [00:07:00] to a new country is not a joke. There are tax implications, there are legal implications, there are, um, implications regarding your citizenship and your visa and your documents and your paperwork, and it's important that you do it right and that you follow the law. And three years ago, the requirements for getting a visa.

We're different than they are now. So I highly recommend that if you have some money set aside that you invested in hiring an immigration attorney. The immigration attorney that I work with, I still get emails of people asking me for referrals. I don't work with any them anymore 'cause their firm has changed so much.

But I do work with a new firm that does my taxes every year, and they also do immigration. So I'm gonna actually contact them and see if I can get you guys a discount code. Um, and if I do, that'll be in the description. Okay? So if you, if there's gonna be any sort of a recommendation for a firm, I will put them below, but if not.

Go ahead and look for someone that has good reviews. Um, if you want a [00:08:00] DIY, your Visa, which I don't recommend, but some people do do it, there is a service called Border. I'll link to them below. There's like a discount code and they help you do part of the process of getting your Portuguese bank account and getting your basically Portugal citizen number.

It's called the nif and. I'm probably explaining it wrong, but you need it in order to immigrate. So I'm on the D seven Visa and the immigration attorney that I work with helped me figure out what Visa I qualified for, helped me get my paperwork together, let me know what the requirements were and helped just answer all of my questions along the way.

So I think that is was key in me moving abroad, was hiring help to move my family illegally and following, you know, all the rules. The third thing I wanna share is I gave away and sold over 90% of my belongings. I did not want to incur the additional expense of having to move all of my stuff from America to here.

I was renting an apartment at the time. Um, I broke my lease early. Um, [00:09:00] and I, I feel like a lot of people are so attached to their things that they'd rather. Stay with their things and try to move somewhere else to get peace of mind. But just remember that moving your stuff costs money. And if you have to choose between hiring an immigration attorney and moving your stuff, I recommend hiring an immigration attorney.

It's gonna give you so much peace of mind and stuff comes and goes. And when you die, you can't take it with you. So, I mean, I have been practicing detachment from things for a long time, but you know, there were things, there was like clothes that I gave away and stuff that I missed for years, which I know sounds silly, but.

Yes, you will miss some of your stuff, but the life that's waiting for you on the other side is worth giving away some things. Okay? So my husband and I only took what we could carry. We were literally hauling a three-year-old, a five-year-old, four suitcases in a duffle bag, and we made it work. And so that was one of the hows was getting rid of things.

Um, the fourth thing I wanna share is I. Literally was probably in Portugal for four days and we had switched Airbnbs [00:10:00] two times in four days. And I started immediately working on building out my, um, online work. I was like, what am I gonna do to make money online? I have a degree in communications media. I had built up a portfolio of graphic design work, social media management work, um, blog writing work.

I had developed some websites. I had started to learn email marketing. I was very new in these skills, but I had done some work. A lot of it was for free beforehand, so I was literally sitting on the floor. My Airbnb, four days into living in Portugal, still jet lag. Developing my client services page. I also had started working on, um, building out a course, an online course for a self-care coaching program that I run.

And I just was fully focused on what are all the ways that I can make money online? What are all the ways that I can make money remotely? And I doubled down on that and that ended up lots of opportunities later that ended up landing me with a full-time, um, consulting role, um, at a nonprofit. I [00:11:00] work at a national nonprofit that's based in the United States, and now I have a senior position there.

So that has been an amazing, um, opportunity for me that I landed through the work that I was doing and hustling as soon as I moved here. But also, um, I started to work on developing my coaching business. And I remember relaunching my coaching program and getting six new members and just things like that.

And it's just amazing what you can achieve when you really just focus on what you want and put your mind to it. Um, was I anxious? Was I stressed? Was I nervous? Absolutely. Was I exhausted? Absolutely. But I knew that I was committed to building a life where I didn't have to worry about my kids' safety, where I didn't have to worry about my safety as a black woman, where I didn't have to worry about my husband and my peace of mind as a mixed race couple who always got weird.

Star and dirty looks in the United States. I was so committed to building a DA new life that I was staying up late and putting in the hours and moving through the resistance no matter what. So, [00:12:00] um, that was number four was, you know, building out the income opportunities so that I can stay here long term.

And then the last thing I wanted to share was I use IDEA lista.pt. I'll put a link in the description, which is a website to find, uh, rentals in Portugal. So we were able to find a rental really easily, but know that it's not always easy to find rentals here, especially depending on the area, because Portugal is such a gorgeous country that a lot of.

Landlords like to rent out their places short term for people who are here on vacation. So it can be hard to find a long-term lease. But again, that brings me back to point number one. You need to have the mindset that you're gonna make a way no matter what, that you're gonna make this happen. So if you need to be flexible on where you live, what city you live, what town you live, um, whatever that may be, you need to be flexible.

Honestly, just not complain. If not every door is opening for you. Again, if you're immigrating to a new country, you cannot expect everything to be going your way. [00:13:00] So we were very lucky. We found a great landlord in a great apartment. I will be honest. It's a very small apartment, but when we moved here and still now, we're very committed to keeping our expenses as low as possible.

Uh, my husband did work, but he was laid off and he has been looking for a job for over a year, and now he actually supports me in running this channel. So he's a videographer and he's been making these videos with me and editing them for me. So that's what he's been doing now. But I just wanted to say that we are.

Family of four living on one income. And so that means that we have to make sacrifices. Like for the first year we walked everywhere or took the public bus. Um, we did not, um, have a car. So, you know, it's just, you need to be, you need to keep in mind like, what are the things that are most important to you?

If you have those three top three things met, everything else, pretty much doesn't matter as much. You know, I knew for me the most important things were that my children could go to school and I didn't [00:14:00] have to worry about their safety. I really wanted to live in a place where healthcare wouldn't get me bankrupt, and I wanted to live in a place where I didn't have to deal with racism.

You know, overt outright disgusting racism all the time. And every single day I have those three things. So I don't care what goes wrong or how difficult things can be or what bureaucracies in the way. I have the three things that I need the most, and because of that, I'm happy. So I know this was a really quick video.

I hope you found it helpful. Um, I'm open to answering questions in the comments and you can always DM me as well on Instagram at no longer last. Um, and my next video is gonna be the three mistakes I made when I moved here. I've lived here for three years. I've had some time to reflect and I definitely made some.

Huge mistake. So if you're interested in that video, make sure you subscribe and you'll get a notification when it gets uploaded. All right. Thanks so much for watching and I [00:15:00] look forward to seeing you next time. Bye.

Hi there, I’m Mia Hemstad!

I’m a mom, abuse survivor, self-care coach, and the founder of The No Longer Last Journey® — a movement to empower mothers to make their health, happiness, and well-being a priority. I’m also a maternal mental health policy advocate, and I live with PTSD.

I believe that every mom deserves to be a priority in her own life, and when she thrives, everyone thrives.

Check out more on the blog!