Portugal Immigration Services

Newland Chase offers full support with all aspects of corporate immigration to Portugal. Please find an overview of the typical corporate immigration processes below. Every situation is unique, so please do get in touch, either through your usual Newland Chase contact or using the details on the right hand side of the page. Our immigration experts will be glad to discuss your needs in greater detail.

Immigration Summary

The Temporary Stay Visa (Highly Qualified Activities) is intended to allow the holder to carry out a highly qualified activity; a temporary or scientific research activity in a scientific research centre; or teaching activities in a higher education institution. Salary must be 1.5 times the national average gross annual salary. The individual applicant may have a contract either directly with the Portuguese entity or may remain on contract outside Portugal.

The Temporary Stay Visa (Service Providers) allows the holder to carry out a provision of services to a client in Portugal.

The Temporary Stay Visa (Intra-Company Transfer) is available for transferees who have been with the sending entity in a senior or specialised role for at least one year and will remain on home payroll. It is only available for nationals of WTO member countries. The applicant must either be a high level manager with decision making responsibility in his/her sending entity, or must hold vital technical and specialised expertise, demonstrated by the applicant's qualifications, or must be coming to Portugal for vocational training.

The Residence Visa for highly qualified applicants is available for highly skilled employees with local contracts in Portugal or for highly skilled service providers who will be in Portugal for at least one year. Residence visa holders must apply for a residence permit after arrival in Portugal. The residence visa and permit can be granted for service providers on home contract as well as for locally hired workers. Note however that this route is not suitable for intra-company transferees. Salary must be 1.5 times the national average gross annual salary.

The Intra-Corporate Transferee Permit is a newly implemented residence permit, according to Directive 2014/66/EU, and includes intra-EU mobility provisions. It is only applicable to assignees falling into management/specialist or trainee categories sent to Portugal for over 90 days from outside the EU and has a maximum total duration of stay of three years for managers/specialists and one year for trainees, after which time the assignee must exit Portugal.

The Blue Card (Cartão Azul) is an EU-wide (with some exceptions) immigration process for highly skilled employees with a local job offer and a salary at least 1.5 times the gross national average salary. The Blue Card offers some concrete benefits to the applicant.

The Van der Elst is an immigration process whereby a non-EEA national who is employed and contracted by a service provider in an EEA country and sent on short-term assignment as a posted worker to Portugal no longer requires a work permit. The Portuguese Immigration Services should be notified of the assignment.

EU/EEA/Swiss nationals on assignment to or employed in Portugal do not need a work permit or visa. However, if the stay is longer than three months, an EU/EEA Registration Certificate should be applied for.