Portugal Work Visa From Nepal

Citizens of the EEA (the EU countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and Switzerland do not require any permission to work in Portugal.

However, all other foreign nationals will either need a short-term work visa to legally work in Portugal for up to one year, or a long-term work permit (known in Portugal officially as a temporary residence permit) to lawfully work in the country for more than a year.

A temporary residence permit can be renewed after initial two years for an additional three years. After five years, foreign nationals working in Portugal on temporary residence permits can apply for either permanent residence in the country or Portuguese citizenship, subject to the fulfilment of other relevant terms and conditions.

A Portuguese citizen or permanent resident can lawfully work in the country, and will not need to apply for any additional work permit to do so.

We will also discuss the job seeker visa in Portugal in this context, which allows a non-EEA/non-Swiss foreign national to enter Portugal and remain in the country for 120 days, without the need for a job offer or sponsorship, and with full access to the Portuguese job market.

Page Contents

• Overview of Portugal Work Visa
• Short-Term Work Visa in Portugal
• Long-Term Work Permit in Portugal
• Job Seeker Visa in Portugal
• Required Documents for Portuguese Work Visa
• Application Process for a Portugal Work Visa
• Processing Time
• Fees
• Work Visa Renewal in Portugal
• What If My Application Has Been Rejected?
• How Can Total Law Help?
• FAQs

Short-term work visas in Portugal, also referred to as temporary stay visas, allow non-EEA or non-Swiss foreign nationals to work in the country for up to one year.

Nepali nationals seeking to work in Portugal for less than a year can avail any of the short-term work visas mentioned below depending on their circumstances:

• Subordinate seasonal work: Allows seasonal work for a duration of up to 90 days (renewable up to 270 days provided specified conditions are fulfilled) in previously approved fields of work, such as:
  • Agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry and fishing
  • Hospitality, restaurants and similar
  • Food industry, liquor and tobacco industries
  • Gross and retail commerce
  • Construction
  • Land transport
• Independent work: A short-term work visa for self-employed foreign nationals for up to a year. You cannot work for any company/organisation in Portugal as an employee if you are in the country on this type of temporary work visa
• Highly qualified activity: A temporary stay visa for scientific research, academic teaching, or highly qualified activity purposes, for less than a year
• Remote work: A temporary stay visa for the exercise of a professional activity done remotely, for less than a year. This is a suitable visa for digital nomads whose earnings are done online
• Amateur sports activity: A temporary stay visa for amateur sports purposes
• Transfer of workers/service providers: A temporary stay visa in the framework of transfer of nationals to state parties to the World Trade Organization, for service providing or professional training purposes, when the applicant has been working in that role for one year or more

The above visa holders can enter and exit Portugal multiple times during their visa validity period.

To live and work in Portugal for longer than a year, non-EEA/non-Swiss foreign nationals will have to apply for a temporary residence permit (renewable for up to five years), which will eventually lead to a permanent residence permit or citizenship in Portugal after five years.

Non-EEA/non-Swiss foreign nationals seeking to work in Portugal for more than a year will first need to apply for a residency visa to travel to the country. This visa is valid for four months, and will allow them to enter Portugal for the purpose of applying for a temporary residence permit.

Once in Portugal, the residency visa holder will have to reach out to Portuguese Immigration and Border Service (SEF) for a temporary residence permit within four months, to continue to remain and work in Portugal for up to five years.

After five years of temporary residence in Portugal, a non-EEA/non-Swiss national can apply for a permanent residence permit (or Portuguese citizenship). A permanent residence permit has to be renewed every five years. As Portuguese permanent residents/citizens, they will not need any additional work permit to remain and work in the country.

