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KP - Thanks for your comment. In our case, we registered with Social Security for online access to our accounts. From there, we were each able to print out Verification Benefit Letters stating what our monthly payment was. I have not heard of the requirement to have this document 'officially' signed and apostilled (not even sure it could be), and the printed out copy was sufficient for VFS in San Francisco. The letter, when printed out has the official letterhead and seal.

Just to be clear: I'm not an expert in D7 visas but am providing this information based on personal experience and what I believe to be the current requirements. - CW

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This was actually very helpful. But I do have one question that I seem to be getting many different answers for. The Social Security Verification Benefit Letter - how did you present the letter? I'm reading that it must be signed by the Acting Commissioner on SSA letterhead with a seal and according to my local SS office - this is impossible. Actually, they never even heard the term apostille which will also be required in order to present the letter to the VFS agent. Were you able to get a signed letter and if so - how, how how???? This is driving me crazy. I have everything but this d... letter.

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Dec 27, 2022Liked by Carol A. Wilcox

Thank you for your detailed description about your portugal d7visa. I it is possible, please send me the name of your attorney or other authorized attorney. Thanks again.

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Thank you, Carol! Really appreciate it. We are just at the beginning of our journey & need all the help we can get! 🙃

Best,

Marcia

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Hi Carol:

We're a retired American couple living in Thailand (Chiang Mai) and are looking at either Italy or Portugal to relocate either this year or next. We're heading to Porto and Lisbon in March to do our research and would very much appreciate getting the name of an accountant and/or attorney to meet with while we're there to go over taxes, services, etc. We generally use agents for our visa issues, particularly for the first time in a new country. Just easier that way. Any guidance you could offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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OMG! I love the details of the interview. Thank you so much! that really helped us.

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I love how detailed you are! I am a detail oriented person & will do exactly as you did with our documents. I’ve been reading so much information that it’s getting overwhelming, but also coming together (in my head). We are about a year out for our target departure date, and also be applying in San Francisco. I don’t retire until December. I’m wondering if you could share information about your Portuguese accountant & attorney? Were they expensive? Did you think their services were required to complete the visa process? I’m usually a do-it-yourself kind of person, but not against help if needed. Thank you for sharing your experience!

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I wonder how different it will be for us in Canada. I appreciate your thorough description of the experience!

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We knew it had taken alot of preparation but what an experience!!

You deserve to be there.💕

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