Living in Portugal comes with its own challenges and battles to face. You will still be tied to your country, no matter what, because you have to have proof of everything here, birth, marriage, divorce, death, custody, that you exist, papers for everything under the sun for the stupidest things. Everything. And then you have to pay to have it all translated into Portuguese and that person you are forced to employee has to be certified, you can't just use Google translate. There are community forums online for English-speaking ex-pats of all nationalities. Portugal is beautiful, wonderful, and paradise on the surface. After two years I know where the cracks in that beautiful picture are. Would I come here to live again knowing what I know now? Maybe, but then I think about how a simple procedure has turned into a two year ordeal that has yet to be resolved and think maybe not. Would I come here to live if I had children? No. Not at all. Others might disagree, but I would not bring my children here to live longer than a year or so. That's the truth of it. It is gorgeous, beautiful, and charming, so charming, but it is not an easy place to live for two adults on a budget with no children at home. Just look at the national minimum wage to see how that works, for example. I'd lose my mind if I had young children at home with me.
RE: The dreaded day has come: Social Services are after my kids - I'm making an exit plan