2026 guide for Britons moving to Portugal
Since Brexit, Britons need a visa to live in Portugal: which one fits you, and the 7 steps to your residence card.
Get the free visa checklist
Moving to Portugal from the UK takes a visa since Brexit. British citizens can still visit Portugal without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180, but to live there they need a residence visa: the D7 for a pension or other income of your own, the D8 for remote work, others for a job, a business, study or an investment. You apply through VFS Global in London, Manchester or Edinburgh.
This guide helps you pick the visa, gather the UK documents (the ACRO certificate and its apostille), budget the fees and follow the 7 steps up to your residence card. It also answers what Britons ask about pensions and healthcare, driving and tax.
Moving from the UK in 6 numbers (2026)
Yes to all five? Pick your visa below, then follow the 7 steps.
Living in Portugal since before 2021? Your rights may come from the Withdrawal Agreement instead. British and EU citizen? Register with your EU nationality. A doubt? Ask us in a free call.
Create my free account →Your personal visa checklist, free. No card required.
As a British citizen, you can visit Portugal without a visa for 90 days in any 180, counting your days in every Schengen country. A Schengen days calculator keeps the count. To live there, you enter on a residence visa from the Portuguese consulate, then get a residence card from AIMA in Portugal.
The visa depends on what you will live on. The amounts are for one person in 2026:
| Visa | For | From |
|---|---|---|
| D7 | A pension, rents or investments | €920/month |
| D8 | Remote work | €3,680/month |
| D2 | Freelancing or your own business | €11,040/year |
| D3 | A highly qualified job | €1,611/month |
| D1 | Another job in Portugal | €920/month |
| D4 | A degree in Portugal | €920/month |
| Golden Visa | An investment | €250,000 |
You apply for the Golden Visa at AIMA, not at the consulate, and most of its routes start at €500,000.
Your spouse and children can apply for their visas at the same time as you. Bringing them later through family reunification takes two years of residence first (15 months for a spouse you lived with for 18 months before, no wait for your minor children).
Tip: the UK checklists number some visas differently. The remote work visa (the D8 in our guides) is titled D9 there, and their D8 file is for family members who apply with you. Pick a checklist by its title.
To retire, the visa is the D7, the UK checklists’ “residence visa for retirement purposes”. Your pensions count as income, the UK State Pension as well as private ones: the checklist asks for proof of the amount and how often it is paid, and three months of statements showing that it arrives. You need at least €920 a month, plus a recent Portuguese bank statement showing €11,040 for one person, with your NIF.
Two UK points help: an S1 form can replace the visa’s travel insurance if you qualify, and your State Pension keeps its yearly increase in Portugal, as everywhere in the EEA.
Free visa checklist
Your move from the UK, step by step, in a free account
Free
Create my free account4.8/51,500+ reviews
No card required
If you lived in Portugal before 31 December 2020 and have stayed since, you don’t need a visa: the Withdrawal Agreement protects your right to live and work there. According to AIMA, it covers:
Your proof is a Withdrawal Agreement residence card. After five years of residence, you can ask for a permanent card valid for ten years. No card yet? gov.uk says to get one now: email AIMA at brexit@aima.gov.pt with proof that you lived in Portugal before 1 January 2021.
Keep the card with your passport when you travel: with it, you don’t register in the EES as a visitor. The details are on gov.uk’s Living in Portugal page and AIMA’s Brexit line.
From your sofa in the UK 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.
What you will live on decides it: the D7 for a pension or income of your own, the D8 for remote work, the D2 for a business, the D3 or D1 for a job, the Golden Visa for an investment, the D4 to study.
Compare the visasNot sure? Ask us in a free callYour Portuguese tax number. For the D7, the UK consulates ask for it with your Portuguese bank statement, and landlords and banks want it first. You can get it from the UK.
Get my NIFFor the D7, the UK consulates want a recent Portuguese statement showing at least €11,040 for one person. Open it early, so the transfer from pounds is done before your appointment.
Open my accountThe UK consulates ask for a lease of at least 12 months, registered with the Portuguese tax office, a deed, or a term of responsibility from a host, signed before a notary, lawyer or solicitor.
Review my leaseOr find your home with usAn ACRO police certificate issued within 90 days, with its apostille, proof of your income, travel insurance for 120 days (or an S1), and a personal statement with your address in Portugal: the full list is below.
Review my visa fileYour county decides the center. Book your appointment, hand in your file and pay €110, charged in pounds at the day’s rate, plus £32.85 to VFS. The consulate has 60 days to decide.
Find your consulateWithin the visa’s 4 months, go to your AIMA appointment in Portugal. The UK consulates don’t book it: look for it in your visa paperwork, or ask AIMA. Your first card lasts 2 years.
