So, your company gave you to go ahead to work remotely and you want to move to Portugal?  Or are you a digital nomad, a freelancer, or an entrepreneur that wants to settle in Portugal? 

Well, unless you are already an EU citizen, you will need a visa or a residence permit in Portugal.  Luckily, Portugal has a specific residence visa for self-employed workers, freelancers, and digital nomads!

Below, you can find the details.

Tips about the process:

• You need a clean criminal record,
• You can either apply online or offline:
  • If you’d like to apply online: you should register on SAPA and complete the corresponding forms indicating your interest and situation, and uploading the necessary documents,
  • If you’d like to apply offline: you would like to submit your application in paper to the SEF office
• SEF assesses the application and then gives you an appointment date,
• The initial visa will be valid for two years and the subsequent visas will be each valid for three years at a time

You can either apply yourself or use a legal representative to apply on behalf of you.  In either case, you will need the following documents:

• Evidence of having set a company in Portugal, or

• Contract for services for the carrying out of a liberal profession and statement by the professional association with evidence of the registration (whenever applicable)

• Passport or another valid travel document,
• Evidence of sufficient means of subsistence,
• Clean criminal record:
  • from the country of origin and of residence (if different)
  • from Portugal; for this, you just need to give SEF the permission to check it in Portugal
• Evidence of adequate accommodation in Portugal,
• Evidence of having registered with the Social Security,
• Evidence of registration in the tax authority
  • you can obtain your tax number – NIF – in Portugal from a Finanças office

If your lawyer asks under which legal framework you would like to apply for the self-employment visa in Portugal, you can say that it is:

    ARTICLE 89, PARAGRAPH 2 OF LAW N. º 59/2017 31ST JULY

    ORDER NUMBER 1563/2007, OF 11/12

Technical?  Yes, we know. But, it may be necessary.

Besides the self-employment visa, Portugal offers a (1) an entrepreneur visa, and (2) a passive income holder visa, among other types of visas.  

Check out an extensive list of the types of visas that Portugal offers on our guide to different visas in Portugal.