Kalie: Well, JD, thanks so much for joining us on the podcast today, and you have a pretty crazy story about getting your D7, right?.

JD: Yeah, yeah. Long, long, process.

Kalie: Okay, we're gonna jump into that, but first, before we get to the unique details of what happened with you, can you tell us where you moved from and what consulate you went through?

JD: I moved from Alaska, so I went through the San Francisco Consulate.

Kalie: Okay. And how long had you been living in Alaska?

JD: full-time, like

four years.

Kalie: Are you originally from Alaska though?

JD: No, I'm originally from Arkansas.

Kalie: okay, so you were living in Arkansas and then you to Alaska for work or adventure?

JD: Yeah, I've been working in Alaska since 2008, and I was splitting my time between Alaska and Nicaragua, and then started living full-time in Alaska.

Kalie: Okay.

JD: and now portugal

Kalie: Okay. so obviously Alaska and Portugal are very different, so why portugal?

JD: I think of the same reasons everybody else, the relaxed environment, nice weather, low cost of living, and a short, relatively simple process for citizenship.

Kalie: And so you've moved here then full-time, but you've just recently moved, right? You haven't been in Portugal for very long.

JD: Yeah, just like a week, essentially. A little over a week.

Kalie: Okay. So are you experiencing jet lag still ?

JD: No, first couple days were pretty unproductive cuz of jet lag, but , I think I'm on it now.

Kalie: Okay, good. So we'll get into what your first week has been like and if it's what you expected or not. But before we get to that, I wanna talk about your D7 process because you do have a very unique situation. So run us through your application process and what happened to you.

JD: Yeah. , because the San Francisco one, you have to deliver everything in person to the VFS office. So I had to fly down from Alaska, and I ended up just making a whole trip of it, cuz why not?

Kalie: Yeah, you're going so far. You might as well,

right?

JD: yeah. Yeah. The people from Alaska and Hawaii that have to fly there, it's kind of rough, but make a trip of it.

Yeah. So I had to take it in person and then it was reassuring, like having the person in the VFS office go check everything and make sure everything was good instead of just mailing it in. So then I, I waited, they said three to six weeks and it took seven months before I got a reply back from them.

And I even emailed them a few times and no response. I don't know why it took so long. I don't know if I fell through the cracks or what, but, the initial response back was a rejection.

Kalie: Okay, so we're gonna talk about the appeal process, but first let's get a timeframe of things. When was your VFS appointment in San Francisco?

JD: it was July 21st,

Kalie: Okay, so July

21st,

2022.

JD: 22.

Kalie: Right? You just made that online like everybody else. You had all your documents ready to go. You go to that appointment, it feels normal. They look at everything. Say you're good. Did they have any feedback with your documents when you were there?

JD: No, and I even asked because, I had put more money in my Portuguese account that month so it wouldn't be on this statement. And I asked if. I needed to show that somehow. And they were like, no. , if they need to know, you can just send it later. , And they said everything looked fine and everything was good.

Kalie: Okay, so normal appointment, they say it looks good. They say you should hear something in three to six weeks or so. And six weeks goes by. Did you start to hit the panic button? Did you say, maybe I should give them a little more time What did you do?

JD: Well I gave them a little more time cuz I heard that they were really backed up, and I I did call the phone number for VFS, which wasn't helpful the exact same information that you put in on the computer to track your, and then, I knew after 60 days they have to make a decision, or at least that's what the law says.

Kalie: right.

JD: So I emailed them, I emailed the consulate it didn't seem to go anywhere. so I emailed after 60 days, didn't hear anything back, so I was like, well maybe it's 60 business which ended up being quite a lot. It was like a month later. So I emailed again, still nothing.

And then eventually it was I think early December and they had my passport so I couldn't do anything.

Kalie: wow. Okay. So you left your

passport with them, which is optional, right?

JD: I was just thinking it was just gonna be three to six weeks.

Kalie: right? Yeah.

JD: I was like, well, I'll hang out, spend summer in Alaska, that'll be great. , So I emailed them to ask if they could just send my passport so I could come to Portugal to get started renovating the house and everything. And , that's when they told me that it was rejected. And then it was still like a week and a half or two weeks after that email when I got the official rejection email.

