Work Visas in Portugal

Many people, especially from an EU country like Great Britain love to move to Portugal to work for a few months.

And why not. Portugal has great beaches, fantastic beach towns, is full of ex-pats, has lovely mountain trekking, river kayaking, and surfing, has a more temperate climate most of the year, the cities are safe and lively, best of all, has a cost of living that is significantly cheaper than many other European Countries.

Is it any wonder then, that thousands of people from other EU countries and outside as well decide to have a working vacation and live in Portugal while working.

But what is the deal with obtaining a work visa, staying long term, having a permit to work, getting a residence permit, and more?

It’s not exactly rocket science to be able to qualify to obtain a work visa Portugal, but at the same time, there are quite a few hoops to jump through to be totally legal, so they hire a firm like us to help them.

We are a Portuguese law firm that helps you to obtain your visa, experienced in all aspects of Portuguese Visa Law, so we can separate the facts from the fiction, and help you obtain your work visa, as we have helped many other.

So what are the plain facts about qualifying to obtain a work visa Portugal?

#1. It’s much easier for EU citizens to work in Portugal and those from outside of the EU.

Portugal is a part of the European Union, so residents of the European Union, as well as Lichtenstein, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland can generally work for up to 6 months without any kind of permit to work.

Basically, the rule is that citizens from an Eu nation or part of the EEA, regardless of the country if they are member states, can travel to Portugal and stay for 90 days, within a 180 day period.

And if they want to work, say show their business wares at conferences or make sales calls, beyond the 90 days they must have a Work Visa Portugal.

Beyond that, Citizens of the EU or EEA must have a passport that is less than 10 years old and has at least 6 months left on their passport.

And quite obviously, if you only have a few months left on your passport, then you risk your passport expiring, and all the complications that adds to the equation.

In addition, whether you drive to Portugal, take a boat, or arrive by airplane, at the border you will need to prove a few things at the border:

• Proof of return travel, such as train or plane tickets
• Health insurance that will cover your entire stay
• Proof of accommodation for your entire stay
• An invitation letter that explains your business purposes in Portugal
• Enough money for the duration of your trip.

Besides needing a short-term Portugal work permit, the last element is critically important. Many young people go to work in Portugal temporarily and assume that their work salary will automatically cover all their expenses.

However, since many companies pay by the month, it could be up to 6 weeks before they get a paycheck.

In addition, low-skilled workers may not want to take a chance on the expenses of a Work Visa Portugal as Portugal has a rather high unemployment rate, so most unskilled jobs will go to the locals. In fact,

If a citizen from the EU wants to come to Portugal to work, they need to notify the serviço de estrangeiros e fronteiras within 3 days of arrival, and preferably, before.

How are Citizens of NOn-EU and EEA Countries Treated for work visas?

Although theoretically, Work visa Portugal is available from citizens of every country, know, that the law requires most jobs to be advertised for at least 30 days to citizens of Portugal and the EU/EFTA.

Then the jobs can be classified by the Portugal government as available to citizens of other countries.

Most of the jobs that are classified as available by the government from Non-Eu/EFTA countries are highly technical jobs.

Termed a highly qualified activity, engineers and scientists, health professionals, teachers, doctors and nurses, engineers as well as senior management officials can all qualify for what is called a D3 Portugal work permit.

You will rarely find a bartender job, a maid or retail service job, or other lower education jobs available to those who are not part of the Portugal/Eu/EFTA sphere.

Perhaps private housekeepers or chauffeurs and nannies may be hired, but there are just too many applicants for other jobs, and the government won’t officially classify most such jobs as available to non-Eu/EFTA citizens.

Yes, there are plenty of people that work off the books, without a Work visa Portugal, but most legal employed workers, have significant technical skills.

After all, why should a firm from Portugal hire anyone from outside the country, if they did not have a modicum of technical skills? There are just too many local citizens hungry for jobs.

But for those non-Eu citizens, they must be hired first, general through a recruiting service, and then the company will apply for their future employees Work Visit Portugal.

Blue Book Holders

The vast majority of non-EU citizens who come to work in Portugal have an EU Blue Card, a sort of long term temporary residence permit, available in up to 25 EU countries, including Portugal, which allows them to not only work for up to 4 years (the maximum length of the EU Blue Card, but as long as they continue their employment, also allows them to immediately apply for permanent residence.

So how does it all work?

First, you must have an employment contract you are transferring from another EU company or be hired and be on a Portuguese firm’s payroll.

You then submit an application form for a temporary stay visa.

The permit application is rather extensive, which is one reason many companies hire a work permit company in Portugal, such as our service.

You really need a work permit company in Portugal to process your application because there are many hoops and jumps that have to be completed for your application to be successful.

In addition, you have to register with Portugal’s social security and tax departments. Yes, you will pay taxes on your earnings, and also contribute to the state social security scheme.

Note that it can take up to 8 to 12 weeks for your temporary Work visa Portugal to be approved, so don’t expect to get a job today and start work next week.

