Your first weeks in Portugal: the six clocks that run, and the order that makes them feasible

Can it be done: settled in Portugal within a few weeks? Yes, if you already have the NIF and keep to the order. What it costs is modest — the municipal registration a tenner or two per person, the driving licence free, the bank account a few euros a year on the basic account. The trap is that Portugal asks nothing of you on the day you arrive and everything at once on the day you need something. Six clocks start running without anyone switching them on, and the shortest is not the best known: sixty days for your driving licence, while the registration with the municipality is only due after three months.

Which deadlines run from day one?

Clock	Deadline	Counter	What it costs
Registering your driving licence	within 60 days of settling	IMT, online	free
Registration as an EU citizen (CRUE)	within 30 days after your first three months	câmara municipal of your place of residence	a fee per person
Dog or cat in the SIAC	as soon as the animal has been in Portugal 120 days	an accredited vet	the vet's rate
ISV exemption for your car	up to 12 months after your move	Portal das Finanças, online	free; then inspection and plates
Basic account at the bank	the bank decides within 10 days of your application	any bank that takes deposits	at most 1% of the IAS a year
Health number	no deadline; at your first visit	centro de saúde of your area	free

Whoever pins this table to the fridge has the most important part of this article. The rest is about the order, because that is not free.

Why does everything start with the NIF?

Because the Portuguese government has set it up that way: according to gov.pt the NIF is needed "to buy goods or services, conclude contracts or open bank accounts". No NIF, no rental contract; no rental contract, no address; no address, no registration and no bank. Ideally you have therefore applied for the number from the Netherlands; if not, it is your first appointment, at an office of the Finanças, by appointment.

Straight after that comes the bank account, with NIF and passport. Ask straight away for the basic account if you do not want a second Portuguese current account: the bank must decide within ten days, and converting an ordinary account later costs you a second visit. With a Portuguese IBAN you can put energy and internet in your name — and that produces the proofs the municipality will want to see.

What do you arrange in the first sixty days?

The driving licence, and that is the clock everyone misses. Your Dutch licence stays valid and exchanging is not required, but whoever settles in Portugal has, according to the IMT, the duty to register it within sixty days, "on pain of an offence". It is free and online; how it works and what you bring is explained separately. That the municipality only knows you after three months is no reason to wait: register as soon as you have an address.

In the same weeks belongs the decision about the car, not the execution: the ISV exemption has twelve months, but the customs declaration of the vehicle itself has a much shorter deadline after entry, and that is in that article.

What happens around the hundred-and-twentieth day?

Two registrations in the same week. Lei 37/2006 says that an EU citizen who stays longer than three months must complete "the registration that formalises their right of residence within 30 days after three months have elapsed", at the câmara municipal of their place of residence. That is the CRUE, in person, for each family member, with passport, a declaration that you meet the conditions and in practice your rental contract. And if a dog or cat has come along: as soon as the animal has been in Portugal for 120 days it must, according to DGAV, be in the SIAC, through an accredited vet — what that involves.

Plan the CRUE appointment in month three, not in month four. The law gives you thirty days after the first three months, but you have to get the appointment at the câmara yourself and one missing paper means a new one. Whoever only starts on day 121 is sitting on a fine of € 400 to € 1,500 that the law puts on missing the deadline.

And healthcare, work and the rest?

The health number has no deadline: you get it at your first visit to a centro de saúde, and the number alone is not yet cover — which of the three routes is yours determines who pays. If you come with an S1 from the CAK, you hand it in at the district office of the Segurança Social. If you are going to work, you need the NISS, and your employer can apply for it as soon as the contract is signed.

The rest — school, GP, the car onto plates — belongs to the arrival phase, and the family conversation about whether this is right belongs to no counter at all. The roadmap for Portugal puts all the clocks from this article in your order, with the deadlines watched.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 4 of 5 of the journey, step 4.4: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Portugal or go straight to step 4.4 in the open plan.