Studying at a Portuguese University as an American or Briton

An American or a Briton who wants a Portuguese bachelor’s degree or integrated master’s applies as an international student, through a special contest that each university or polytechnic runs for itself, and not through the national contest. Admission only starts the process: the student visa and the AIMA residence permit come after it.

This guide covers how that admission works. For the visa, the documents the consulate asks for and the permit, read our guide to the Portugal student visa for Americans and Britons, which this article does not repeat. It is a reading of official pages, not legal advice. We read the DGES pages (the higher-education directorate), the 2018 republication of the international student statute in the Diário da República, and the University of Lisbon’s pages on 19 October 2026. The latest dated item is the University of Lisbon’s order of 13 October 2026 setting its application calendar for 2027/2028, which is the date this article carries as its last update. DGES lists the statute as amended most recently by Decree-Law 20/2025 of 18 March 2025, which we could not read (see the last section).

Who counts as an international student?

DGES describes the contest as covering students who do not have Portuguese nationality, with exceptions, and who hold a qualification that gives access to higher education where it was issued, or a Portuguese secondary diploma or an equivalent. The people outside the contest, as DGES lists them, are:

• nationals of an EU state or a state party to the EEA agreement
• family members of a Portuguese, EU or EEA national, whatever their own nationality
• people who are not EU or EEA nationals but have lived legally in Portugal for more than two years without interruption on 1 January of the year they want to enter, with the children living with them (time on a study permit only counts while the student attends secondary school in Portugal)
• people who, on 1 January of that year, hold a status of equal rights and duties granted by a treaty between Portugal and their country
• people entering through the special access regimes of Decree-Law 64-A/2023 of 31 July

An exchange student who spends part of a foreign degree at a Portuguese institution under an exchange agreement is also not an international student, DGES says. Americans and Britons are not on the list of nationals, so they apply through the contest unless one of the other exceptions fits their case. A Briton with rights under the Withdrawal Agreement should check which group applies; see moving to Portugal as a Briton after Brexit. We did not read a page that says how the exceptions are applied to such a Briton, so we do not say.

Once admitted as an international student, DGES says you keep that status until the end of the cycle of studies. It ends only if you later acquire Portuguese, EU or EEA nationality and ask for it to end, and then only from the following academic year.

How does the application work?

DGES says the contest is held every year by the institution you want, for the courses where the institution decides to open it. It can lead to a public or a private institution, except the Open University and military or police higher-education schools, and it is for bachelor’s degrees and integrated master’s degrees.

The institution decides:

• the places for each course, and the ranking and tie-break criteria
• the deadline, which DGES says must be set with at least three months of notice before it starts and published on the institution’s website (the statute applies the same notice to publishing the contest regulation)
• the documents, set in the institution’s own regulation

The statute, in the 2018 republication we read, adds that the regulation must include checking the specific academic qualification for the course, checking knowledge of the language of instruction, and meeting the prerequisites set for that course in the general access regime. It says the checks may be made on documents or by written exams, possibly with oral exams, and that the applicant applies directly to the institution. It also says the regulation sets the application fee. Because every institution writes its own rules, copy nothing from one institution’s page to another.

For master’s and doctoral programs, the statute says admission follows the regulation approved by the institution. DGES does not describe a national process for them in the page we read.

What does one university’s calendar look like?

As one example, the University of Lisbon published an order dated 13 October 2026 with the calendar for its special contest for international students (bachelor’s and integrated master’s) for the academic year 2027/2028. Another institution will have other dates.

The order says that if places remain after the second phase, the schools may open a third phase, and that all selection and enrollment must be complete by 30 September 2027. Enrollment follows the dates each school sets. Notice how early this is: results for a first-phase applicant come out in March for a start the following autumn, which leaves time for the visa steps in the student visa guide.

How much does it cost?

The statute’s article on tuition says that, at public institutions, international students’ tuition is set by the institution’s competent body, takes into account the real cost of the program and the amounts set by other national and foreign institutions, and may not be lower than the maximum tuition set by law for the course. DGES’s page on tuition says that for 2025/2026 the maximum a public institution may set for bachelor’s degrees and integrated master’s is 697 euros. Putting the two together, the floor for an international student at a public institution in those cycles is that same 697 euros, but that reading is ours, not a sentence on either page. At private institutions, DGES says the owner of the school sets the tuition and other charges.

The University of Lisbon shows how far amounts differ inside one university. Its page says fees for international students are those in the General Council’s decision and are listed on each course page. The decision’s table, approved by the General Council on 29 September 2025, gives annual amounts for international students for 2026/2027, for example:

These are examples from one table, not a complete list, and the amounts apply only to the University of Lisbon and to the academic year named. The same document says that for 2026/2027 the increases it proposes for some programs depend on meeting the requirements of the 2026 State Budget Law or other applicable legislation. A later document linked on the same tuition page, the proposal submitted by the rector to the General Council meeting of 28 May 2026, lists international fees for 2027/2028 and says that all international student values are maintained between 2026/2027 and 2027/2028, with the 2027/2028 fees subject to the requirements of the 2027 State Budget Law or other applicable legislation. We read it as a proposal, not as an approved decision. Check the page of the exact course before you plan a budget.

Tuition is not the only cost, and the visa has its own money checks: see proving funds for the visa. Our student visa guide covers what the consulate asks for, including any exemption from proving tuition payment and means of subsistence, so ask your institution what applies to it.

What documents will the institution ask for?

DGES says each institution fixes the documents in its own regulation, so there is no national list. Documents issued abroad may need an apostille and a translation before a Portuguese body accepts them; see our guide to apostilles, translations and certified documents. We did not read an institution page that states how foreign school transcripts must be presented, so follow your institution’s regulation and ask its international office.

What happens after you are admitted?

The visa comes after admission. Proof of admission or enrollment at the institution is among the documents in the student visa file, and the AIMA permit follows after you arrive. Then the practical steps of the move begin, in the order of our first month paperwork guide. If you hold or plan another residence route, our overview of residence routes to Portugal shows how the student route compares.

If your degree is from a U.S. or U.K. university and you plan to continue or work in Portugal, see how foreign degrees are recognized.

What we could not read

The consolidated text of Decree-Law 36/2014 with Decree-Law 20/2025 of 18 March 2025 was not readable on the Diário da República site, which loads its text with scripts. The statute points above come from the republication of 6 August 2018 (Decree-Law 62/2018) and from DGES’s page, which lists the statute as in force. If the 2025 amendment changed an article we cite, the DGES page is the more recent source. We also read only the University of Lisbon among the universities, so we state no fee or date for any other institution.

Official pages read for this guide, on 19 October 2026: DGES, special contest for international students and tuition pages; Diário da República, Decree-Law 62/2018 of 6 August 2018 (republication of the international student statute); the University of Lisbon pages on the special contest, tuition fees, the application calendar for 2027/2028 (order of 13 October 2026) and the General Council decision on tuition and the rector’s 2026 fee proposal.