Introduction

Getting your visa approved feels like the finish line – but it’s really just the start.

The visa gets you through the door and on the path to Portuguese residency, but the first three months in Portugal are where the actual settling in happens, and a lot of it isn’t covered by anything you did during the application process.

This guide is written for people arriving on a D-type visa (D7, D8, D9, or D2) from outside the EU. If you’ve been through that process, you’ll already have your NIF, a Portuguese bank account, and somewhere to live, since all three are generally required before your visa is even approved. So none of them make the list below.

I was tempted to structure this as a week-by-week timeline, but there’s no single right order for tackling everything below. It depends on your own situation and your own priorities. You can use what follows to build your own timeline for your first 90 days in Portugal.

1. Book your AIMA appointment and start preparing your documents

It’s becoming increasingly rare for AIMA appointments to be pre-scheduled for you. The first thing we do for clients after they arrive is book their AIMA appointment, and we strongly recommend that you do the same.

The AIMA appointment is where you convert your visa into a two-year residency permit, and it comes with its own document requirements that are separate from what you submitted at the consulate.

There’s a general list of documents that applies to everyone, and then additional ones depending on your personal situation. That second part is why we’d strongly advise against relying on advice from Facebook groups or Reddit threads. What worked for someone else’s appointment might not apply to yours, and getting it wrong has a cost: if you turn up without something you need, you’re typically given just ten days to produce it.

One distinction that catches a lot of people out at this stage is travel insurance versus health insurance – more on that below.

2. Get a Portuguese SIM card

Having a Portuguese number makes day-to-day life considerably easier, from booking appointments to signing up for services, since a lot of them simply won’t work without one. The two options are: a prepaid SIM you top up as you go, or a monthly contract. Prepaid is the easier option if you’re not yet sure which provider or plan suits you, and you can always switch to a contract once you’ve settled on one.

3. Start using your Portuguese bank account

You’ll almost certainly already have a Portuguese bank account, since it’s generally required as part of the residency visa application. Now is the point to actually start using it, if you haven’t already.

For transferring money into it, we’d recommend a service like Wise over your existing bank. The exchange rates and fees are usually far better than what you’d get going through a traditional international transfer. It’s also worth knowing that AIMA likes to see activity in the account by the time of your appointment – things like rent payments, bills, everyday spending. It’s not a requirement to have your income landing in your Portuguese account, but it’s generally viewed favourably as a sign of integration.

It’s also worth getting comfortable with Multibanco early on. It’s the payment network you’ll see everywhere in Portugal – at ATMs, in shops, for paying bills, and so on. It works a bit differently from card payment systems you may be used to elsewhere.

4. Sort out transport

The first question you’ll likely need to ask yourself is whether you need a car.

Whether you need one depends entirely on where you’re living and what you’re planning to do. If you’re settling in central Lisbon or Porto, we’d actually recommend against buying or leasing one. Parking is difficult, traffic can be a nightmare, and the public transport on your doorstep is good enough that a car becomes more trouble than it’s worth.

If you’re in a more remote area – or just want the freedom that a car brings – your main options are a short-term rental (very cheap outside peak season), a longer-term rental on a monthly or quarterly basis, a lease, or buying outright (whether that’s new or used). Which one makes sense depends on where you’re living and how long you’re planning to stick around. It’s also worth knowing that Portugal has one of the most expensive used car markets in Europe.

Public transport in Portugal is generally efficient: regular buses within towns, the metro in Lisbon and Porto, and the suburban train line connecting Cascais to Lisbon. Between cities, the train network covers routes like Faro to Lisbon, Lisbon to Coimbra, and Lisbon to Porto.

Flixbus is worth knowing about too, since it’s remarkably cheap and covers similar routes, Algarve to Lisbon in around three hours, Lisbon to Porto in about the same.

5. Enrol your children in school, if applicable

The main decision is public, private, or international.

Public school is free, but it’s worth being realistic about whether that’s an option at the start. Many offer language support, and younger children generally adapt faster than older ones, but a 10 year old starting in a Portuguese-speaking classroom with no prior exposure is going to have a very difficult first year.

International schools are in abundance in Portugal, and they’re usually the main choice for expats with children already well into their education, given that most teach in English. They come at a hefty cost though, with fees typically in excess of €10,000 per year per child.

Private schools sit in between on cost, but most still teach in Portuguese, though they do tend to offer more language support than public schools.

6. Transfer utilities into your name

If you’ve moved into a property that already has utilities set up, you may want to get gas, electricity, water and internet transferred into your own name rather than leaving them under the previous occupant or landlord. That’s not always urgent, but it’s worth doing sooner rather than later so you’re not relying on someone else’s account.

7. Sort your health insurance

Travel insurance and health insurance are not the same thing, and this tends to trip people up. Travel insurance is what’s required as part of your original visa application. Health insurance is a separate requirement for your residence permit application, and you’ll need it in place by the time of your AIMA appointment.

