In an exclusive report, the Daily Mail details the events surrounding an American couple’s decision to return to the U.S. after escaping the Trump administration for Europe.
Idyllic Lisbon, Portugal, with its sun-drenched, vibrant capital city spectacularly terraced across seven hills overlooking the Tagus River estuary, offering scenic, colorful, and historic vistas that meet the Atlantic Ocean, is a tourist hotspot.
Some tourists are choosing to never leave. The Mail notes, “Record numbers of Americans are choosing to live overseas, drawn by the promise of a cheaper, slower-paced life – and sometimes by a desire to escape the United States’ punishing living costs and bitter political climate.”
Portugal also has desirable safety rankings and a public healthcare system that is considered more affordable than American healthcare.
Expatriates face a “complicated reality,” however, as they deal with a foreign bureaucracy, confusing tax rules, and surprising living costs.
Daily Mail reports: Mike Johnston knows that story well. The retired management consultant and his wife Mary, both 70, left the US in 2021 to begin a ‘third chapter’ in Portugal after decades of travel abroad.
They had long dreamed of living overseas, and retirement finally gave them the chance.
‘The problematic president we had at the time wasn’t the reason we left, but he was certainly wind behind us,’ Johnston told the Daily Mail, referring to the final months of Donald Trump’s first presidency.
Three years later, the couple were back in the US. Though they loved the country’s people and culture, Johnston said the practical challenges of daily life were sometimes exhausting.
‘Living in Portugal is great eight days out of ten – the other two days you’re dealing with the bureaucracy,’ he said.
Portugal strives to be one of Europe’s most welcoming destinations for foreigners, offering residency visas that are’t complicated to obtain and programs for remote workers and retirees with steady incomes.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said in 2024 that Portugal had become “fashionable for Americans.”
He’s right, according to recent immigration data that shows the number of Americans living in Portugal has risen 239 percent from 2017 to 2022, reaching nearly 10,000 residents. In 2024, around 4,800 Americans were granted residence there, with nearly half choosing to settle in Lisbon.
Americans are leaving the US for other areas, too, with record numbers seeking a better quality of life and cheaper living costs abroad.
The Johnstons, for example, sold their home in Columbus, Indiana, and moved to Europe.
“We arrived in Porto with six duffel bags, two suitcases, a couple of backpacks and a dog crate – that was basically everything we owned,” Johnston said.
While they found the Portuguese people to be friendly and the country’s cuisine easy to embrace, some frustrations proved frustratingly complex.
Foreign residents face complex bureaucracy to obtain tax IDs, register addresses, open bank accounts, convert a driver’s license, renew paperwork, and secure residency permits. According to Johnston, those procedures often seemed to change with little warning, and some involve long waits and piles of documentation.
Taxes were also confusing. Johnston and his expat friends in Portugal found the tax system puzzling, with varying tax bills despite similar financial situations.
Employment can also be a challenge. Local wages are low, averaging $1,500 monthly, prompting Americans to rely on remote work, retirement savings, or outside income.
Lisbon’s rising housing costs, driven by foreign demand, have made the city increasingly expensive for both locals and expats.
Despite these challenges, Johnston and his wife returned to America for a different reason: family.
The couple’s son and daughter-in-law had a baby, their first grandchild, while the couple lived abroad.
“The gravitational pull of a grandchild will overwhelm any other pull in your life,” Johnston said.
It took 15 months to unwind their life in Portugal, but they finally resettled in the US in 2024, choosing to live in Lewiston, Idaho, where their son’s family now lives.
Read more at Daily Mail
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