Migrants: Working and creating a business in Portugal

If you come from a country outside the European Economic Area and wish to work in Portugal, you will need a residence permit in Portugal which will allow you to have access to employment in the national territory.

Apart from working as an employee, you can also be self-employed (for example, as a freelancer or set up your own business). To do so, you must apply for a specific residence visa for subordinate professional activity or independent professional activity.

On this page you will find information on:

Note: The residence visa for exercising a subordinate professional activity or the short term and temporary stay visas for seasonal work depend on the existence of a work contract or promise of a work contract (which must be submitted when applying for the visa instruction while still in the country of origin).

Looking for a job in Portugal

If you are living in Portugal and looking for a job, the Institute for Employment and Vocational Training (IEFP) provides various services and support that can help you enter the Portuguese labour market.

IEFP helps you find a job in Portugal and provides job, internship and training offers. This entity also promotes employment programs and measures from which you can benefit.

Register with an employment centre

You can start by registering at an IEFP Employment Center to access information about job vacancies, internships, training and programmes. To do so, you need to have a title that allows you to stay and exercise a professional activity as an employee in Portugal.

To register at an IEFP Employment Center, you must have mandatory schooling (up to 18 years old, you must have the 12th grade; over 18 years old, you can have any level of schooling). At the time of registration, an approximate correspondence of the qualifications will be made, and later you will have to make the equivalence / recognition of the qualifications obtained abroad. This equivalence is mandatory for access to professional training or employment measures, for example.

If the qualifications are of basic or secondary level, the processes are handled in the schools. Check the page of Direção-Geral de Educação (DGE). If the qualifications are of higher education level, the processes are the responsibility of Higher Education Institutions or Direção-Geral do Ensino Superior (DGES) and are requested online.

Emigrant Support Office (GAE)

The IEFP also promotes, together with the Alto Comissariado para as Migrações (ACM), a network of Professional Insertion Offices dedicated to immigrants. These offices aim to support unemployed immigrants in their integration or reintegration in the labour market.

Countryside employment

The IEFP also gives financial support to those who decide to work in Portugal, in the Interior territories, through the "Emprego Interior Mais" program. The applications are made on the iefponline portal.

The fixed amount will be 2,659.20 euros (6x the value of the Social Support Index - IAS in 2022), to which you can add 20% for each member of the family, with a limit of 1,329.60 euros (3x the value of the IAS).

See all the information, including conditions and the support payments, in the iefponline portal.

Working in Portugal - rights and duties

When working in Portugal, you have the same rights and duties as someone with Portuguese nationality.

If you have a student residence permit for higher education, you can only work by communicating to the Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras (SEF), accompanied by a work contract. Thus, the residence permit will have to be replaced.

Students of other levels of education cannot work in Portugal.

On the “Working in Portugal” page of the ePortugal portal you will find the following information:

  • types of employment contracts
  • self-employment
  • information to be included in contracts
  • national minimum wage
  • factors that determine an employee's pay
  • working hours
  • holidays and holiday pay
  • parental leave
  • sickness benefit
  • termination of employment contract
  • allowances and social support.

Setting up a business in Portugal

If you want to set up your own company, consult the Guide for your business, where you will find the information you need to start and run the business and, if necessary, to close the company.

The IEFP also offers a Support Programme for Entrepreneurship and Creation of Self-Employment, which includes access to credit lines with guarantee and advantages in the interest rates granted by banking institutions.

Professional qualifications, internships and training

Professional qualification

If you intend to work in Portugal and have acquired professional qualifications in another country, you should check whether your profession is regulated by consulting the list of regulated professions. This list is the responsibility of the Direção-Geral do Emprego e das Relações de Trabalho (DGERT).

For more information on the recognition of professional qualifications, you can also consult the ePortugal portal.

Internships

The Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional offers access to professional internships to those who are registered as unemployed in one of its Employment Centres.

The internships advertised on the IEFP portal are part of the ATIVAR-PT Internships measure, which aim is to facilitate entry into the labour market through experience in a real context. These internships have a duration of 9 months.

Training

By allowing the improvement of school and/or professional qualifications, vocational training actions aim to reinforce employability conditions and facilitate the integration in the labour market.

On the Training Modalities page of the IEFP portal you will find detailed information on the measures and the conditions of access to training courses in different professional areas.