We work with an insurance brokerage that’s been operating in Portugal for over 40 years, run by a British expat. Nearly all our clients use them to arrange health insurance, and often other policies too, pet, contents, vehicle. There’s no cost to using them; they’re paid a commission by the insurance provider, not by you. What you get in return is customer support in English and someone who’ll actually help if you ever need to dispute a claim, plus guidance on choosing the right insurer and policy for your age, circumstances and budget, rather than trying to work that out yourself by getting individual quotes from each company.

Portugal does have a public healthcare system which you can access once you hold your residency permit, but most of our clients opt for private coverage long-term. It’s a particularly affordable luxury here compared with what you’d pay in the US, UK, and elsewhere. Wait times to see specialists tend to be very short, and more doctors speak English than in the public system. Even with private insurance, expect a small co-payment for consultations, usually around €20, and for tests or scans.

8. Familiarise yourself with the Finanças portal

Finanças is Portugal’s tax authority, and the online portal is where you’ll manage most of your tax affairs going forward. When you got your NIF, your provider should have sent you a temporary password for the portal. Now’s the time to update it, if you haven’t already, and while you’re in there, update your registered address too.

If you’re planning to work as self-employed in Portugal, you’ll also need to open a tax activity through the portal and learn how to issue green receipts (recibos verdes) for any income you invoice. This part trips up a lot of people who try to handle it alone. A good accountant is worth having from the outset rather than trying to work it out retrospectively, and it’s something we can put you in touch with.

9. Get to know your surroundings

Beyond the admin, this is where the actual settling in happens: finding your local grocery stores and markets, working out which restaurants and cafés you’ll actually return to, scoping out beaches, parks or walking spots nearby, and doing whatever home shopping you need to make the place feel lived in. On the practical side, it’s worth locating your nearest centro de saúde (local health centre), pharmacy, hospital and dentist before you need them.

10. Get a Chave Móvel Digital (CMD)

This isn’t essential, but it makes a lot of Portuguese admin considerably easier. The Chave Móvel Digital (digital mobile key) lets you log into various government services and sign documents electronically, without needing to physically visit an office or dig out a Citizen Card reader.

11. Get your NISS, if you need one

Your NISS is your social security number in Portugal, and whether you need one at this stage depends on your situation –  whether you’ll be employed or self-employed, in Portugal.

AIMA are now expected to assign these automatically as part of the residency process, but we’d still recommend trying to get one yourself in advance of your appointment rather than relying on that happening smoothly. We’ve covered this in more detail in a separate article if you want the full picture.

12. Start meeting people

Expat groups and meetups are the easiest starting point, and most cities and larger towns have an active scene.

Getting to know Portuguese neighbours and locals is a different kind of integration, and even a handful of Portuguese phrases go a long way in how that’s received.

13. Start learning the language

Realistically, most people aren’t going to enrol in a proper Portuguese course within their first three months. What’s achievable for almost everyone is learning some key everyday words and phrases and actually using them.

English is spoken widely here, more so than in Spain or France in my experience, which makes for a fairly soft landing. Restaurant menus and phone systems are often available in English, and you’ll get by comfortably in the Algarve, Lisbon, Cascais and Porto. It’s less consistent in smaller towns and considerably less so in rural areas. That said, making an effort with the language is what actually moves you from visitor to resident in how people treat you, and it’s worth starting early even if you’re not fluent for years.

14. Understand your tax and social security obligations

This is worth getting properly on top of early.

Portugal’s tax year runs January to December, and you generally become tax resident once you’ve spent more than 183 days here, or as soon as you have a habitual residence available to you.

It’s worth checking whether you qualify for IFICI, Portugal’s newer favourable tax regime that replaced NHR, since it offers highly favourable rates on certain income for a set number of years if you meet the criteria.

You’ll also need to understand how Portugal’s tax system interacts with your home country’s. If you’re moving from the UK, that includes informing HMRC of your move. If you’re American, it means understanding how the exemptions on double taxation work (we’ve covered this in more detail in a separate article).

15. Find your professionals early

As part of our visa and relocation packages, we connect clients with our trusted network of professionals: Portuguese lawyers, accountants, buyer’s agents, financial advisors, and so on.

Having someone reliable in each of these areas isn’t just a nice-to-have. Portuguese bureaucracy rewards having the right person in your corner before something goes wrong, not after, and finding these people yourself from scratch, without any way to vet them, is one of the more frustrating parts of moving here without support.

16. Learn to be patient

The slower pace of life is one of the biggest draws for people moving to Portugal, and it’s often the first thing that frustrates new arrivals. You can’t want both a slower pace of life and for everything to move at the speed you’re used to elsewhere. Appointments get rescheduled. Portals go down. Replies take longer than you’d expect. None of this means something has gone wrong, it’s just how things move here, and the sooner you stop expecting otherwise, the easier the first few months become.

17. Give yourself time

Ninety days is enough to get the essentials sorted, but not enough to feel fully settled, and that’s normal. The admin will get done. The rest, knowing your neighbourhood, finding your routines, actually feeling at home, takes longer than any checklist can promise.