Have your AIMA file checked (€259)| Fee | When | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| National visa fee (children under 6 don’t pay) | At VFS | €110 |
| VFS service fee, per application | At VFS | £32.85 |
| Apostille on your ACRO certificate (standard) | Before | £45 |
| First residence permit, at AIMA | In Portugal | €185.60 |
VFS charges the visa fee in pounds at the current exchange rate. You can pay by card, or in cash in London only, and fees are non-refundable. Add the apostille’s courier or postage, ACRO’s own fee for the certificate, certified translations of documents not in English or Portuguese, and your insurance.
The AIMA fee is €247.30 where the reduced rate doesn’t apply: see AIMA’s 2026 residence permit fees in our AIMA guide.
By law, the consulate has 60 days to decide on a residence visa, and the UK checklists give the same standard time. In Portugal, AIMA then has 90 days to decide on your residence permit, which it can extend by 30.
Start with the slow UK paperwork. Your ACRO certificate must be under 90 days old when you apply, and the Legalisation Office’s standard apostille takes up to 25 working days, plus post. Plan them back to back, so that the certificate is still valid on the day you apply.
The Portuguese consulates in London and Manchester publish one checklist per visa on the VFS page for the UK (March 2026). The common part, from the D7 checklist:
Each visa adds its own items: proof of your pension for the D7, your contract and payslips for the D8. Download your visa’s checklist before you book.
If you lived in the UK in the past year, the consulates want a police certificate from ACRO, the Criminal Records Office: a DBS check is not what they list. It must be issued within the last 90 days.
It then needs a Hague apostille from the UK Legalisation Office (FCDO): £45 per document for the standard paper service, up to 25 working days plus courier or post. ACRO certificates can’t get the faster e-Apostille.
The insurance must cover the visa’s full 120 days from your planned arrival. If you receive a UK State Pension, you may get an S1 form, which the UK checklists accept instead, duly certified.
Otherwise, take a policy that names medical expenses, urgent care and repatriation. Insurte offers this cover, and through our partnership, we have a special price with them.
Partner · Insurte
Schengen travel insurance for your visa
Partner offer
Your residence visa is valid for 4 months and two entries: the time to move and get your residence permit. Before you leave the UK:
Once in Portugal, move in, then change the address of your NIF to your Portuguese home at the tax office (Finanças).
Many residence visas are issued with the AIMA appointment already scheduled: the date and office are in your visa paperwork. If none was assigned, request one from AIMA: the UK consulates don’t book or move AIMA appointments, and appointments are free. Our guide to booking an AIMA appointment explains the options. Go within the visa’s 4 months.
AIMA takes your photo, signature and fingerprints and checks your documents: passport and visa, proof of your means and your address, your tax and social security numbers if you have them, and health insurance or proof that you are covered by the national health service (SNS). You don’t bring your ACRO certificate again: AIMA checks the Portuguese record itself.
AIMA has 90 days to decide, which it can extend by 30. The fee for a first permit is €185.60 in AIMA’s 2026 table. Your first card lasts 2 years, renewals 3, and after 5 years you can apply for permanent residence.
Once you are a resident, you register with the Portuguese national health service (SNS) and get the same rights to treatment as a Portuguese citizen. At your local health center (centro de saúde), you ask for a user number (número de utente) with your residence certificate, passport and NIF, and your NISS if you work.
gov.uk says you can take private health insurance but don’t need to, and you still register for state healthcare. Our healthcare guide compares the two.
If you live in Portugal and receive a UK State Pension (or some other exportable benefits), the UK may pay for your state healthcare. You ask NHS Overseas Healthcare Services for an S1 by phone, then register it at a social security office (Segurança Social) and at your health center.
With a registered S1, you and your dependents are treated as Portuguese citizens, and you get a UK-issued EHIC or GHIC for travel. Otherwise, as a resident of Portugal, you can’t use a UK EHIC or GHIC (UK students and frontier workers aside).
The two governments don’t word it the same way, so check which case is yours:
You can also exchange your license for a Portuguese one at IMT, online. With a UK license, you take no driving test: you need a medical certificate, a check code from the DVLA (DVA in Northern Ireland) and the €30 fee (10% off online). IMT gives you a temporary permit (guia) while you wait. If your case falls outside IMT’s conditions, ask IMT before you rely on your UK license.
You usually become a Portuguese tax resident with more than 183 days in Portugal in any 12 months, or a home there that you intend to keep as your usual residence. You then file a Portuguese tax return (IRS) every year, from 1 April to 30 June, for the year before.
