Moving to Portugal With Children: Americans, Britons

Moving to Portugal with children adds three things to an adult move: proof of the family link, the consent of each parent, and a few registrations that work differently for minors. The Portuguese pages we read set these out one by one, and each section below points to the guide that goes into detail.

This guide is an overview of official pages for American and British families. It is not legal advice, and the consulate, AIMA or the office that receives your file decides what it accepts. We read the pages on 19 October 2026. The latest dated item behind this guide is the gov.pt guide on the NIF and NISS for foreigners, marked updated on 2 September 2026. The legal rules cited come from the Foreigners Law; the articles on family reunification and on foreign minors show Law 61/2025 of 22 October 2025 as their last amendment, and the article on the exit of minors shows Law 18/2022. Our guide to the family reunification visa is the detailed one for relatives who join a resident.

Which documents does a child need to move to Portugal?

Start with the passport, the birth certificate and, where one parent travels alone, the consent. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ list of documents for a residence visa asks for a passport or travel document valid for 3 months beyond the planned stay, two identical photographs, a valid travel insurance, proof of means of subsistence and a criminal record certificate, from which minors under 16 are exempt. For a minor it adds a travel authorization when the child does not travel with both parents, and a photocopy of the parents’ identity document.

For a British child, the GOV.UK page on child passports says someone with parental responsibility must apply, that you give both parents’ details (or say why you cannot), and that a child passport, for under 16s, is valid for 5 years. It also says there are different rules if you apply from outside the UK. We could not read the U.S. State Department’s page on passports for children, so we say nothing here about U.S. child passport rules.

Do I need the other parent’s consent to travel and to apply?

Yes for the visa file, in the cases the ministry lists. Its page on minors says the application form is signed by the parent with parental responsibility, or the legal guardian, if they travel together, and by both parents if the minor travels with only one of them, with a third person, or alone.

When the minor does not travel with both parents, or travels with a third person or alone, the page asks for a travel authorization from the parent who is not traveling, or from both. The signature must be recognized under the law of the country of origin or residence and legalized by a Portuguese consular officer, or carry the Hague apostille if the country is a party to the convention, or you present a court decision where applicable. Only one travel authorization is accepted per minor, and the page links a template. Our guide to apostilles, translations and certified documents explains the legalization step.

The same consent shows up in family reunification. The Foreigners Law says that reunification with a child of only one of the spouses depends on the other parent’s authorization or on a decision of the competent authority under which the child was entrusted to the resident. AIMA’s list names the written authorization of the non-resident parent, authenticated by a Portuguese consular authority, or a copy of the decision that gave the legal trust of the child to the resident or the spouse.

On leaving Portugal later, the Foreigners Law has a rule of its own. Article 31 says the exit of a minor, Portuguese or a resident foreigner, who travels without the person who exercises parental responsibility is refused unless the minor holds a legally certified authorization from that person. It says nothing about a child accompanied by one parent, so we do not say what airlines or border officers ask in that case. A rule on entry also exists: the same article says that, without prejudice to youth tourism or exchange, foreign minors under 18 are refused entry when they are not accompanied by whoever exercises parental responsibility, or when nobody authorized by the legal representative is responsible for their stay in Portugal.

How do children fit into a visa or residence application?

There are two routes, and the overview of residence routes shows which one fits your parent visa.

• Together with the parent’s visa. The ministry’s list of documents for a residence visa applies to the child with the extras above for minors. The ministry’s residence page also lists a visa to accompany a residence visa applicant, which asks for proof of the family link and of means, and its family members include minor or incapable children. Ask the consulate how it files a minor on a parent’s application.
• Family reunification. A resident with a permit asks AIMA first and the relatives then request the visa. The ministry lists as family members the spouse, the minor or incapable children of the couple or of one spouse, adopted minors and, among others, minor siblings under the resident’s guardianship, with a recognized decision.

On the waiting period, the Foreigners Law says the right to reunification belongs to a holder of a residence permit valid for at least two years (the consolidated text says “válida há pelo menos dois anos”, which we read as held for two years), and that the two-year period does not apply to dependent minors or incapable persons, to a spouse who is with the holder the parent or adopter of a minor, or to relatives of holders of permits under articles 90, 90-A or 121-A.

Other points from the pages:

• The request for the family reunification visa must be filed within 90 days (the ministry list gives no start point for the period); after that the decision lapses (ministry list for residence visas).
• The ministry says visas granted to the descendants of permit holders under the reunification rules are exempt from the visa fee; only a spouse or ascendants must pay it.
• After the family member enters Portugal with the visa, AIMA’s page says they must go to AIMA to request the residence permit under article 107 of the Foreigners Law, and the permit has the same duration as the resident’s.
• Foreign-language documents must come with a translation by one of the entities AIMA names: a Portuguese notary, a Portuguese consulate in the country where the document was issued, or that country’s consulate in Portugal.
• Reunification also requires, after the permit is granted, that relatives comply with integration measures, including compulsory schooling for minors (article 101).
• For a renewal of a permit of a person under 18 on the Renewals Portal, AIMA’s notice of 19 November 2025 says the responsibility statement (Modelo 4) is a mandatory document for the request to be approved, by which the resident declares that they take responsibility for the foreigner’s conditions of stay in Portugal.

A child born in Portugal has a separate rule. Article 124 says foreign minors born in Portuguese territory have a residence status identical to that granted to either parent, and that either parent must file the request for the residence title within six months of the birth registration. Foreign minors not born in Portugal but living there have a status identical to that of the people who effectively exercise parental responsibility over them, for purposes that include the family allowance and the social security number. For the whole file, see our family reunification guide.

What about school?

