16 years old — moving to Portugal for high school? Need advice
Posted by No-Yoghurt-2@reddit | expats | View on Reddit | 2 comments
Hi everyone, I’m 16 and living in the UAE. I’m thinking about moving to Portugal to continue my 11th–12th grade studies.
I just want honest advice from people living there:
- Is it possible for a minor to move to Portugal for high school?
- Do I need a guardian or sponsor?
- Are there English-taught schools or is Portuguese required?
- What is student life like and is it affordable?
I’m just trying to understand if this is realistically possible before making any plans. Any advice would really help. Thanks.
FinestTreesInDa7Seas@reddit
I'm not familiar with this specific scenario in Portugal, but I'm 99% certain that there are zero countries in the world that allow a minor to get a student visa to stay in the country alone.
Student visas for minors would always require a minor to be accompanied by their parent or guardian, or they would need to be living with their parent, guardian, or some kind of custodian (like an exchange program).
Even if you were looking into a boarding school, these schools themselves almost never agree to act as guardian or custodian, they almost always require that the student have a guardian who lives in the country.
I'm only familiar with this because I've been reading about this myself. A relative of mine has been asking me to act as guardian for her son so he can attend a private school in France (and I naturally declined)
Your only hope here is to find an exchange program through your school in your home country.
Subterraniate2@reddit
No. You cannot move abraod independently.