Moving to Portugal from Canada in 2026

What changed in 2024, 2025 and 2026

• Apostille since January 2024: Canada joined the Apostille Convention, so your RCMP check gets a free apostille from Global Affairs Canada instead of a legalization at the consulate.
• Visa fee of €110 since March 2025 (it was €90).
• Family later takes two years: since October 2025, family reunification needs two years of residence first, so apply together.
• Citizenship after ten years of legal residence since May 2026, counted from your first residence permit (it was five).

Can Canadians move to Portugal?

Yes. As a Canadian, you can visit Portugal without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180, counted across the whole Schengen area. Our Schengen visa calculator counts them. To live there longer, you need a residence visa from a Portuguese consulate in Canada, then a residence permit from AIMA, the immigration agency, in Portugal.

ETIAS, the EU's online travel authorization for visitors, is not in operation yet. Once it starts, Canadians will apply for it before a short trip; it never replaces a residence visa.

With an EU passport, no visa

If you also hold the passport of an EU country, you live in Portugal on that passport, without a visa. After three months, you have 30 days to register at the town hall (câmara municipal) where you live and get your registration certificate (CRUE).

Portuguese roots?

Many Canadians have a Portuguese parent or grandparent. A child of a Portuguese parent, born abroad, is Portuguese by origin once the birth is registered in the Portuguese civil registry, or by declaring it. A grandchild of a Portuguese citizen by origin can be too, by declaration, with effective ties to the Portuguese community. Our citizenship guide explains the routes.

Which Portugal visa is right for Canadians?

The visa depends on what you will live on in Portugal, not on your passport: Canadians apply for the same visas as everyone else. Find your situation, then read our guide to that visa.

Most retirees apply for the D7: a pension (CPP, OAS or a workplace pension), rents, dividends or interest count, as long as the income is regular and documented. If you keep working remotely for a Canadian employer or clients, the D8 is the one.

The Golden Visa is not a consular visa: you apply to AIMA directly, after entering Portugal as a visitor. Real estate no longer qualifies, and most routes need €500,000.

Not sure which one fits? Ask us in a free call.

From Canada to Portugal in 7 steps

From your home in Canada to your Portuguese residence card. Each step says what to do and what it costs. In a free AnchorLess account, you tick them off one by one and get expert help where you need it.

1. 1

   Choose the right visa

   A pension or investments: the D7. Remote work: the D8. A business, a job, studies or an investment: the D2, D3, D1, D4 or the Golden Visa. Each sets its own income and documents.

   Find my visaOr ask us in a free call
2. 2

   Get your NIF

   Your Portuguese tax number: the bank, the landlord and the visa form all ask for it. You can get it from Canada.

   With us: from €99By email from 24 hours

   Get my NIF
3. 3

   Open a Portuguese bank account

   For the D7, consulates usually ask to see your savings in a Portuguese account. For every visa, a Portuguese IBAN makes rent and bills simpler.

   With us: €359Opened remotely

   Open my account
4. 4

   Secure your home

   A lease (at least six months for the Toronto consulate, twelve for some others), a deed, or a term of responsibility from someone who hosts you.

   Lease checked by a lawyer: €99In 48 hours

   Review my leaseOr find your home with us
5. 5

   Build your visa file

   Your RCMP criminal record check with its apostille, three months of bank statements, the proof your visa asks for, travel insurance, a statement of why you move: the full checklist is below.

   Lawyer check of the whole file: €299Feedback in 3 business days

   Review my visa file
6. 6

   Apply at your consulate

   Book at the Portuguese consulate for where you live: Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver or the embassy in Ottawa. Sign your form there, give your fingerprints and pay the €110 fee. The consulate has 60 days to decide.

   €110 per applicantDecision within 60 days

   Find your consulate
7. 7

   Fly to Portugal and get your residence permit

   Within the visa’s 4 months, go to your AIMA appointment. AIMA has 90 days to decide (up to 120); your first residence card lasts 2 years.

   AIMA fee: €185.60First card: 2 years

   Have your AIMA file checked (€259)

How much does it cost to move to Portugal from Canada?

The official fees per person, before flights, insurance and your first rent:

The visa fee is set in euros: ask your consulate for the amount in Canadian dollars and how to pay it. Add a prepaid, trackable envelope for the return of your passport. The AIMA fee is €247.30 where the reduced rate does not apply: see AIMA’s 2026 residence permit fees in our AIMA guide.

How long does it take?

By law, the consulate has 60 days to decide on a residence visa; the Toronto consulate counts them from your fingerprints and payment. Its visa appointment slots are released month by month, and it advises you not to buy your plane ticket before the visa is granted. In Portugal, AIMA then has 90 days to decide on your residence permit, which it can extend by 30.