Children of school age go to school, and our guide to enrolling a child in school covers ages, calendars and the language support. What matters before you leave is the papers of the school years already done. The Directorate-General for Education’s FAQ on foreign qualifications says equivalence is free, can be requested at any time of the year, and for continuing studies must be requested when you enroll. It asks for official documents of the school years completed with a pass, authenticated by a consulate or with the Hague apostille, and an official Portuguese translation of any document in another language. Its reference period for a decision is 30 days from receipt of all documents, and it may be longer.

So ask your child’s current school for certificates or a transcript showing the years completed and the grades, with the grading scale, before you leave, and have them apostilled. Childcare and preschool, and how the public, private and international schools differ, belong to other guides, as we did not read pages on them for this one.

How does health cover work for children?

Two separate questions: what the visa asks for, and what the SNS offers once you are registered.

For the visa, the ministry’s residence list asks for valid travel insurance that covers medical expenses, urgent care and repatriation, and says the requirement may be waived where a bilateral agreement applies, naming the UK S1. Our guide to private health insurance and the visa covers what the ministry accepts.

For the SNS, the user registry regulation (March 2025) sets exceptions for minors. The NIF and the residence permit document are not mandatory for a foreign minor of 17 years and 364 days or less, and the identification document is mandatory only for a child older than two months. The ACSS FAQ of February 2025 says minors up to 17 years and 365 days are exempt from user fees (taxas moderadoras), on showing a valid civil identification document at the health center of the residence area, and that the exemption ends the day after the 18th birthday. The ACSS reception manual also says that foreigners without a residence permit are charged for care, except in situations that endanger public health, and it lists care for minors living in Portugal among those situations; it ties the exception to an attestation from the parish council (junta de freguesia) that the person has lived in Portugal for more than 90 days. The steps are in our guides on SNS registration and on healthcare access for newcomers.

For British families, the NHS page says every family member needs their own GHIC and that children can be added to an application. It says you may apply if you are ordinarily and legally resident in the UK and have no healthcare cover from an EEA country, and that people living in the EEA with a registered S1, and their dependants, may also be entitled. GOV.UK adds that, with a registered S1, you and your dependants have state healthcare in Portugal on the same basis as a Portuguese citizen, and that dependants may be classified differently in Portugal than in the UK, so you should check when you register the S1. Read GHIC, S1 and healthcare for Britons before you count on either.

Note a difference between sources: GOV.UK lists a child under 12 as an example of people who may not pay fees, while the ACSS FAQ says minors up to 17 are exempt. We follow the Portuguese health authority’s page.

Does a child need a NIF and a NISS?

A NIF is the tax number; the gov.pt guide says that for children and young people it is needed for health and education expenses that parents can include in their income tax return. The request is free. In the guide’s list of documents, a child without a passport presents a document proving the birth.

The Tax and Customs Authority’s FAQ, which marks the entry as new, covers foreign minors who are in Portugal and have resident status under article 124 of the Foreigners Law. If the minor has no identification document or passport, it asks for a birth document that meets the authenticity and legality requirements of article 32 of Decree-Law 14/2013, and a proof of address unless the address is on the identification document of a parent or of the people exercising parental responsibility. How to book and what the office accepts is in our NIF guide.

The same gov.pt guide says the NISS, the social security number, can also be requested for children and young people. We did not read the document list for a child’s NISS request. Our NISS guide covers the adult route.

What should you do first?

1. Get the child’s passport valid for the whole planned stay plus 3 months, and the birth certificate, with an apostille and a certified translation if the receiving office asks.
2. If only one parent travels, or the other parent is not on the file, get the other parent’s travel authorization in the form the ministry describes, legalized or apostilled.
3. Ask the child’s school for certificates and transcripts for the years completed, with an apostille.
4. Put the children on the visa file or on the reunification request, as your route allows.
5. After arrival, register with the SNS, ask for the NIF and the NISS, and enroll in school.

What this guide does not cover

We did not read the U.S. rules on passports for minors, any airline or border rule for children traveling with one parent, the vaccination schedule, childcare, school fees, or the document list of the child’s NISS request. A child with a second nationality, a custody order or a guardian other than a parent raises questions these pages do not answer: ask the consulate before you book.

Related guides: your first year in Portugal.

More on the children’s side of the move: daycare and preschool, public, private and international schools and the checklist of what to do before you leave.

Date of the information

The ministry’s and AIMA’s visa pages carry no date. The AIMA notice on minors’ renewals is dated 19 November 2025. The Foreigners Law articles on family reunification (98, 99, 101) show Law 61/2025 of 22 October 2025 as their last amendment on the consolidated text we read on Diário da República, article 31 shows Decree-Law 41/2023, and article 124 on foreign minors lists Law 62/2026 of 10 September 2026 among its amending acts. That 10 September 2026 date is the latest we found and the date this guide gives as its update; the gov.pt NIF and NISS guide was updated on 2 September 2026. Where the pages disagree on dates, note that the GOV.UK health page we read was last updated on 14 October 2021, the ACSS FAQ is dated February 2025 and the reception manual carries no date and is older. Check the pages before you act.

Official pages read for this guide, all on 19 October 2026: the national visa pages on minors, residence documents and family reunification of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; AIMA’s pages on family reunification with a relative outside and inside Portugal and its notice on the responsibility statement for minors; the Foreigners Law as consolidated on Diário da República; the gov.pt guide on the NIF and NISS and the Tax and Customs Authority’s FAQ on the NIF; the ACSS user registry regulation, FAQ on user fees and reception manual; the Directorate-General for Education’s FAQ on equivalence; the NHS page on the GHIC; and the GOV.UK pages on healthcare in Portugal and on child passports.