Kalie: Okay, so this is crazy because in all the people I've ever talked to, I've never heard of anyone being denied their visa. Sometimes you're delayed a little bit just because they need more documentation of something, but it's weird because the time went so long and you had to contact them, and then all of a sudden you get rejected and you, we will get on this as well, but you had already bought a house in Portugal, right?

JD: Yes.

Kalie: Okay, so we will get to that. In that process, and I'm sure you were very stressed at this point. So you get this email that you're rejected. what did you think?

JD: it was kind of shocking cuz the stuff I'd heard before is like, if they have a question about something or , oh, you need to put more money in the account or whatever. They'll tell you that and then you do it and it's fine, but I never heard anything. And then it is just rejection.

Kalie: Yeah, so, okay. So they email you. What was it? Just very simple like you've been rejected and that's that they didn't give any sort of solution or what did the initial email say?

JD: The like official rejection email, it gave the reasons was not enough funds and not a habitable house, because that's what it said on the, on the contract. And I asked the real estate agent about that and they said it's just cuz no one had lived in it for a while, but they said that that would be fine with SEF but I it wasn't

Kalie: It wasn't, and they didn't even

Inquire about more

information.

JD: Is kind of crazy cuz every other case I've seen of is like, they'll ask you for more inform.

Kalie: Right. And Same with me. So it's funny because one of the reasons they said you didn't have enough money in your account, which was the very thing that you asked them at the, your VFS appointment if you needed like. Proof of that, and they're like, oh no, they'll ask for it. So they didn't come back and ask you, you know, do you have more funds?

So that's kind of a crazy reason. And then it's interesting that they didn't inquire about more information about your accommodations, right? Because most people come and they rent, some people will buy places. But you bought a place that need to go through renovations.

JD: Yeah, it's, and it not like major renovations. It's, like, it's totally livable. , It may just needs like mostly cosmetic stuff.

Kalie: Okay, so it was a place that you could actually live in. It just not been lived in when you purchased it, so that's why, why the contract said that.

JD: Yeah.

Kalie: Okay. That's so crazy though, cuz they should be able to at least ask for more information. So they just send you this official, your rejected letter. Then what did you?

JD: so with that, there is an attachment, like a PDF to print out to if you wanted. They're like, if you want an appeal, print this out and send it to us, or if not, just let us know and we'll close the case. So I printed out. It's just like a one page letter that like acknowledges you're appealing. I had to have it signed and notarized.

And so with that letter and then any additional documentation I had to send to the consulate They had to receive it within 10 days of me getting the official. email

Kalie: They don't give you .much time They give you So then you had to, what did you do? Did you, um, print off some more bank statements? Cuz obviously a lot of time it lapsed. So you had plenty of money in your account then.

JD: applied like last summer, the initial. . the initial visa was like the one year, two year, two year thing. And now it's two year, three year. So I doubled the amount of money in the account. I added my, , pay stubs cuz before I had the bank statements that showed money going in. But I, this time I actually did the pay stubs and I wrote a more I forget what it's called, like the introduction letter or the,

Kalie: Okay, so just, yeah, kind of pleading your case and more information about you and why you could live off of individual revenue.

JD: yeah, cuz before. ,everything I saw was like "keep it short and sweet," , so this time I explained a little more. I explained what all the additional documentation was, and I did the letter of the bank stuff.

Kalie: and then something for the house?

JD: I included pictures of the house to show pictures inside and outside, and that it was a house and not just a ruin

Kalie: Did you get any other documentation from like the lawyer or like closing documents on the house or the people who said that this contract will be fine for SEF Like, did you get anything from them saying like, it's only listed as, you know, uninhabitable any paperwork from them?

JD: but I explained that in the letter that they said It was listed as that because nobody had lived in there for probably like 15 years. And I made sure to include lots of pictures.

Kalie: Okay, so more bank statements. More of a robust letter introducing yourself then pictures about the pictures of the house.

Okay, so then

anything

else?

JD: that was it. Yeah. And then I just mailed

that to the consulate and waited.

Kalie: Yeah, and waited. So then to get an idea, so now we're in December of 2022. When you got the rejection, so you get the rejection, they say you have 10 days, you collected things. How long did it take for you to collect things? Were you able to do it right away?

JD: Yeah, maybe just a day or two.

Kalie: And then you overnighted it to the consulate in San Francisco? ,

JD: I just did, um, the UPS

Kalie: Okay.