1. Day 0You apply at the consulate
2. 60 daysat most for the decision
3. 4 monthsto enter Portugal and go to AIMA
4. 90 daysfor AIMA to decide (up to 120)
5. 2 yearsyour first residence card
6. 5 yearspermanent residence
7. 10 yearscitizenship

Your RCMP criminal record check and its apostille

Portuguese consulates ask for a criminal record certificate from your country of nationality and from any country where you lived more than a year. In Canada, the Toronto consulate asks for an RCMP criminal record check, with your consent to a check of the Portuguese record.

Getting the RCMP certified check

• It is fingerprint-based: your local police or an RCMP-accredited fingerprinting company takes your fingerprints and sends them to the RCMP. Give a visa as the reason.
• The RCMP charges $25, collected by whoever takes your fingerprints, on top of their own fee.
• Sent electronically, with no match to a criminal record, it takes 3 business days or less; with manual processing or a possible match, up to 120 business days. The result comes by mail.

Consulates want a recent certificate: ask yours how recent, and time the check with your appointment.

The apostille, since January 2024

Canada joined the Apostille Convention on 11 January 2024, and Portugal is a party too. Your Canadian documents now get an apostille instead of a legalization. Documents with the old red Global Affairs stamp are no longer accepted in Apostille countries: send a clean original.

• For the RCMP certificate, a federal document, the apostille comes from Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa. A certificate signed by the RCMP's identification services, with its dry seal, needs no notary.
• It is free and by mail only, with form EXT2165. Include a prepaid return envelope to track it, and count up to 5 business days of mail each way.
• The RCMP can send the certificate straight to Global Affairs Canada if you give it the filled-in form.

Some provinces issue apostilles for their own documents, like the birth and marriage certificates of a family application. If your consulate wants a Portuguese translation, we do official translations (€79).

Where to apply: the Portuguese consulates in Canada

Portugal has four posts in Canada: the embassy in Ottawa and the consulates general in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. You apply at the one whose area covers where you live. If you are not Canadian, bring proof of your legal residence in Canada.

The Toronto consulate covers Ontario (except Ottawa, Kingston, Cornwall and the east of the province), Manitoba and Nunavut. For the other provinces and territories, find your post in our directory of Portuguese consulates in Canada.

In Toronto, you book your visa appointment through the consulate's own online booking: we found no VFS Global center for Portuguese visas in Canada.

At the Toronto consulate

• You sign the application form in front of a consular officer.
• Visa appointment slots are released every month: book early.
• The decision takes up to 60 days after your fingerprints and payment.
• Passports are not handed back in person: leave a prepaid, trackable envelope (Canada Post with tracking and signature) or arrange a courier pickup.

Portugal visa documents checklist for Canadians

Every visa has its own list, and each consulate adds its own items. The general list of the Toronto consulate for a residence visa, with what the visa rules add:

• The application form, signed at the consulate;
• A passport valid at least 3 months beyond your planned stay, and a copy;
• A recent color passport photo;
• A statement of why you want to live in Portugal (our motivation letter guide shows how);
• Your RCMP criminal record check with its apostille, and your consent to a check of the Portuguese record;
• Your bank statements for the last three months;
• Proof of a home in Portugal: a lease (six months at least in Toronto), a deed, or a term of responsibility;
• Medical insurance valid at least 6 months;
• The proof your visa asks for: income for the D7 and D8, a contract for the D1 and D3, an admission letter for the D4;
• Your NIF, and for the D7, a Portuguese bank account with your savings;
• The €110 fee and a prepaid return envelope.

This list comes from the Toronto consulate's page of January 2025, the latest we could read: check your consulate's current list before you book.

Travel insurance for the visa

Consulates ask for travel insurance that covers medical expenses, urgent care and repatriation, and Toronto wants it valid at least 6 months. A monthly subscription that renews itself may not show the dates a consulate wants: buy coverage for the whole period. Our partner Insurte offers travel insurance for visa applications.

After the visa: your move and your AIMA appointment

Your residence visa is valid for 4 months and two entries: the time to move and get your residence permit. Many visas are issued with the AIMA appointment already scheduled: the date and office are in the paperwork the consulate gives you. If no date was assigned, request one from AIMA; appointments are always free. Our guide to the AIMA appointment explains how.

At AIMA, you give your fingerprints and photo and show your passport and visa, your means of subsistence, your address, your tax and social security registration if you have them, and health insurance or proof that you are covered by the national health service (SNS). You don’t need your RCMP check again: AIMA consults the Portuguese record itself.

AIMA has 90 days to decide, which it can extend by 30. Your first permit costs €185.60 and lasts 2 years; renewals last 3 years. Permanent residence comes after 5 years, citizenship after 10.

Before you leave Canada, ask your consulate about a baggage certificate for your household goods. Once in Portugal, change the address of your NIF to your new home.

