After you graduate
Rules read 19 Aug 2026
What Portugal's own immigration authority currently publishes. Not a ranking, not a guarantee, and not the same as what any agent or forum will tell you. Whether someone actually obtains residence depends on occupation, points, funds and policy that can change between application and graduation.
Money you must prove before the visa
€920per month
Shown as a balance in a bank account. You keep control of it.
Figure published for: 2026 This amount is revised regularly, so check it again before you transfer anything.
Set at 100% of Portugal's guaranteed minimum monthly wage (RMMG), which the same decree sets at EUR 920 for 2026 — this is the general means-of-subsistence reference figure, not a student-specific one, but Portugal's own visa portal states a student or student-exchange applicant is held to 'the criteria in force' (i.e. this same figure) for either the full 12 months or however many months the stay lasts. It can be reduced to 50% (EUR 460/month) if accommodation is already proven arranged, or to as little as 10% (EUR 92/month) if both accommodation and food are proven arranged.
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Work during study
Portugal's Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo (AIMA) states that a holder of a residence authorisation issued for higher-education study (Article 91 of the Foreigners' Law, REPSAE) may carry out a professional activity, employed or self-employed, as a complement to the activity that gave rise to the residence authorisation (Article 97 REPSAE). Unlike several other countries in this dataset, AIMA's factsheet on this authorisation states no specific numeric weekly-hours cap for this route — only that the work must remain complementary to the study itself. The study residence authorisation is granted for 3 years, renewable, or for the duration of the study programme if shorter (2 years, or 1 year in some cases, for students on an EU/multilateral mobility programme or an inter-institutional agreement).
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Post-study work visa
Autorização de residência temporária sem visto para procura de emprego (Art.º 122, alíneas o)/p)) — post-study job-search / business-startup residence authorisation . Up to 1 year
AIMA states that a higher-education student or researcher who has finished their studies or research project in Portugal may benefit from a maximum period of 1 year to look for a job or start a business in Portuguese territory compatible with their qualifications, applied for via a dedicated online scheduling form for foreign students who don't need a visa. Required documents include proof of completed studies, and — notably — either an employment/services contract with a declaration of starting independent activity with the Tax Authority, or a declaration that the applicant intends to use the maximum 1-year job-search period, plus proof of Social Security registration (NISS).
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Route to citizenship
Portuguese nationality by naturalisation is granted by the Ministério da Justiça. Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 of 18 May 2026, in force from 19 May 2026, revised the Lei da Nacionalidade and raised the minimum period of legal residence in Portugal required to apply: SEVEN years for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries or of EU Member States, and TEN years for nationals of all other States. The ministry states the new provisions apply only to applications submitted after that date, and that pending cases continue under the previous wording. The same law adds requirements beyond residence length: sufficient knowledge of Portuguese culture, national history and national symbols; knowledge of the fundamental rights and duties attached to Portuguese nationality and of the political organisation of the Portuguese State; a solemn declaration of adherence to the fundamental principles of the democratic rule of law; no effective prison sentence longer than 3 years for terrorism, violent or highly organised crime, crimes against State security or aiding illegal immigration; not being subject to UN or EU restrictive measures; and the capacity to support oneself. Sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese language remains a condition on the ministry's own guide page for applicants resident at least 10 years. Neither the reform notice nor that guide page lists any requirement to renounce an existing nationality.
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New entry added 19 August 2026. Two Portuguese government domains added to IMMIGRATION_DOMAINS in scripts/verify.mjs: aima.gov.pt (Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo, Portugal's current immigration authority, which replaced SEF in 2023) and justica.gov.pt (Ministério da Justiça, the nationality authority). UPDATE 26 August 2026 — the 5-vs-10-year discrepancy the first pass flagged is now RESOLVED, and the answer is that the 5 was stale. The Ministério da Justiça's own news page reports Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026, de 18 de maio (rectified by Declaração de Retificação n.º 17/2026), which revised the Lei da Nacionalidade with effect from 19 May 2026 and set the minimum legal-residence period for naturalisation at seven years for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries and EU Member States and ten years for nationals of other States. citizenshipTerms.minimumResidenceYears is therefore now 10, not 5: this site's readers are overwhelmingly third-country nationals, for whom ten is the operative figure, and the seven-year CPLP/EU figure is recorded in citizenshipRoute's prose rather than in the number, because the schema holds one general-case figure. The ministry's main 'Nacionalidade portuguesa' summary page still said 'reside legalmente em Portugal há pelo menos 5 anos' when re-fetched on 26 August 2026 (snapshot aa440bba100ba4d2) — that page has not been updated for its own ministry's reform, which is exactly why the earlier pass saw a conflict with the 10-year guide page. The reform also removed the Sephardic-descent route, made acquisition by adoption non-automatic, and extended eligibility to great-grandchildren of Portuguese nationals; it applies only to applications lodged after 19 May 2026, with pending cases decided under the old wording. residencyRoute is left null: this dataset found no distinct permanent-residence status description separate from the study/post-study/work residence-authorisation chain and the citizenship route itself — though AIMA does publish the Estatuto de Residente de Longa Duração (5 years) and the Autorização de Residência Permanente (Art. 80.º), both archived in this pass. inDemandOccupations is left null: no shortage-occupation list was found tied to these routes. naturalisationStatus stays "published-route". dualCitizenshipAllowed is null: no page found states a renunciation requirement, and absence from a conditions list is not a statement that renunciation is not required. studentTimeCountsTowardResidence is recorded as "not-stated" — see that field for why it was not inferred.
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