What to Do First in Portugal: First Month Paperwork Guide

Start with AIMA, because the residence visa you entered on is valid for four months and your residence title must be requested inside that time. Around that file you collect the tax number (NIF), the social security number (NISS), the health service user number, a document that proves your address, the Chave Móvel Digital and a bank account.

This guide puts those tasks in order and links to a full guide for each. It is an overview of what Portuguese and British government pages say, read on 18 October 2026, not legal advice. The most recent change among the pages we read is the gov.pt page on activating the Chave Móvel Digital, marked “Atualizado em 22.09.2026”, so that is the date of this guide’s information. If you are still choosing a route, start with our guide to residence routes for Americans and Britons.

What is the order of the first month’s paperwork?

No official page gives one ordered checklist for all newcomers. The order below follows the dependencies the pages themselves state: the residence file needs an address document and, where applicable, tax and social security registration; the SNS cost cover needs a NIF and a valid residence authorization; the Chave Móvel Digital on a residence title needs a NIF.

Steps 2 to 5 can overlap. gov.pt even says a foreigner with an address in Portugal can ask for the NIF, the NISS and the SNS user number in one request, through the link in its guide.

How much time do I have after I arrive?

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says a residency visa “allows two entries and is valid for a period of 4 months”, and that during that time the holder is required to apply for a residence permit with AIMA. We did not find on the pages we read a rule that turns this into a number of days after your first landing, so count from the dates printed on your visa. Our guide to residence routes covers how the visa is obtained.

If you are British and lived in Portugal before 1 January 2021, you are in a different position: GOV.UK says people who moved before that date and have lived there legally since have rights under the Withdrawal Agreement and should hold a Withdrawal Agreement residence permit, and AIMA runs a Brexit line for it. If you are moving now, you follow the residence visa route like an American. Our guide to moving to Portugal as a Briton after Brexit explains the split.

How do I apply to AIMA for the residence permit?

AIMA’s page for the general residence permit (article 77, paragraph 1 of the foreigners law) says the application is made by appointment, or through an electronic platform that was “em fase de implementação” for residence visa holders on the day we read it. It is filed in person with a form signed by the applicant or the legal representative, at any AIMA store.

The page lists what must come with it:

• a valid passport or other travel document
• a valid residence visa
• proof of means of subsistence
• a declaration, under oath, of your residence address, saying on what terms you live there (owner, tenant, subtenant, usufructuary, borrower and so on)
• proof of family ties, when relevant
• proof of registration with the tax administration, if applicable
• proof of registration with social security, if applicable
• health insurance or proof that you are covered by the Serviço Nacional de Saúde

The form is Modelo 1 (mandatory) and Modelo 4, the responsibility statement, if applicable. The page also states that a temporary residence permit is valid for two years from the issue date and is renewable for successive periods of three years, unless the foreigners law sets other periods for a specific permit. Fees are in a separate AIMA table that we did not open, so we give no amount here. AIMA’s contact center is (+351) 217 115 000, Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 20:00, at the cost of the tariff in force. AIMA’s Brexit page carries a warning that its content is indicative and does not replace asking the competent entity, which is a fair rule for the other pages too.

Who needs a NIF, and how do I get it?

gov.pt says a foreigner, resident or not, who works and pays tax in Portugal must have a NIF, and that it lets you work, open a bank account and meet tax obligations. Asking for it is free.

For a resident, the documents are an identity document or passport and the residence title; a passport must come with the entry visa for Portugal or the Schengen area. A non-resident needs an identity document or passport and a fiscal representative living in Portugal. In person, you book through the tax authority’s phone service, 217 206 707, on working days from 9:00 to 19:00. A representative can file through the Finanças e-balcão where the person lives outside the EU, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein.

Our full guide, how to get a Portuguese NIF as an American or Briton, covers the fiscal representative rule and the address change when you become resident.

How do I get the Segurança Social number (NISS)?

The NISS is free. gov.pt says you fill in the online form on the Segurança Social portal and attach valid identity documents. Then you wait for a registered letter at the address you gave, which says the number can be collected at a Segurança Social service desk.

