Chave Móvel Digital for Americans and Britons: How to Get It

The Chave Móvel Digital, or CMD, is Portugal’s free digital key: it links one mobile phone number to one identity document so you can log in to public and private portals and sign documents. A foreigner can get it with a passport or a residence document, and because the app and online routes begin with a Cartão de Cidadão, a newcomer without one activates it at a counter.

This guide follows the Autenticação.gov and gov.pt pages, read on 18 October 2026. The most recent date among them is the “updated” line on the gov.pt page about activating the CMD, 22 September 2026. It is an overview, not legal advice, and the counter that serves you decides what it accepts. It sits in the order of tasks of the first-month paperwork guide, which shows where the CMD falls.

What is the Chave Móvel Digital?

Autenticação.gov describes the CMD as a means of authentication and digital signature certified by the Portuguese state. It lets the holder reach several public or private portals, and sign digital documents, with a single login.

Logging in takes two steps, per the same site: the CMD PIN you chose at activation, and a temporary numeric security code. The code can come by SMS, in the gov.pt mobile app, by e-mail or by reading a QR code in the app. With the app installed, the page says you can use facial verification or a fingerprint instead of the code.

Can an American or a Briton get it?

Yes, and it costs nothing. gov.pt says the CMD “is free and can be activated by Portuguese and foreign persons.” Autenticação.gov says that for a foreign person the CMD links the phone to the passport, residence title or residence card.

gov.pt lists the documents a foreign person can link:

The page also lists the Cartão de Cidadão under the Porto Seguro Treaty (Brazilian nationals), the EU permanent residence certificate and the temporary protection certificate. They are not relevant to most Americans and Britons, so they are not repeated here.

Which row is yours depends on where you are in the process. Of the documents in the table, the passport is the only one listed without a NIF condition, and the title, card and certificates all need one. See how the Portuguese NIF works and the AIMA residence permit process. A Briton who holds a residence document under the Withdrawal Agreement should read the document’s own name against the table, because the pages list several certificate types and we did not check which one applies to which person.

Where do I activate it as a foreigner?

At a counter. The gov.pt page says that a person who has a Cartão de Cidadão can ask for the CMD online, by video call or at a counter, and that a person who does not have one, or who has only a Bilhete de Identidade, must activate it at a counter. The other routes it describes all start from the Cartão de Cidadão:

gov.pt lists these places for activation at a counter:

• Registry offices of the IRN, at the moment of collecting a Cartão de Cidadão (so not an option for a foreigner without one)
• Espaços Cidadão and Espaços Empresa
• Criminal record services, or court registries
• Portuguese consular posts
• Counters of the Integrated Citizen Support Network (RIAC) in the Azores
• Counters of the National Living Will Registry (RENTEV)

An Espaço Cidadão is one option: gov.pt’s “find a service point” search shows the one nearest you. Autenticação.gov’s own pages name Espaços Cidadão as the place to unlock the CMD or ask for a new PIN. We did not read any page that states an opening time or whether an appointment is needed at a given counter, so check with yours.

Portuguese consular posts are on gov.pt’s list. The pages do not say what a consular post asks for from a foreigner, so ask the post.

What do I bring to the counter?

gov.pt says for a foreign person at a counter:

• The phone you want to link. You need it with you.
• One of the documents in the table above. For a title, card or certificate the Portuguese NIF is a condition.
• If it is for a child under 16, the child and the person with parental responsibility must both be present.

gov.pt adds that you may also present the documents needed to link your NIF, your social security user number and your SNS user number to the CMD. The page does not say that these are compulsory.

There is no minimum age. gov.pt says any adult, child or baby can have a CMD, but each needs their own mobile number. Only one number can be linked to one CMD.

How long does it last, and what happens when I renew my document?

The validity follows the document. For a passport, residence title, residence card or the certificates in the table, gov.pt says the CMD has the same validity as the document. For a Cartão de Cidadão it is the card’s validity plus 30 days.

Autenticação.gov says that when you renew the identity document you do not need to activate a new CMD, and that if you renew before the CMD expires, it takes the new date. If you are about to renew, the renewal guide covers the permit itself.

One limit applies if you become a citizen: Autenticação.gov says the type of document linked to a CMD cannot be changed. If you activated it with a residence card and later obtain Portuguese nationality and a Cartão de Cidadão, you must cancel the old CMD and activate a new one with the card. The steps to nationality are in the Portuguese citizenship guide.

Can I sign documents with it?

Yes, if the digital signature is active. Autenticação.gov says a signature made with the CMD has the same validity as a handwritten one and is certified under EU Regulation 910/2014. To sign you need an active CMD, an active CMD signature and the signature PIN, which can differ from the login PIN.

Autenticação.gov says you can activate the signature as soon as you activate the CMD, online or at a counter. If the CMD was activated online through the Portal das Finanças, the signature can only be activated at a counter. The documents in the table marked “no digital signature can be linked” cannot carry a signature at all.

What if I forget the PIN, change phone or lose the phone?

Autenticação.gov covers these cases:

• Locked CMD: unlock it in the reserved area of the portal (the page describes logging in there with a Cartão de Cidadão and a card reader), or go to an Espaço Cidadão.
• Forgotten PIN: go to an Espaço Cidadão and ask for a new PIN. Someone with a Cartão de Cidadão can instead activate a new CMD.
• New phone number, e-mail or PIN: at an Espaço Cidadão counter you can change the mobile number, e-mail, authentication PIN and signature PIN. Bring the document linked to the CMD if you are changing a name, a date of birth or the document’s expiry date.
• Phone lost: the page lists a phone number no longer in your possession as a reason for the holder to cancel. Cancel online in the reserved area, at an Espaço Cidadão, or in some cases by phone on the Linha Cidadão, 210 489 010 or 300 003 990, Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 18:00.
• Signature locked: after 5 wrong tries in a row on the signature PIN or the security code, the signature becomes inactive while the CMD still works for logging in. It can be reactivated.

Autenticação.gov also says ARTE can cancel a CMD if there are signs of activity that could compromise the holder’s data, or on the instruction of a competent authority, and that it will send an SMS to say so. If that happens, choose a different PIN for the new one.

Date of the information

gov.pt marks its page on activating the CMD as updated on 22 September 2026, and that is the date this guide’s update line carries. The Autenticação.gov pages carry no date of their own. Procedures and the list of accepted documents can change, so check the pages before you go.

Related guides: getting your Segurança Social number (NISS), proving your address in Portugal.

Official pages read for this guide, all on 18 October 2026: the gov.pt page on activating the Chave Móvel Digital, and the Autenticação.gov pages on the CMD, on how to activate it, on its validity, on unlocking, changing the PIN and canceling, on logging in, on activating and using the digital signature, and its frequently asked questions.