Portugal Work Visa For Turkish Citizens

If you are not a citizen of the EU, EEA, or Switzerland, you will need a work visa in order to legally work in Portugal. If you are a Turkish citizen, you will therefore most likely need to obtain a work visa if you plan to work in Portugal.

Portugal’s work visas are intended to attract high-quality workers from outside of the EU. They are therefore popular choices amongst Turkish citizens who wish to pursue employment within Portugal.

However, a Portuguese work visa will not qualify you to work in the rest of the EU. For this, you will need to apply for Portuguese citizenship, which you can apply for after legally residing in Portugal for at least 5 years.

Note that, if you are a citizen of either the EU, EEA, or Switzerland, you will not need a work visa in order to work in Portugal, but you will still require a Residence Certificate in order to live in Portugal for over 3 months.

Page Contents

• An Introduction to Portugal Work Visas For Turkish Citizens
• Portugal Work Visa: Eligibility
• Portugal Work Visa And Work Permit: Required Documents
• How to Get a Work Visa In Portugal: The Application Process For Citizens of Turkey
• Working In Portugal As A Turkish Citizen: The Visa Options
• EU Blue Card: Who Is It For?
• The Fees Associated With The Portugal Work Visa Applications
• Processing Times: The Typical Time It Takes To Get Results
• What Is The Validity Period Of The Portugal Work Visa?
• Work Visa To Citizenship
• How can Total Law Help?
• FAQ

In order to be eligible for a Portuguese work visa, you must satisfy the following conditions:

• You must have received a job offer by a Portuguese employer. Note that the job must already have been posted for at least a month at the point at which the offer is made, in order to ensure that the role could not otherwise have been filled by a citizen of either the EU or Portugal.
• You will first need to obtain a work permit, which your employer must apply for on your behalf.
• You will need to have a clean criminal record. You are very unlikely to be granted a work visa if you have previously been convicted of a crime in either your home country or any country in which you have previously resided.

When applying for a Portuguese work permit and work visa, there are a number of documents which will need to be included with your application. These documents will generally be required for all visa types, and are listed below:

• A Valid Passport
• Passport photos (to the Portuguese passport photo standard)
• Employment Contract (note that this will not be necessary in the case of the Job Seeker visa, the details of which are outlined in the next section)
• Documentation of your Health Insurance
• A background check for your country of residence. Note that you will also have to provide your criminal record for any other country which you have resided in for over a year. As noted previously, you are very unlikely to be granted a work visa in the event that you have a criminal record
• Proof of Portuguese accommodation
• Proof that you have the financial means to support yourself
• Documented permission for the Portuguese Immigration and Border Service (SEF) to check your criminal record in Portugal

Note that it is your employer who will need to apply for the work permit, on your behalf. Once this has been granted, you will then need to apply for a work visa. This is discussed in more detail in the next section.

As a Turkish citizen, you are likely to need both a work permit and a work visa in order to legally work in Portugal.

The first step in applying for a Portuguese work visa is accepting a job offer from a Portuguese company and signing a contract. After this, your employer will need to contact the Portuguese Labour Authorities and apply for a work permit on your behalf. You will need this work permit in order to then apply for your work visa. The work visa for which you apply will depend on the nature of your job. The different types of work visas are outlined in the next section.

You can start the visa application process on the website of your local Portuguese consulate or embassy. From here, you will need to book an in-person meeting with your local consulate. For Turkey in particular, there is an Embassy and Consular Section in Ankara, in addition to Honorary Consulates in Istanbul, Antalya, and Izmir.

At your visa meeting, you will be required both to provide your documents and to attend an interview. If your interview is successful and your documents are all present and deemed acceptable, your work visa will then be granted.

Note that, when completing your application, you will need to provide original versions of all of the necessary documents. These can be in either Portuguese or English. Where the documents are not already in one of these languages, they should be translated by a certified translator.

Once you have your work visa, you are then able to enter Portugal. Once you actually arrive in Portugal, you will then need to apply for a residence permit.

There are 2 main steps to applying for your residence permit:

• You will need to register for social security. You will then be provided with a tax number, which will allow you to fulfil your tax obligations when working in Portugal. This can be done at the Portuguese Social Security Office. Whilst you do not need to apply for this from within Portugal, you will require a Portuguese bank account in order to complete the application, and so it is often easier to complete this step once you arrive in Portugal.
• When you arrive in Portugal, you must book an appointment with the SEF. This appointment will involve a further interview. If you successfully pass this interview, you will be asked to provide your biometric data and will then be granted a residence permit.

Note that this SEF appointment is made for you when you attend your embassy visa appointment.

The EU Blue Card is for non-EU citizens who have skills which are highly sought-after within the EU. When applying for this visa type, you will need to provide evidence that you have the education, skills, and professional background necessary to be granted an EU Blue Card.

Once you have been granted an EU Blue Card, you will be able to enter and re-enter Portugal. You will also be entitled to free movement within the EU.

There are a number of fees associated with applying for a Portuguese work visa. As such, it is difficult to provide an exact figure. However, you should expect to pay the following fees:

• €90 for a temporary stay visa (such as the Independent and Highly Qualified work visas)
• Around €70- 80 when applying for a temporary residence permit

Note that these fees may vary depending on the exact nature and location of your application.

Processing time for each stage of the application varies according to a number of factors, including whether all the required documents have been submitted successfully and how many other applications are also being processed. Generally, your work permit should be processed within 1 to 2 months. Your work visa should then be issued within 2 to 3 months.

In order to ensure that your visa is granted as soon as possible, make sure that you submit all of the required documents at the point of application. Incorrectly submitted documents can cause delays in your application.

The Portuguese work visa itself is generally only valid for 4 months. It must also be supplemented by a temporary residence permit, which allows you to work in Portugal for longer than this initial 4 month period. This can be renewed after 2 years for three extra years, after which point you will be eligible to apply for permanent residence and citizenship.

Once permanent residence or citizenship have been granted, you will no longer require a visa in order to legally work in Portugal.

In the event that you are caught overstaying your work visa, you will be subject to deportation and to a fine. You are also likely to be denied entry to Portugal in the future, and to to be ineligible for further Portuguese work visas in the future.

Once you have legally resided in Portugal for at least 5 years, you may then be eligible to apply for Portuguese citizenship. If you successfully obtain Portuguese citizenship, you will gain the right to work, study, and live in all of the other member states of the EU.  You will no longer be limited to working in Portugal exclusively. You will also no longer require a work visa in order to legally work within the EU.