Portugal work visa 2026: job contract, employer-led application, Via Verde and AIMA

Article 59 of the Foreigners Act allows a residence visa for employed work to anyone who meets the general conditions of article 52 and has one of these two things ¹:

• an employment contract or a promise of an employment contract;
• recognised qualifications, skills or credentials for the job, with an individual expression of interest from the employer (manifestação individualizada de interesse).

If your profession is regulated in Portugal, as in healthcare and engineering, you also need to prove that you are entitled to practise it in the country ⁶. Your means of subsistence can be proven by the contract or promise of contract itself ⁶.

The Institute for Employment and Vocational Training (IEFP) runs a public online system of job offers ¹. It helps you find vacancies, and the visa still depends on a specific employer.

If you have a high salary and a contract of at least six months, you can also look at the visa for highly qualified activity, which requires annual pay of at least 1.5 times the national average gross annual salary, or three times the IAS (Indexante dos Apoios Sociais, Portugal's social support index) ⁶.

On 24 July 2026, the Embassy of Portugal in Brasília published a new procedure for work visas ³. It applies to applications made in Brazil. The main points:

• Who can apply: Portuguese companies that are registered and up to date with their social security contributions, from their own email or through a lawyer or solicitador (a Portuguese legal professional) with power of attorney. Requests from intermediaries or from the workers themselves are not considered ³.
• Where to: vistostrabalho.brasilia@mne.pt, with the subject line "Nome da empresa: Pedido de agendamento de vistos de trabalho" (company name: work visa appointment request) ³.
• What the company sends: a list of the workers (name, nationality, passport, email and chosen VFS centre), its permanent company registration certificate (certidão permanente), its tax number (NIF), the workplace, proof of housing in Portugal fit to live in, proof that its tax and social security affairs are in order, and the start date and length of the contracts ³.
• Appointment: the Consular Section checks the documents and sets a date at one of the 10 VFS centres in Brazil. On the day, you bring the confirmation email printed out. Incomplete requests are rejected ³.

Since 31 July 2026, only requests that follow this route are accepted; applications made directly at VFS up to that date went ahead without the requirement ³. The procedure does not apply to companies that already use the Protocol of Cooperation for Regulated Labour Migration ³.

Since 17 April 2026, all Portuguese visa applications made in Brazil are in person, at one of the 10 VFS centres: São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Belém, Fortaleza, Recife, Curitiba and Porto Alegre ⁴.

If you apply from another country, such as Angola, Mozambique, India or Nepal, check the procedure of the Portuguese consulate for your area.

The Protocol of Cooperation for Regulated Labour Migration (Protocolo de Cooperação para a Migração Laboral Regulada) was put into practice in April 2025 ⁵ and became known in the press as the "via verde" (green lane) ⁹. AIMA explains that it keeps the same legal requirements for visas and organises recruitment with an employment contract, with shorter deadlines ⁵.

The following can join: employers' or business confederations, business associations with at least 30 members and €200 million in turnover, or companies with 150 or more workers, a turnover of at least €20 million, no debts to the tax authority or Social Security (Segurança Social) and a valid permanent company registration certificate ⁵. Companies that do not meet these criteria can recruit through one of the five signatory confederations: CIP, CCP, CAP, CTP and CPCI ⁵.

A participating company commits to "ethical recruitment": a contract valid under Portuguese law, vocational training and Portuguese language teaching, access to adequate housing and prevention of labour exploitation ⁵.

The deadlines set in the protocol:

Stage	Deadline
AIMA's check of the company's suitability	Expected maximum of 20 working days after all documents are submitted
Booking of the appointment at the consulate	Up to 10 working days after the standard case file is validated
Visa decision	Up to 20 working days after the appointment, once all opinions have been issued

Source of the table: ⁵. If your future employer takes part in the protocol, ask which confederation is handling the process.

The general list on the visa portal for residence visas asks for ⁶:

• the application on the official form, signed;
• two identical passport-style photos;
• a passport valid for three months beyond the planned stay;
• travel insurance covering medical expenses and repatriation. The portal names the social security agreement with Brazil (certificate PB4) as an example of an agreement that can replace this requirement;
• a criminal record certificate from your country of origin or from the country where you have lived for more than a year, with an apostille;
• proof of means of subsistence.

For employed work, add the contract or promise of contract (or the employer's expression of interest) and, if the profession is regulated, proof that you are entitled to practise it ⁶.

For Brazilians, the criminal record certificate is issued by the Polícia Federal (Federal Police) and apostilled at a notary's office (cartório).

The residence visa lets you enter twice and stay four months in Portugal to apply for the residence permit ¹. A pre-authorisation of residence is issued with the visa, with provisional tax, Social Security and National Health Service (Serviço Nacional de Saúde) numbers ¹.

For the residence permit for employed work, the law requires an employment contract made under the law and registration with Social Security, as well as the general requirements of article 77 ². If you change employer later, you only need to report the change to AIMA, with no new residence card ².

Nationals of a country in the CPLP Agreement (the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, which includes Brazil, Angola and Mozambique) have another option: with a residence visa, they can apply at AIMA for the CPLP residence permit ². This rule was rewritten by Lei n.º 61/2025 and requires the residence visa to be issued before you travel ².

The consolidated version of the Foreigners Act shows that Lei n.º 62/2026, of 10 September, amended articles 59 and 88 again ^{1 2}. The text cited here is the consolidated version in force on the date of this check.