JD: cheaper than FedEx.

Kalie: Yeah, it'd be really expensive from Alaska to to get it down to California quickly. Right?

JD: Yeah, so I just did all that and I heard back that I got accepted I think like right around a month later and got my passport back just a few days after that

Kalie: that Okay, so this whole time they had your passport? Right.

JD: Yeah.

Well, , They sent it back after the rejection,

Kalie: okay, so then did you send it with all this extra documentation? You sent it back to them. Okay. . Oh, wow. All right. So then you're in December. They give you 10 days, a few days in. You send off the documentation and then did you get any sort of email or confirmation from them that it was received? Or you can only see from your tracking number that at

least

someone received

it.

JD: yeah. I could only see from the tracking

Kalie: So you didn't hear from them. You're just waiting. Waiting. And then of course, Christmas hits and New Year's. of holidays. So you're waiting, uh, while you were waiting, what were you thinking? Like, how were you feeling?

JD: I actually got like really depressed cuz I kind of like went all in and Portugal. but it was just kind of like, I wasn't sure if I would get accepted, so I was like trying to come up with other plans of like what to do and stuff and just trying not to think about it too much.

Kalie: Okay, so then we get past the holiday season. We're into January, 2023, and did all of a sudden your documents, your passport just arrive ?

JD: I got a email that. Said , like, and it was, it was just like one sentence, your case has been accepted. You have 90 days to collect the visa, which is sending them the passport.

So I sent the passport. . and then just a few days after that I got it back.

Kalie: Okay, so you sent in your documents to appeal, but you held onto your passport and then when you heard the the good news, then you mailed your passport in.

JD: Yeah. I bought the house in May of 2022, so it'd been such a long process.

Kalie: Yeah. Okay. So we'll move on from that because, yay. You got it. That was a really long process, but good job for just being, resilient with things , and powering through and appealing that, especially cuz you had a good case, right? I mean, you knew that. You had the money in the account

JD: Yeah,

Kalie: and you knew that you had a place to live, so it

JD: I Guess my biggest concern was I don't have a consistent salary, so I work contract pretty much. So I'll make a lot of money in a very short amount of time and then go a while without any money. So it can be hard to show that so that was my biggest concern.

Kalie: Yeah, so that probably added to the confusion. They just didn't mention it when they sent the

JD: oh, and I also included my resume cuz I saw A YouTube video of someone that had got rejected and she said she included her resume in the appeal to show that I have a college degree, I have welding certification, I can get a job. And then I did also include my credit card statement to show I have this much and I paid off every month. And I also included my air miles statements to show that like even if I run outta money, I still have means to leave Portugal and go back to the US.

Kalie: Okay.

Producer Dan: Can you explain what you do for work?.

JD: Currently, I'm a marine mammal observer . If there's a construction project at sea, especially ones that make a lot of noise or something, they have people like me that are on board to make sure that the construction doesn't interfere with marine mammals.

Kalie: Um, Very cool job. So I think probably what they're doing a little better nowadays is since they've split the D7 and then they have the remote worker visa, it should hopefully be a little more mainstream that are, you know, whether it's freelance or whether it's not consistent income.

Cuz think they were getting kind of confused with people who are applying for the D7 with they um, wonder like, well, this person doesn't make any money this month, but then they did the month before. So now I think they're able to, or at least they're moving in the right direction to minds around.

Um, splitting up the D7, which is for passive now, but Obviously when you got in, you could still apply for the D7, but now people are applying for the remote worker and you, you know, with I guess you could say of when stuff goes into the account And it's

JD: Yeah. And that's the most plausible explanation I can think of for why mine took so long otherwise, like, I have no idea why

Kalie: It's pretty crazy, but, Okay, so you've appealed, you're Yay. You've made talk about, uh, your house. So did you come to Portugal, like visit Portugal and see the house, or you just bought it

JD: I came twice before I knew I wanted to come. I originally wanted to come in spring of 2020, but, covid

Kalie: No one was going anywhere.

JD: Yeah.

I finally made it, in the fall of 2021 and just explored the whole country, found which parts I liked and didn't like. , then I made it back in the spring of 2022, with a list of houses that I'd seen online to check out.

I went and looked at this one and really liked it.

Kalie: Okay, so are you in a big city? Small city? Little town? Out in the middle

of nowhere?

