Working in Portugal: no permit, but a NISS — and as a self-employed person the first year without contributions

Yes, as a Dutch national you may work in Portugal without a permit, employed or for yourself, and the government says it without ceremony: whoever works in Portugal has the same rights and duties as someone with Portuguese nationality. What it yields starts at the legal minimum: € 920 gross a month in 2026. What you need is the NISS, the number of the Segurança Social, and if need be your employer applies for it for you. The find is for whoever starts for themselves: the Finanças report your start automatically to the Segurança Social, and your obligation to contribute only starts on the first day of the twelfth month. The trap is the regulated profession: for that your qualification must be recognised before you start.

What do you earn, and how is a Portuguese contract put together?

The minimum wage — the retribuição mínima mensal garantida — is set by decree at € 920 a month with effect from 1 January 2026, a rise of 5.7%. Normal working time is at most 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week, and you are entitled to at least 22 working days of holiday a year, with a holiday allowance on top, the subsídio de férias.

Contract type	What it is	Limit
Termo certo	temporary, with a fixed end date	at most 2 years, renewable at most twice
Termo incerto	temporary, ending on an event	at most 4 years, then a right to compensation
Sem termo	permanent contract	no end date; not allowed for a temporary need
Muito curta duração	seasonal work, for instance in tourism or agriculture	at most 35 days per contract and 70 days a year
Prestação de serviços	you work as a self-employed person for clients	you pay the tax and the contributions yourself

A contract may be oral, but the employer must inform you in writing about, among other things, the job, the start date, the probation period, the pay and the notice periods.

Which number do you need, and who applies for it?

The NISS, the Número de Identificação da Segurança Social. Without that number your employer cannot register you. The application is online and free; foreigners supply an identity document, proof of their work situation — the employment contract, or the start of your activity as a self-employed person — and their residence document. An employer may also apply for the NISS for you, but only after signing a contract with you and reporting the employment to the Segurança Social. You then collect the number in person, and how that works in practice is in the article on NISS and health number. Your NIF you already have by then — that is the number the contract, the bank and the payslip hang on.

What does a self-employed person pay, and from when?

You start with an início de atividade at the Finanças; with that you become a trabalhador independente and may issue recibos verdes. Whoever invoices only once a year and stays under € 25,000 can do so as an ato isolado without opening an activity. For everyone who invoices more often, the Segurança Social's guide applies:

• The tax authority passes your start automatically to the Segurança Social, including your NIF; you do not have to report there separately.
• If you start as self-employed for the first time, your enrolment in the contribution regime only takes effect on the first day of the twelfth month after the start. If you want to build up earlier, you can ask for it at the first quarterly declaration.
• The contribution is 21.4% of your contribution base, and that base is a share of your turnover set every quarter. Without income or with a calculation under € 20 you pay the minimum of € 20 a month.
• If you are also employed and your average self-employed income stays under € 2,148.52 a month (four times the 2026 IAS), you are exempt from contributions as a self-employed person.

The first year without contributions is not a year without the question of cover. In those twelve months you build up nothing and you are not yet insured through your Portuguese work. So look at how your healthcare runs in that year: through your own policy, or through a partner who is employed.

Do you need your degree recognised?

Only if your profession is regulated. For most professions the employer decides for themselves what your degree is worth; for a regulated profession — in Europe those are the professions for which a specific qualification is required by law — you apply for recognition from the Portuguese competent authority before you start. Apart from that you can have your degree academically recognised through the DGES, and there are three routes. Automatic recognition applies only to degrees on a fixed list, costs € 32.20 at the DGES and takes at most 30 days after a complete file. Recognition by level and specific recognition run through a public university and take at most 90 days. Whether your degree is on that list, you check in the DGES's online form before you pay.

In the roadmap for Portugal work sits in the first phase: whether you are going to work in Portugal determines whether you have to meet the income and healthcare requirement, and whether healthcare runs through the Segurança Social or through the CAK.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 1 of 5 of the journey, step 1.2: 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 1.2 in the open plan.