For a third-country national, the guide lists the passport, the work visa and a residence authorization (temporary or permanent) or another civil ID from the home country. You also show proof of your work situation: an employment contract, proof of the start of self-employment with receipts or invoices, a company registry certificate, a permanent commercial certificate, a contract with a foreign employer for digital nomads, or proof that supports voluntary social security. And you show proof of the residence application: a receipt for the application for a residence authorization, or the CPLP equivalents.

You collect it in person with valid ID, or through a representative with a power of attorney or form PA-12. Book the collection on the SIGA platform or the SigaApp, or by phone at 210 548 888 or 300 088 888, working days 9:00 to 18:00. An employer can also request it for an employee. The guide was updated on 2 September 2026.

How do I get my SNS user number?

gov.pt says any foreigner with legal residence can get the number, and that it is given the first time you go to a public health unit, such as a health center or hospital. The number alone does not make the SNS pay for your care: these must be linked to it, namely your identity document, your Portuguese NIF, your full address in Portugal and a valid residence authorization. The law allows cover without them in some cases. The page was updated on 23 June 2026.

Register at your area’s health center with the number. Our guide to healthcare access in Portugal for newcomers covers fees, the UK S1 route and private cover.

How do I prove my address in Portugal?

The page that asks for an address document is the AIMA application itself. It asks for a sworn declaration of the address that states on what terms you live there, plus one of two supports. If you own the home or hold a usufruct, the property registry certificate or access code to it. If you rent or live there on another basis, a declaration from the landlord or host entity stating the legal basis for your right to use the property.

Once you have the residence permit, GOV.UK says to tell AIMA if your address, email or name change, and that you may need to book an appointment for a new card. The tax authority also asks a non-resident NIF holder who becomes resident to have the address changed, as in our NIF guide. For the tenant side, expect our rental guides when published.

What is the Chave Móvel Digital, and can I get it as a foreigner?

The Chave Móvel Digital (CMD) is the state’s digital authentication and signature tool. The Autenticação.gov page says it links a mobile phone number to an identity document, and for a foreigner that is the passport, residence title or residence card.

gov.pt says any foreign person can activate it, associated with a passport, a residence title, a residence card or one of the other certificates it lists. The title, card and certificates require a Portuguese NIF. It is free. The online routes the Autenticação.gov page describes all start from a Cartão de Cidadão. gov.pt says a person without one must activate it at a counter, and lists Espaços Cidadão and Portuguese consular posts among the places. Bring the phone you will link.

Validity follows the document. For a residence title, card or passport, gov.pt says the CMD has the same validity as that document.

How do I open a bank account in Portugal?

gov.pt names the bank account among the things the NIF lets you do, so the NIF is the number to have in hand before you go. Banco de Portugal lists the documents a bank collects when it opens an account: a valid identification document with photograph and signature (a passport and a residence permit are both on its list), a tax identification number or an equivalent number issued by a foreign authority, your full permanent address, and occupation and employer if any. It also says that lack of a job is not a ground for refusing an account. A legal right to a basic account exists for a consumer with the right to reside in a member state of the European Union who holds no other current account with a bank established in Portugal (the decree-law lists exceptions), and the bank must answer within 10 business days of a complete request. Our guide to opening a bank account in Portugal sets out the table of documents, the charges cap and what Americans and Britons are asked.

What did we read, and what did we not?

We read the pages below on 18 October 2026. We read nothing on AIMA’s fee table, and we did not verify the booking system for AIMA appointments, which changes. If a page here differs from what a counter tells you, ask the counter which text it is applying.

For the order of tasks over the whole first year, see your first year in Portugal.

Official pages read: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs page on types of visa, AIMA’s page on the general residence permit, AIMA’s Brexit page, the gov.pt guide to requesting the NIF and the NISS for foreigners, the gov.pt guide on health care for migrants, the gov.pt page on activating the Chave Móvel Digital, the Autenticação.gov page on the Chave Móvel Digital, and the GOV.UK guide Living in Portugal, and, for the bank account section, the Banco de Portugal bank customer portal and Decree-Law 27-C/2000 as read for the bank account guide.