JD: It's a little town, but it's only 15 or 20 kilometers outside Coimbra and right on the train line. So it's just like pop into town real quick.

Kalie: Oh, nice. And do you have a car out there?

JD: No, I wanted to not need a car. So I'm just like a 15 minute casual walk to the train station and it goes every 45 minutes or something.

Kalie: All right, great. So are you currently living in the house or are you having it renovated first before you live there?

JD: I'm currently living in it.

Kalie: All right. And what kinds of renovations do you need to do?

JD: Probably the biggest thing is electrical. Like It's a old house, so there's only two outlets in the entire house,

Kalie: Oh wow,

JD: It needs a lot of re plastering. And then definitely modernize the kitchen cuz I like to cook so...

like structurally everything's good. The roof is good.

Kalie: Did you have an inspection done before? or you're familiar with how to inspect?

JD: I didn't, I guess I'm familiar enough to know that nothing major was bad with it.

Kalie: Okay. And are you planning on doing the construction or renovations yourself ? Have you found someone to help you?

JD: Um, yeah, I plan was to do it myself. I actually had two houses in Nicaragua, and I renovated both of those myself, so I have experience. The only thing would be like with the electrical, I'd probably have an actual electrician come to make sure everything is done right.

Kalie: I don't know how to do any of it, but , I imagine that electrical would be really tricky. So you've only been here for a week, so obviously you haven't started on any of this, you're just settling in. Right?

JD: Yeah,

Kalie: How has your first week been?

JD: it's been good. The first couple days was just getting over jet lag. and then my priorities were getting the electricity hooked up the water and phone and internet and all that stuff.

So the water, I don't know why it's taking so long, I'm still waiting on that. The electricity, they were there the next day, hooked it up. Same with phone. So that's all been pretty simple and straightforward.

Kalie: But water has been a bit of a hold

JD: up?.

Yeah. And I don't know why, that's taking so long.

Kalie: Yeah. So then do you have a hotel or something you can go to since the water's not working ?

JD: Yeah. I is been spending some time at hostels, like I don't know how it's been in Porto, but it's been so cold in Coimbra area,

Kalie: Yeah, it's a little cold here right now. It was warm. It was so nice. It was warm and sunny and then all of a sudden, like we've got this cold spell. Thankfully it's still sunny, but it has cooled down a little bit.

JD: yeah, the house even with the heater running, it's been very cold at night. So I came down to Panche for a break from the cold for some warm weather, and there's a train strike right now, so that kind of hampers getting into town.

Kalie: Yeah, so it's mainly good timing to go somewhere, relax.

JD: Yeah, so I figured it'd take advantage of that to just enjoy a slightly warmer weather.

Kalie: So, are you happy with your move after all the stress and the being rejected and appeal? Are you happy that you're here?

JD: Oh yeah, for sure. Definitely. If I knew it was gonna take so long, I would've, started on it earlier and then probably just went overboard with the initial application of just more than enough information. If that makes sense.

Kalie: Yeah. Better to just do more than what you think they need, rather than having a little less, cuz you could be in this situation.

JD: I would say one mistake I made was not looking at the open appointments with VFS beforehand. I was like, I'll get all my documentation ready a month out, I should have made the appointment first and then got all the documentation.

Kalie: That's good advice. Do you have any other advice for anyone who's is thinking about buying a fixer up or a place that needs light renovations?

JD: I would say, know what you're getting into. If you don't have any renovation experience, . Know what you can and can't do and if you need to hire somebody, budget that into the process. I went through a real estate company and they were super helpful with the process.

Kalie: Well, at experts everywhere. We believe that living abroad transforms lives. How has living abroad, Nicaragua, Portugal, wherever else you might have been, how has that transformed your life?

JD: it's definitely opened my eyes to what other people experience in the world and how cush everything is in the US. Everything we take for granted in the US how big a deal it is in other places, especially like Nicaragua where it's so poor and basic infrastructure and everything. And then, it's the opposite here. , I bought the slowest internet plan and it's double what most places in the US are. My internet in Alaska is 1.5 megabits per second or whatever, and my plan is 200 here and it's half the price.

Kalie: Wow. That's crazy. So just big differences when you get out there and you check out different parts of the world, right?

JD: yeah, yeah.

Kalie: Awesome. Well, JD, thanks so much for chatting with me today,

JD: Oh, no problem.