Americans flocking to Portugal

A new record has been set for the number of American visitors in Portugal, says a report from Expatsi.

Expatsi is a travel agency aimed for people who want to emigrate. A new survey from them was carried out and showed that 116.000 Americans are interested in leaving their country.

After analysing the answers of 20 questions, asked on their website, the USA people picked Portugal as their favourite destination, outside their country.

Portugal leads the ranking and is followed by the neighbouring country, Spain. United Kingdom closes the top3, followed by Canada and Italy. Ireland and France occupy the 6^th and 7^th place, respectively. To close the top 10, Americans want to move to Mexico, New Zealand and Costa Rica.

USA citizen have been looking for Portugal in recent years, namely for spending their holidays. Data from the National Statistics Institute reported that more than 140,000 visited Portugal in November 2023, a monthly record set at the time.

According to USA Today, Americans want to leave USA to be adventurous, or to increase their richness, for example. Nevertheless, more than half of the answers reported that the political system set in the USA is making them leave the country.

I just really expect that they refrain from doing in Portugal what they did to many of their own states and cities which used to be reasonable places to live and nowadays are decaying filled with crime and misery. Check the internet or visit to find out by yourself!

By A L Fernandes from Other on 03 Jun 2025, 22:48

Tragic!
Prior to lock down I commenced the process of applying for a D7 visa with the intention of becoming a Portuguese resident. Having visited Portugal many times I was in love with the place, culture and people.
Post lockdown I returned. It was unrecognisable. Cranes everywhere. Prices were crazy and worst of all loud Americans everywhere.
It took me less than 24 hours to abandon all plans of becoming Portuguese.

By Chris from Other on 04 Jun 2025, 10:22

Yes because the internet is such a reliable truthful source.
The Americans will not even come close to the disrespect of the tourists that have been coming here for years show this country.
Dou you know why these tourists treat your country like a toilet?
It is because you let them.
How many years have you seen stop the bad behavior?
How many governmental sessions do you need to come up with a list of punishable behaviors.
The icing on the cake is GNR does nothing.
If a drunk came up and pissed on their boots, they would finish their text before doing anything about it.
You want to stop bad behavior?
Stop giving them permission to behave like that.

By j from Algarve on 04 Jun 2025, 11:19

We were 2 of those in November, 2023 and looking at houses. As retirees, cost of living was a major factor but the main driver was we liked the Portuguese better than the Spanish.

We were here before TACO won the election, but never thought the US would be stupid enough to reelect him. Mea culpa.

By Mark from Lisbon on 04 Jun 2025, 12:07

There goes the Country!

By John Robert Ormshaw from Beiras on 05 Jun 2025, 11:35

High-net-worth Americans are flocking in, not regular folks, and making everything super expensive for everyone else, because for them, half a million euro flat is dirt cheap, and no one else can compete with their financial advantage. It is called gentrification. Lisbon is gone. It is already turned into a resort for the S&P500 rich. These people have good intentions but ultimately they suck the soul out of every place on Earth they move to. From San Francisco to Costa Rica to Bali. It is shame that Portugal allowed such selloff. It was such a beautiful country.

By alex from Lisbon on 06 Jun 2025, 20:07

"There goes the Country!"
You won't get a lot of Americans moving here.
They could never compete with the Brits for public drunkenness.
Let's not forget peeing in the streets, the Brits have made that a right of passage for any stag or hen party.

By j from Algarve on 07 Jun 2025, 11:46

Chris, sounds like prior to lockdown you didnt really know Portugal. Portugal always had cranes. It's a normal thing. Prices were high even before lockdown. You are a foreigner complaining about ''other foreigners'' visiting and moving to Portugal. As if americans dont have the same right as you did. If you dont wanna become portuguese anymore, i wonder why you are still following a newspaper about Portugal.

By Leila from Alentejo on 10 Jun 2025, 03:52

Henry Kissinger once said: "To be an enemy of the US is dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal", so be careful. See what has been happening throughout the World to the so-called American friends from South Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan and Ukraine now fighting a US/EU proxy against Russia!

By A L Fernandes from Other on 27 Jun 2025, 13:22

I see that a lot of people are "trying" to blame Americans for everything that ails Portugal or the "unrecognizable change" that this country is going through. However.... According to this very own news outlet, "In 2024, it's estimated that around 14,000 Americans live in Portugal, making up approximately 0.1% of the country's total population and 1.4% of the total immigrant population".

So the blame shifting to American's needs to stop, because there aren't enough of them to dictate any significant change, as compared to other immigrants. Most of the American's are fleeing the right-wing oligarchy / future dictatorship. All they want is peace and safety like everyone else that moves here.

P.S. And the amount of stories I hear from the Portuguese about other immigrants, especially in the Algarve, particularly Albufeira, we all know that it's not Americans that have the bad image there.

By Ken from Algarve on 30 Jun 2025, 20:22