A new UK–Portugal tax treaty, signed in September 2025, replaced the 1968 one. It applies from 1 January 2026 in Portugal and from 6 April 2026 for UK income tax. Two of its rules matter to many Britons:
How your own income is taxed depends on your case. Read our guides to IRS in Portugal and to IFICI, the “NHR 2.0”, or put your questions to a lawyer in a 40-minute tax consultation (€249).
For rent, INE, the national statistics office, publishes the median on new leases. In the second quarter of 2026, it was €10.17 per m² a month across Portugal and €15.24 in Greater Lisbon:
| Region | Median rent, new leases |
|---|---|
| Portugal | €10.17 / m² |
| Greater Lisbon | €15.24 / m² |
| Madeira | €12.78 / m² |
| Setúbal Peninsula | €11.99 / m² |
| Algarve | €11.56 / m² |
Rents rose 10.2% in a year, so check current listings before you set your budget. The D7’s €920 a month is the legal minimum, not a comfortable budget. Our guides to the cost of living in Lisbon and Porto, and to the best cities to retire in Portugal, go into detail.
If your income fits one of the visas and you plan to live in Portugal most of the year, the path is clear: a visa through VFS, a residence card from AIMA, permanent residence after five years and citizenship after ten. Prepare the UK documents early, apply together with your family, and follow the 7 steps.
Moving from another country? See our guides to moving to Portugal from the US, Canada, Brazil, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands.
The rules, amounts and fees in this guide were checked on 22 October 2026 against the law and the official portals:
Written by Brenda L., relocation expert at AnchorLess. Where UK and Portuguese sources differ, we say so.
To live in Portugal for more than 90 days, a residence visa from the Portuguese consulate, applied for through VFS in London, Manchester or Edinburgh, then a residence permit from AIMA in Portugal.
For the visa, the UK consulates ask for a passport valid 90 days beyond the visa’s 120 days, an ACRO police certificate under 90 days old with its apostille, travel insurance or an S1, proof of your means (at least €920 a month for most visas in 2026), a home in Portugal and a personal statement.
The one that matches what you will live on: the D7 for a pension, rents or investments (from €920 a month), the D8 for remote work (from €3,680 a month), the D2 for freelancing or a business, the D3 or D1 for a job in Portugal, the D4 to study, and the Golden Visa for an investment.
90 days in any 180-day period, counting every Schengen country, as a tourist or visitor. Overstaying can bring a ban of up to 3 years. Time spent in Portugal on a residence visa or card doesn’t count towards the 90 days.
At VFS Global, for the Portuguese consulates. If you live in London or the south and east of England, the London center; in the north of England, the Midlands, Scotland or Northern Ireland, Manchester or Edinburgh. Your county decides: check the two lists on the VFS page before you book.
An ACRO police certificate: the UK checklists ask for one if you lived in the UK in the past year, issued within the last 90 days and legalized with a Hague apostille from the UK Legalisation Office (£45 per document for the standard service).
Yes, on the D7 visa, if your pensions reach at least €920 a month in 2026, and you show €11,040 in a Portuguese bank account for one person. Your State Pension keeps rising every year while you live in Portugal, and an S1 form can give you state healthcare paid by the UK.
No. If you lived there before 31 December 2020 and have stayed since, the Withdrawal Agreement protects your residence. Your proof is a Withdrawal Agreement residence card from AIMA: if you don’t have one, email brexit@aima.gov.pt with proof of your residence before 2021.
gov.uk says registered residents can drive on a UK license until it expires. IMT accepts licenses from OECD countries, the UK included, if they were issued or renewed less than 15 years ago and you are under 60. You can exchange yours for a Portuguese license without a driving test, for €30.
The UK–Portugal tax treaty prevents double taxation. Under the 2025 treaty, pensions paid to a resident of Portugal are taxable only in Portugal, except UK government service pensions, which stay taxable in the UK. Your own case depends on your income: a tax consultation with a lawyer can settle it.
The consulate has 60 days to decide on your visa. The visa then gives you 4 months to enter Portugal and go to AIMA, which has 90 days (up to 120) to decide on your residence permit. Allow time before that for the ACRO certificate and its apostille.
Can't find the answer you're looking for? Contact our team of experts.
5000+ Expats relocated with us!
Turn your dream destination into reality with our dedicated relocation experts. We navigate the bureaucracy, so you can focus on your new beginning. Start your journey today.
AnchorLess is not a bank, accountant, tax advisor, investment advisor, or law firm, nor are we a government or official government website. We act as an intermediary, helping connect you with accredited professionals and streamlining administrative processes for your relocation in Europe.
MOVE TO PORTUGAL
Services
Guides
MOVE TO SPAIN
Services
Guides
MOVE TO ITALY
Services
MOVING IN EUROPE
Guides
Free tools
© 2022 - 2026 anchorless.io, all rights reserved.