Taxes when you leave Canada

For the Canada Revenue Agency, you usually become an emigrant when you leave Canada to live in another country and sever your residential ties: your home, your spouse or partner and dependents, your personal and social ties. Your departure date is usually the latest of the day you leave, the day your family leaves, and the day you become a resident of Portugal.

• Your last return as a resident reports your world income up to your departure date, which you enter on page 1.
• Departure tax: when you leave, you are considered to have sold certain property at its fair market value, and may have to report a capital gain. If everything you owned was worth more than $25,000, you also file Form T1161.
• Tell your Canadian payers and banks that you are no longer a resident.
• After you leave, you pay Canadian tax only on your Canadian-source income. Pensions, CPP, OAS, RRSP and RRIF payments, dividends and rents are usually taxed at source (Part XIII tax): 25%, unless a tax treaty lowers the rate.

The Canada–Portugal tax convention

Canada and Portugal signed a convention in 1999 to avoid double taxation. If both countries see you as a resident, it decides by your permanent home, then your center of vital interests, your habitual abode and your nationality (Article 4).

• Pensions paid from Canada can be taxed in Portugal; Canada may tax periodic pensions too, but Article 18 caps that tax at 15%.
• Canadian tax on dividends is capped at 15% in most cases, and on interest at 10% (Articles 10 and 11).
• Portugal deducts the tax paid in Canada on that income from its own tax on it (Article 22).

Your taxes in Portugal

You become a Portuguese tax resident after more than 183 days in Portugal in any 12 months, or earlier with a home you intend to keep as your habitual residence. You then file a Portuguese return (IRS) every year, from 1 April to 30 June, for the year before.

This is not tax advice: your case depends on your income and assets. Put your questions to a lawyer in a 40-minute tax consultation (€249), have your IRS filed by a certified accountant, and read our guide to IFICI, the “NHR 2.0”.

CPP and OAS when you live in Portugal

• CPP: your retirement pension can be paid outside Canada. You qualify from age 60 with at least one valid contribution.
• OAS: paid outside Canada if you lived in Canada for at least 20 years after age 18. Otherwise, your payments may stop after 6 months abroad.
• GIS: paid abroad for 6 months only.

Canada and Portugal have a social security agreement, in force since 1 May 1981. If you are short of years, your residence in Portugal after 18 can count toward OAS, and your Portuguese contributions toward the CPP. Each country then pays for its own periods.

Tell Service Canada before you leave, to avoid overpayments you would have to repay. Non-resident tax may be deducted from your OAS, at a rate that depends on the country where you live.

Health coverage: leaving your province, joining the SNS

Provincial plans cover residents. Ontario’s OHIP, for example, asks you to make Ontario your primary residence and to be in the province at least 153 days in any 12 months: once you live in Portugal, you no longer meet them. Each province has its own rules, so check yours before you leave.

Be insured from the day you leave: many private hospitals and clinics in Portugal ask for payment or proof of insurance before treatment. For the visa, that is your travel insurance; at AIMA, health insurance or proof of SNS coverage (see our guide to health insurance for expats).

Health care in Portugal

As a legal resident, you get a user number (número de utente) of the national health service, the SNS, the first time you go to a public health center or hospital. With your residence permit, you can then register at the health center of your area.

In an emergency, call 112. The SNS 24 line, 808 24 24 24, answers health questions day and night. Our guide to Portuguese healthcare goes further.

Driving in Portugal with a Canadian license

As a visitor, you can drive with your Canadian license for 185 days. Canada is also one of the OECD countries whose licenses Portugal accepts after you become a resident, as long as:

• your license was issued or last renewed less than 15 years ago;
• you are under 60;
• it is valid, and not suspended or withdrawn;
• you are old enough in Portugal for its categories.

Otherwise, or to add a category, you exchange it for a Portuguese license at IMT, with no driving test: a medical certificate from your doctor, your residence permit, your license and a certificate of its authenticity from the authority that issued it, sent through IMT’s online form. Our license exchange guide has the steps.

Cost of living in Portugal for Canadians

Rent is the biggest line. On new leases, the median rent in Portugal was €10.17 per m² a month in the second quarter of 2026, up 10.2% in a year (INE): €15.24 in Greater Lisbon, €11.99 on the Setúbal peninsula and €11.56 in the Algarve. At those medians, a 70 m² apartment comes to about €712 a month nationally and €1,067 in Greater Lisbon.

Keep in mind that €920 a month, the D7 minimum, is the legal floor, not a comfortable budget. Our guides to the cost of living in Lisbon and in Porto go into detail.

Is moving to Portugal from Canada right for you?

If your income fits a visa and you plan the whole household from the start, the route is clear: choose your visa, prepare your RCMP check and your Portuguese papers, apply at your consulate, and sort out your taxes, pensions and health coverage before you leave.

Give yourself time to see the cities first: our scouting trip guide helps you plan one.

Moving from another country? See our guides to moving to Portugal from the US, the UK, Brazil, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

Frequently asked questions