Moving to Portugal from Australia with your family

Visas for Australian families

Australians can visit Portugal for up to 90 days without a visa, and Smartraveller notes you now register fingerprints and a photo at the border under the EU's Entry/Exit System. Living there means a residence visa, applied for before you leave. If you live in NSW, QLD, VIC, NT, WA or SA, you apply to the Consulate General of Portugal in Sydney through the e-VISA platform, then post your passport and original documents or bring them to the interview. Residents of the ACT go through the embassy in Canberra. Tasmania isn't named, so ask Sydney. Interviews are in Sydney, though some applicants are exempt.

The D7 is for families living on pensions, rental income, dividends or other income you don't work for. Portugal's means-of-subsistence rules use the minimum wage as the reference: 100% for the first adult, 50% for each extra adult and 30% for each child under 18. At €920 that's €1,932 a month for two parents and two children. Consulate checklists also ask for a recent Portuguese bank statement and your Portuguese tax number (NIF), so sort both out before you apply.

If one of you works remotely for an Australian employer or clients, look at the remote work residence visa. You need average income over the last three months of at least four times the minimum wage (€3,680 a month in 2026), an employment contract or proof of your clients, and a certificate of tax residence. Watch the codes. Most websites call this visa the D8, but some consulate checklists number it D9, and there's a separate temporary stay version for shorter trips. Sydney doesn't publish its own checklists, so confirm the code with the consulate.

The visa costs €110 per person, and children under 6 are exempt. Portugal's foreign ministry gives itself 60 days to decide. Once issued, the visa is valid for four months with two entries, and in that time you apply to AIMA, the immigration agency, for a residence permit. A 2025 change to the Foreigners Law now makes most people wait two years before bringing family over by reunification, but minor children, and a spouse who is the other parent of those children, are exempt. Portugal also has a visa category for family members accompanying a residence visa applicant, so ask the consulate how it wants your family's applications lodged.

This isn't legal advice. Requirements change and consulates read them differently, so check with the consulate or a qualified immigration lawyer before you pay for anything.

• Police check: everyone 16 and over needs one. An AFP national police check costs A$57, or A$114 if you supply fingerprints, and fingerprint checks take at least 15 working days. The remote work checklist wants it issued less than 90 days before you apply.
• Apostilles: DFAT is the authority for Australian public documents and charges A$105 per apostille in 2026, through Australian Passport Offices or by mail. Apostille the police checks plus birth and marriage certificates.
• Translations: ask the consulate whether it wants Portuguese translations of anything in English before you pay for them.
• Insurance: travel insurance that covers medical costs, urgent care and repatriation.

Cost of living compared with Australia

We're updating our city figures, so none here. Broadly, rent and eating out in Portugal cost less than in Sydney or Melbourne, and Portuguese salaries are lower too. The sums work best for families who keep an Australian income, pension or rental income.

Two costs matter more for Australians than for most movers. One is private health insurance for everyone, at least until you're in the public system. The other is flights home, which are long and expensive from Europe. Put at least one trip a year in the budget. You can compare places with our cost-of-living calculator.

Schools and the school year

School is compulsory in Portugal from 6 to 18. Children start first grade in the year they turn 6, counting birthdays up to 15 September. Australian schools run on the calendar year and Portuguese ones don't, so your kids will join partway through a year whichever way you time it. Ask the school which year group they'll go into before you book flights.

You enrol online through the Portal das Matrículas or at the office of a school near your home. Public schools offer Portuguese as a non-native language (PLNM) in place of the regular Portuguese class, after a short placement test. Bring apostilled school records if you want earlier study recognised. International schools around Lisbon, Cascais, Porto and the Algarve charge fees, so ask for them early if you're weighing one up.

Healthcare without Medicare

Australia has reciprocal health care agreements with 11 countries, including the UK, Ireland and Italy. Portugal isn't one of them, and Smartraveller says so plainly. You'll arrive on private cover, and the visa itself requires insurance for medical expenses.

Once you hold a valid residence permit, you can get a national health service (SNS) user number. It's issued the first time you visit a public health centre or hospital, and you'll need ID, your NIF, your full address in Portugal and the residence permit. Some families keep private insurance alongside it.

NIF, banking, super and driving

The NIF comes first, because the bank account, the lease and the visa application all need it. Portugal's tax authority lets a representative request one online through its e-balcão service, or you can book an appointment at a tax office. A non-resident NIF doesn't need a tax representative to be issued. When you become resident in Portugal, you update the address.

Super stays in Australia. The ATO's departing payment (DASP) is for people who worked in Australia on a temporary visa, so citizens and permanent residents can't cash out by leaving. Ask an adviser how Portugal would tax anything you draw later.

Australia is on Portugal's list of OECD countries whose licences residents can keep using. The conditions are that you're under 60 and no more than 15 years have passed since the licence was issued or last renewed. The Australian embassy in Lisbon says residents aged 60 must exchange theirs for a Portuguese licence, which you do through IMT. Carry the physical card, because Smartraveller warns that Australian digital licences aren't accepted.

Tax: Australia and Portugal

Portugal treats you as tax resident if you spend more than 183 days there in any 12-month period, or if you have a home there that you clearly intend to keep as your habitual residence. Residents are taxed on worldwide income, and you have 60 days to tell the tax authority about the change of address.

Leaving Australia doesn't automatically end your Australian tax residency. The ATO looks at the resides test first, then the domicile test, under which you stay resident unless it's satisfied your permanent place of abode is outside Australia. Once you're a foreign resident, Australian interest, dividends and royalties are taxed by withholding as a final tax.

Australia has no income tax treaty with Portugal. Treasury's treaty list includes Spain but not Portugal, so there's no treaty tie-breaker if both countries claim you.

The old non-habitual resident (NHR) regime was revoked from 1 January 2024. Its replacement, IFICI, gives a 20% rate on employment and self-employment income for ten years, and exempts some foreign income. It only applies to people working in specific eligible research and innovation activities who weren't Portuguese tax resident in any of the previous five years, and you apply by 15 January of the year after you become resident. Most D7 families won't qualify.

This isn't tax advice. Talk to a qualified adviser who knows both Australian and Portuguese tax before you move.

A realistic timeline

1. 12 months out

   Choose between the D7 and the remote work visa, check your income against the 2026 figures, and decide when the kids will switch school years.

2. 9 months out

   Get NIFs and open a Portuguese bank account. Order birth and marriage certificates.

3. 6 months out

   Arrange a 12-month lease or other proof of accommodation and quotes for family health insurance. Book a cross-border tax adviser.

4. 4 months out

   Apply for AFP police checks, then send them and your certificates to DFAT for apostilles.

5. 3 months out

   Submit applications through e-VISA and post documents to Sydney (or Canberra for the ACT). Allow 60 days for a decision.

6. On arrival

   Attend your AIMA appointment within the four-month visa window.

7. First few months

   Enrol the children, get SNS user numbers, and update your tax address within 60 days.