Moving back to the UK from Portugal with kids

Visas for a non-British partner

British parents and children with valid British passports just get on the plane. A partner who isn't British usually needs a family visa as a partner, applied for online from Portugal. The application fee from outside the UK is £2,064 per person. The usual rule is combined income of at least £29,000 a year, and savings can sometimes be used instead. Your partner also has to show a good knowledge of English.

Applications from outside the UK usually get a decision within 12 weeks. The first visa runs for up to 2 years and 9 months, and settlement is possible after 5 continuous years. You also pay the Immigration Health Surcharge up front: £1,035 a year for an adult and £776 for a child.

If you might move back to Portugal later, keep your residence card valid. Under the Withdrawal Agreement, permanent residence is only lost after more than 5 consecutive years outside Portugal. If you have under 5 years, you have to spend at least 6 months in any 12-month period there to keep your rights. If you moved on a D7 or digital nomad visa after 2020, these rules don't apply to you, so ask AIMA.

This isn't legal or tax advice. Check GOV.UK or a qualified immigration adviser before your partner applies.

Cost of living compared with Portugal

We're refreshing our own figures, so there are no numbers here for now. Childcare, council tax and eating out are the costs worth checking first, and where in the UK you settle will change the picture more than anything else.

Plan for a slow first month. Universal Credit, if you need it, takes at least five weeks to pay for the first time, and a landlord will want a deposit and rent before you have a UK payslip.

School places and in-year admissions

In England you can apply for a place at any school at any time. Coming from Portugal you'll almost always be applying in-year, through your council or straight to the school, depending on how your area runs it. Schools with space have to offer a place. They can't turn your child down because they followed the Portuguese curriculum or because the old school hasn't sent records.

The council or school should tell you the outcome in writing within 10 school days and must do so within 15. They can't tell you to just join a waiting list instead of applying. On request, the council has to tell you which local schools still have places. That's worth asking for before you sign a lease.

Ask the Portuguese school for a report and a letter confirming which year your child finished. Children who've been in Portuguese schools for a few years often read and write Portuguese better than English. The new school will want to know that early.

NHS access on return

A British citizen who comes back to live on a settled basis is ordinarily resident and gets free NHS hospital care immediately. Nationality, NI contributions and having an NHS number don't decide it. GP care and A&E are free for everyone anyway. You may be asked for proof that you've settled, such as a tenancy agreement, the first time you use hospital services.

If you're staying with family while you look for a home, you can register as a temporary patient with a GP for up to 3 months. If anyone in the family had an S1 registered in Portugal, tell the Portuguese authorities you've left and ask the NHS Overseas Healthcare Team to cancel it.

Benefits, Portuguese social security and the car

Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction and council housing lists all need you to pass the Habitual Residence Test. There's no fixed qualifying period. Age UK says it can take a few days or up to three months, and someone re-establishing ties after a temporary stay abroad can be treated as habitually resident from day one. Keep evidence that you always meant to come back.

Child Benefit doesn't use that test. You need the UK as your main home and a right to reside, and the High Income Child Benefit Charge claws it back above £60,000, all of it from £80,000.

If you're self-employed in Portugal, close your activity on the Portal das Finanças within 30 days of stopping work. Segurança Social picks up the closure automatically, and contributions stop from the first day of the following month.

To take a Portuguese-registered car to the UK, cancel its registration with IMT for export using form Modelo 9, with proof the car has left Portugal or a copy of its new registration. The fee is €10. In the UK, tell HMRC within 14 days, get vehicle approval and register it with the DVLA. If you've lived abroad for 12 consecutive months and owned the car for at least 6, Transfer of Residence relief may cover import VAT and duty, but you need a ToR1 approval before it's shipped.

Tax: leaving Portugal and arriving in the UK

Portugal uses the calendar year, and you're resident if you spend more than 183 days there in any 12-month period or keep a home there you seem to intend to live in. Portugal can split the year: you normally stop being resident from your last day in the country. There are exceptions, so check this with a contabilista. You still file the year-of-departure IRS return between 1 April and 30 June the following year.

Your NIF doesn't close. Change your address on the Portal das Finanças to the UK one. Once you live outside the EU or EEA you have 15 days to appoint a fiscal representative, unless you sign up for one of the electronic notification services instead. The electronic route means keeping your Finanças login working after you leave.

NHR and IFICI only apply while you're Portuguese resident, so they stop when you leave. IFICI lasts 10 consecutive years, and if you later become resident in Portugal again you can use the years you didn't use.

On the UK side, the Statutory Residence Test decides your status for each tax year from 6 April. Split-year treatment can apply if, for example, you start to have your only home in the UK or start full-time work here. If you were non-resident for at least 10 years before coming back, you may be able to claim the 4-year foreign income and gains regime, though claiming it costs you your personal allowance.

The UK and Portugal signed a new tax convention on 15 September 2025. It came into force on 29 December 2025 and applies to UK income tax and capital gains tax from 6 April 2026, replacing the 1968 treaty. This isn't legal or tax advice. Ask a Portuguese contabilista and a UK adviser to look at the year you move.

A realistic timeline

1. 6 months before

   Check everyone's British passports. If your partner needs a family visa, gather income evidence and book the English test. Look at areas and schools with spare places.

2. 4 months before

   Submit the partner visa and pay the health surcharge. If the car is coming, apply for Transfer of Residence relief before it's shipped. Ask schools and doctors for records.

3. 2 months before

   Give notice on your lease. Decide between a fiscal representative and electronic notifications. If you had an S1, plan to cancel it.

4. Last weeks in Portugal

   Close self-employed activity within 30 days of stopping work, update your Finanças address, and cancel the car's IMT registration once it has left.

5. First 2 weeks back

   Register with a GP, apply in-year for school places, and tell HMRC about the car within 14 days.

6. First months back

   Claim Child Benefit, register the car with the DVLA, and file the final Portuguese IRS return between 1 April and 30 June.