Everybody has their favorite shows that they simply can’t miss. For many, it’s HBO shows like “Game of Thrones” or “Succession”. For others, it’s must-see reality television like “The Bachelor” or “Survivor”.

So if you are planning to move to Portugal for relocation, retirement, remote working, or any other reason, it’s a reasonable question to ask if you will still be able to keep up with your favorite TV shows. The answer is yes — as long as you follow a few simple steps.

US Streaming Services

Unfortunately, most of the most popular US streaming services only work in the US. If you travel to Europe and try to call up HBO Max or other popular streaming services on your smartphone, tablet, or laptop, you will get an error message informing you that you are outside the service area.

The good news is that most of the biggest streamers offer European versions. So all you will need to do is cancel your US subscription and sign up for a European one. Typically, the biggest shows on the US versions will also be available in Europe — as well as a bunch of European shows that people in the US can’t get. But if your favorite shows aren’t available in Portugal, we also have a solution for that.

Get a VPN

One way to get around the geographic limitations of streaming service subscriptions is to “fool” the services into thinking you are in their home country even if you aren’t. This requires the use of a VPN, or “virtual private network”. Essentially, these are services that allow you to use the internet address from any particular country.

All you need to do is turn your VPN on, set it for somewhere in the US, and then open up your US-based subscription service. When the streamer sees you are located in the US (even though you actually aren’t), it will allow you to stream their content normally.