A Temporary Work Visa Portugal allows you to work up to 90 days in a 180 day period.
The visa can be extended.

What is the difference between a Work visa Portugal for the long term and short term?

With a temporary work visa, which can last up to one year with extensions, in order to fulfill long-term seasonal work, be self-employed or engage in freelance work, participate in scientific or academic work, amateur or any other skilled work all you need to obtain is entry into the country, get the necessary temporary stay visa, and
enroll to pay taxes and social security.

However, if you want to stay longer than one year, then you must obtain a Portuguese residency permit.

If you are an employee of a Portuguese business or transferring a business contract from say the UK to Portugal, and it will be long term, then you must obtain a residency permit as well as meet all the other requirements for working in the country.

The vast majority of residence permits are approved for skilled workers, those who have a degree, or at least specialized skills.

Non-degree holders and highly qualified activity applicants

If you do not have a degree but have specialized skills, such as technical coding or being a network engineer, such jobs generally fall into one of two categories, either
obtaining a residence permit for highly qualified activity, or a residence authority for subordinated work activity for unskilled work.

Generally, many of those seeking to apply for a residence authorization to obtain a long-term Work visa Portugal will hold a European Professional Card such as nurses, physiotherapists, or even mountain guides.

In general, do not expect to obtain a long-term visa for such work as a taxi driver or a factory worker, because you are not bringing in any unique skills to the country.

The vast majority of long-term work visas and residence cards, which are valid for up to 2 years are given to only highly skilled workers.

Besides your Portugal work visa apply online to the Portugal embassy, you’ll normally be required to attach your CV, your diploma or qualifying certificate, a copy of your passport, a signed employment contract or offer, as well as all the other things we mentioned such as proof you have the necessary funds to support yourself, proof you have health insurance, proof of accommodations, and a police clearance from your home country as well as permission for a police background check within Portugal.

If approved, you will obtain initially be provided with a residency permit to work in the country, and this permit is valid for 4 months.

Once you arrive in Portugal, you will then need to register with the tax and SSAN agency, and then make a physical appointment with the Immigration and Borders Service.

Showing proof that you registered with the local tax authorities and meet all additional requirements, you will then be issued a Residence authorization, which is valid initially for one year.

However, the residence authorization can be renewed twice, and renewals are issued for two years, so in essence, if you work for the same company, you can legally stay in Portugal for 5 years.

However, once you have been working in Portugal for 5 years, it is possible to apply for a permanent residence or even apply for Portuguese citizenship.

Visas for Self employed individuals

Self-employed individuals will need initially a residence visa and a residence authorization to work if their work is defined as an independent activity.

This Portugal work permitis for those who are:

• Freelancing
  
• Establishing a company in Portugal or Startups.

To qualify for a work permit as a self-employed individual, you must demonstrate that you have contracts with a local company, demonstrate you have already founded a viable business the is economically viable, and show proof that you have the means to support yourself.

While a residence permit can take between 20 and 30 weeks to be approved, the advantage is that they are issued for 2 years initially, and after that can be extended 3 years at a time.

Visas for those Investing in Portugal

If you have the intention of investing in Portugal and have at least one million Euros, or you can invest in real estate worth 500,000 Euros, then you can qualify for
Portugals Golden Visa Scheme.

In general, if you create at least 10 new jobs, or bring the necessary capital to invest in Portugal, then you qualify.

As you can imagine, this takes much more time, roughly 12 to 18 months to be approved, and you have to agree to invest for a minimum of 5 years. However, the permit is issued for 2 years at a time and can be extended multiple times, each for another 2 years.

Of course, you must not be a criminal with a record, you must prove that the money you are used to invest is actually yours, not some kind of money laundering scheme, and as said before, you must agree to invest the money for 5 years.

How do Tech Visas work?

Created in 2019, so they are fairly recent, tech visas allow Portuguese high tech companies to hire non-EU tech professionals. A company can hire up to 50 percent (and if their tech activity is primarily in Portugal) up to 80 percent of their employees.

To qualify for a tech visa, an employee must be hired by one of around 300 companies certified by the Portuguese government to qualify.

To obtain a tech visa, an individual should have a college degree, be proficient in Portuguese, English, French, or Spanish as required, have a certain standard of technical proficiency, and must have around 5 years of experience.

A Temporary Visa as well, the difference is that the tech visa is used for 2 years at a time.

What are the fees to apply?

Besides meeting all of the other requirements, there are of course application fees for a Portugal work permit.

To apply, you go through your local Portuguese Embassy, and fortunately, Portugal work visa apply online is available.

And the fees are not too high, Generally, depending upon what country you are from, the fees are only 75 to 100 Euros.

The bottom line

The inescapable conclusion is that Portuguese employers who have attracted qualified workers, want those workers to be available as soon as possible. And that means handling their work visa right and going through a law firm like our own.

We are a highly experienced law firm when it comes to Work Visas in Portugal and can ensure your work visas are sorted out quickly and provide the government with everything they need to approve your worker visa issues in a timely manner.

Contact us for a consultation today.