A temporary residence permit for work allows non-EEA/non-Swiss foreign nationals to engage in the areas of work mentioned below in Portugal for up to five years:

• Subordinate work activity
• Independent work activity or migrant entrepreneur
• Teaching purposes, highly qualified or cultural activity
• Highly qualified subordinate activity
• Volunteer work
• For the exercise of a professional activity done remotely (suitable for digital nomads)

For example, a Nepali national will have to apply for a residence work visa in the Portuguese Honorary Consulate in Kathmandu before travelling to Portugal. The consulate is located at:

Laxmi Bank building, Hattisar

Kamalpokhari

P.O. Box 6156

Kathmandu

Nepal

A non-EEA/non-Swiss foreign national may enter and stay in Portugal on a job seeker visa for the purpose of looking for a job for 120 days or less. This visa will also authorise them to carry out a subordinate work activity in the country, until the visa expires or until they obtain a temporary residence permit.

This is a single entry visa, which is renewable for another 60 days, subject to conditions. If a job seeker visa holder succeeds to obtain a formal employment contract, they will be allowed to apply for a temporary residence permit, subject to the fulfilment of general conditions for granting the said permit.

However, the visa holder will have to leave Portugal if they fail to obtain a formal employment contract within the maximum validity limit of the job seeker visa. They may make a fresh visa application one year after the expiry of the previous visa’s validity.

Supporting Documents for Job Seeker Visa

• Completed and signed application form
• Two passport photos
• Passport or any other travel document, valid for three months from the estimated date of return
• Photocopy of the biometric page of passport
• Certificate of residency status if you are applying from a different country rather than your home country, with validity after the expiry date of the visa you are applying for
• Valid travel and medical insurance, to cover necessary medical expenses and any medical emergencies
• Criminal record certificate from the competent authorities of your home country or of the country where you have been legally residing for past one year, with the Hague Apostille (where applicable) or legalised
• A document giving permission to SEF for criminal record enquiry
• Proof of financial resources equivalent to at least the sum of three guaranteed monthly minimum salary
• Copy of return ticket

Please note that for all the above visa/permit categories, your supporting documents must either be in English or in Portuguese. If not, you will have to get them translated by a certified translator and then notarised.

Furthermore, since Nepal is not a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, your public documents will only be recognised for visa purposes after Portuguese consular legalisation, a process by which the signature and the seal of foreign documents are authenticated.

SEF may take up to 60 days to process your work permit application. Post that, your concerned Portuguese embassy or consulate may need 2-3 months to issue you with an entry visa.

To avoid any unnecessary delay in processing, please ensure you have filled up the application form completely and correctly as well as submitted all relevant supporting documents.

Portuguese work visa application and processing incur different fees, such as a Portugal entry visa fee of €90 (subject to variation from country to country) and a fee of €83 for submitting the application for your residence permit for work.

To receive your residence permit for work from SEF, you will have to pay an additional fee of €72.

Additional Costs

If your supporting documents are not in Portuguese or English, you will have to arrange for their certified translated copies, which will come at an additional cost. This cost may significantly vary depending on your country of residence.

Moreover, since Nepal is not a member of the Hague Apostille Convention, you may need to bear additional costs to get your documents legalised.

Temporary residence permit holders should apply to SEF to extend their stay in Portugal. SEF has a pre-booking system for scheduling a date and time for customer service, and you can book your appointment either by phone or online.

A temporary residence permit for work is renewable for up to five years, provided you still have a job offer from your employer and continue to meet the other eligibility criteria. After five years, you can apply for permanent residency or citizenship in Portugal, provided you fulfil all other terms and conditions.

An extension request for a job seeker visa must be accompanied by proof of registration with the Institute of Employment and Professional Training, IP in Portugal. A declaration by the applicant, indicating that the conditions of the planned stay will be maintained, will have to be submitted as well for any extension consideration.

You can appeal the visa refusal in compliance with Portuguese domestic law.

You may lodge a complaint at your concerned embassy/consulate within 15 days from receiving the visa refusal notice. Or you may appeal at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within three months after receiving the notice.

Alternatively, you can initiate legal action at the Administrative Court of Lisbon Circle within three months after receiving the notice.

The above options are not mutually exclusive. You may appeal to the Ministry and depending on the results of such appeal, continue towards legal action.