Moving to Portugal from the UK with your family

Visas for UK families

UK applicants go through the Portuguese Consulate-General, with applications handled by VFS Global. One thing trips people up: the consulate's checklists use their own codes. Retirement and passive income is D7. The remote work ("digital nomad") visa that most sites call D8 is listed as D9, and D8 on the UK checklist is the visa for family members accompanying a residence visa applicant. Work from the consulate's own checklist for your route.

The D7 is the usual route for families living on pensions, rental income, dividends or savings income. The 2026 checklist ties the money to Portugal's minimum monthly salary of €920. The first adult needs 100% of that, each additional adult another 50%, and each child under 18 another 30%. For two parents and two children that works out at €1,932 a month (our arithmetic from the consulate's percentages). The income has to be stable and received for at least three months before you apply. You also need a recent Portuguese bank statement showing at least €11,040 for a single applicant, plus your Portuguese tax number (NIF), so you have to sort out a NIF and a Portuguese account before you apply.

If you work remotely for a UK employer or UK clients, the remote work visa asks for an average monthly income of €3,680 over the last three months, payslips or invoices, and a document showing tax residency, such as a P60 or your latest tax return. Employees also need a letter from the employer confirming the job can be done from Portugal.

Every route asks for proof of accommodation. That can be a 12-month rental contract registered with the Portuguese tax authority, title deeds, or a notarised term of responsibility from a host. You also need travel insurance covering the 120 days of the visa (British nationals who qualify can use an S1 instead) and a criminal record certificate for everyone aged 16 and over.

This isn't legal or tax advice. Requirements change, so check with the consulate or a qualified adviser before you apply.

• Police certificate: anyone who has lived in the UK in the past year needs one from ACRO, issued within 90 days of applying and apostilled by the UK Legalisation Office.
• Birth and marriage certificates must be apostilled too. GRO certificates and ACRO certificates can't be done as e-Apostilles, so budget £45 each and up to 25 working days plus postage.
• The visa is valid for 120 days with two entries. You book the AIMA appointment yourself; the consulate doesn't do it for you.

Cost of living compared with the UK

These are our own monthly estimates for a family of four, in US dollars, from the Roamsmith cost-of-living calculator. They're for comparing places, not budgeting to the pound. Totals cover rent, groceries, transport, healthcare, utilities and family activities, without school fees or childcare.

The bigger gap is childcare. We estimate about $500 a month in Lisbon against $1,800 in London and $1,300 in Manchester. International school fees are lower too, at roughly $1,200 a month per child in Lisbon and $1,000 in Porto. Salaries in Portugal are lower than in the UK, though, so the sums look best when your income stays in pounds.

• London: about $5,600 a month
• Manchester: about $3,480 a month
• Lisbon: about $2,980 a month
• Porto: about $2,420 a month

Schools

School is compulsory in Portugal from 6 to 18. State schools teach in Portuguese, and how quickly a child copes depends a lot on their age. Under-tens usually pick the language up faster than their parents. Teenagers starting secondary school in a new language have a much harder time, and that's when many British families look at international or British-curriculum schools around Lisbon, Cascais, Porto and the Algarve.

If you want to go private, ask schools about places before you sign the 12-month lease the visa requires. Bring the children's UK school reports and an apostilled birth certificate for each child.

Healthcare: S1 or SNS

If you draw a UK State Pension or an exportable UK benefit, you may be entitled to an S1, meaning the UK pays for your Portuguese state healthcare. You register the S1 with Portuguese Social Security (Segurança Social). A dependant covered by a pensioner's S1 loses that cover once they start claiming their own UK State Pension.

Most families of working age won't have an S1. Once you're resident, you register with the Portuguese national health service (SNS) at your local health centre and get a healthcare user number (número de utente). Take your residence certificate, passport and NIF. Until then you rely on the insurance you bought for the visa.

A GHIC issued in the UK covers visits, not living in Portugal, and you can't renew it from Portugal unless you're a student, a frontier worker or a pensioner with an S1.

Money and banking

Get your NIF before anything else. You need it to open a Portuguese bank account, sign a lease and, on the D7, to show the consulate your Portuguese bank balance. Plan for it early, so the account is open and funded before the visa application goes in.

Keep at least one UK current account open. Pensions, rental income and any UK salary will keep landing there, and a UK account is useful if you ever move back. Move money with a currency transfer service rather than your high-street bank's international payment, and keep three months of bank statements showing the income arriving, because both the consulate and AIMA will ask for them.

Tax: the 2025 treaty and IFICI

The UK and Portugal signed a new double taxation convention on 15 September 2025. It came into force on 29 December 2025 and replaced the 1968 treaty, with many provisions taking effect from 1 January 2026. If you read advice written before 2026 about how UK pensions or rental income are taxed in Portugal, check it against the new text.

The old Non-Habitual Resident (NHR) regime ran until the end of 2023, with transitional cases in 2024. Its replacement, IFICI (sometimes called NHR 2.0), is narrower. It gives a 20% flat rate on qualifying Portuguese employment and self-employment income for 10 consecutive years, to people who haven't been Portuguese tax resident in the previous five years and who work in listed activities such as research, highly qualified roles and certified startups. It doesn't cover pensions or other passive income, so most D7 families won't qualify. If you think you do, register through the Portal das Finanças by 15 January of the year after you become resident.

Leaving the UK has its own paperwork: tell HMRC you're going, and work out whether you'll be non-resident under the UK Statutory Residence Test. This isn't legal or tax advice. Talk to a qualified adviser who knows both systems before you move income or sell property.

A realistic timeline

1. 9 to 12 months before

   Pick your visa route from the consulate's UK checklist and check your income against it. Shortlist areas and schools.

2. 6 months before

   Get a NIF and open a Portuguese bank account. Order birth and marriage certificates and send them for apostille (allow up to 25 working days).

3. 4 months before

   Sign a 12-month lease and make sure it's registered with the tax authority. Buy travel insurance for 120 days, or apply for an S1 if you qualify.

4. 3 months before

   Request ACRO certificates (they must be under 90 days old when you apply), get them apostilled, then submit at VFS. Standard processing is 60 days.

5. Arrival

   Enter within the 120-day visa window and attend your AIMA appointment for the residence permit.

6. First 3 months

   Register with the SNS for a número de utente, enrol the children in school, and register your S1 with Segurança Social if you have one.

7. By 15 January next year

   Register for IFICI if you think you qualify. Keep driving on your UK licence until it expires, then exchange it through IMT.