Portugal · administrative route
Emigrating to Portugal
As a Dutch citizen you need no visa — you may simply live there. The route resembles the Spanish one, with one difference that decides everything: the NIF, the tax number without which nothing can happen, is smartest arranged from the Netherlands already. This page shows in which order the rest follows.
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- Kind of journey
- No visa needed
- Obligation
- Register after three months (CRUE)
- Lead time
- Three to nine months (indicative)
Last updated: August 2026
The journey
Five phases, from orientation to being settled
Just as with Spain you wait for nobody's permission, so the pace is up to you. The order is strict though: the NIF is the key to almost every counter, and the registration here runs via the municipality — the câmara municipal — where the appointment is the real work.
- 1
Orientation
Being allowed to stay is something else than being settled
As an EU citizen you may live and work in Portugal without a visa. But stay longer than three months and you're obliged to register — and that registration has requirements: work, or sufficient means with healthcare cover. This is also the phase of choosing your region, and in Portugal that's sharper than people think: between Lisbon and the interior lies a housing-cost difference of more than a factor two, and the north has real, wet winters. And count on the language: Portuguese is harder for Dutch people than Spanish, and English gets you by in the Algarve but not at the municipal counter.
- 2
Closing the Netherlands
The NIF is the biggest head start there is
Without a NIF — the tax number — no bank account, no rental contract, no energy contract. As an EU citizen you can apply for it before departure, and that's the opening move of this whole journey: whoever has the number in their pocket lands with everything waiting for it. Then the fixed closing chores: deregistering with the municipality, health insurance, benefits, and the conversation with a tax specialist — certainly if someone told you Portugal is a tax haven, because the favourable regime of old is closed to newcomers.
- 3
The move
By road, but far — and with an exemption to win
Portugal lies on the same road as Spain, only a thousand kilometres further: a part-load, your own lorry, or driving yourself in two long days. Pets simply come along with an EU pet passport. And whoever brings their car has something to win here that changes the whole calculation: Portugal levies a hefty registration tax (ISV) on imported cars, but has an exemption when you move your main residence — with strict conditions and deadlines. That easily saves thousands of euros, or costs them, for whoever misses the deadline.
- 4
Registration in Portugal
Same law as in Spain, different counter
After three months' stay you get your CRUE — the registration certificate for EU citizens — and you do that not at an immigration service but at the câmara municipal, the town hall of your place of residence. Before that comes the home, because the registration wants to see an address. And after that follow the numbers that carry the rest of your life there: the NISS for work and social security, the número de utente for healthcare. Every document is the key to the next — come complete, because the appointment is the real work here.
- 5
Arrival
From settled to simply living
School for the children — public education is free and allocates by address. The GP via the centro de saúde of your neighbourhood. The car on Portuguese plates, with the exemption you prepared in phase 3 — this is the step with the most expensive delay of the whole journey. And the question of where you pay tax, which you discussed with a tax specialist in phase 2, becomes reality here.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Portugal journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 3.4 of your plan
Decide about the car — and know the ISV exemption
- Lead time
- decision moment; the conversion itself comes after arrival
- Costs
- if you bring it — inspection and fees; the import tax is exempt on relocation, provided you apply in time
Portugal levies a hefty import tax on cars — the ISV, for an ordinary mid-range car quickly thousands of euros. But whoever moves their main residence to Portugal can get a full exemption. The conditions to know now: the car has been your property for at least six months, you lived outside Portugal for at least six months, one vehicle per person, and once every ten years.
The deadlines are hard: you apply for the exemption within twelve months of your move, the customs declaration of the vehicle (the DAV) belongs within twenty working days of entry, and after the grant the car may not be sold, rented out or lent for twelve months.
With the exemption, bringing it is suddenly the cheap option; without it the sum tips completely. So weigh it before departure: check the ownership date on your registration document, and only then decide whether the car goes onto the lorry or gets sold in the Netherlands. The execution — inspection, plates, application — is ready for you in phase 5.
This is step 3.4 of 28. The other 27 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
What it costs
A rough indication for your situation
A few short questions, and you get a range instead of an amount. That's deliberate: an exact figure would suggest a precision nobody has.
Count on a total of
€ 2.600 – € 6.600
Where does that difference come from?
- De eerste maanden€ 2.500 – € 6.000
Open the breakdown below: there you'll find per item where the upper and the lower limit come from.
- Aanvraag en papieren
- € 15 – € 150
- De verhuizing
- € 150 – € 450
- De eerste maanden
- € 2.500 – € 6.000
View the itemsPer item the amount, the source and whether it's a rate or an estimate
Aanvraag en papieren
- CRUE-registratie bij de gemeente€ 15 – € 20
- NIF en eventuele hulp bij het aanvragen(estimate)€ 0 – € 100
De verhuizing
- Reis(estimate)€ 150 – € 450
Vliegen of zelf rijden — tweeduizend kilometer, dus zelf rijden is twee lange dagen met een overnachting en meer brandstof dan naar Spanje.
De eerste maanden
- De eerste maanden(estimate)€ 2.500 – € 6.000
Borg en huur vooruit (wettelijk elk gemaximeerd op twee maanden, dus reken op twee tot vier maanden huur bij het tekenen), tijdelijk wonen, en leven zolang er nog geen inkomen binnenkomt. De regio is hier de grote knop: een appartement in Lissabon kost Nederlandse prijzen, in het binnenland minder dan de helft daarvan.
And if you buy a house?
This calculation assumes renting: the first months include deposit and rent in advance.
If you buy, count on 7 to 9% of the purchase price on top of this amount. On a home of € 250,000 that's € 17.500 to € 22.500.
De IMT (overdrachtsbelasting) is veruit de grootste post. Voor ingezetenen loopt die op met de prijs en begint hij bij nul; voor niet-ingezetenen geldt sinds 2026 een vast tarief van 7,5%. Daarbovenop 0,8% zegelrecht, en nog eens 0,6% als je een hypotheek afsluit. Notaris en registratie samen ongeveer duizend euro. Let op de volgorde: koop je voordat je als ingezetene staat ingeschreven, dan val je onder het hogere tarief.
An order of magnitude based on averages, not a quote. The real amounts depend on your occupation, your route, the season and dozens of choices you still have to make.
Rates checked on 10 August 2026.
Your complete, personal cost picture — with your route, your documents and your deadlines — you get in Vertrekklaar.
That was the move. And once you live there?
Who may tax your pension once you live in Portugal, is there a favourable regime, and how do you become insured? That depends on where your income comes from. Tick it and you see which rules apply to you — with the source.
See the financial conditionsThe departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Portugal: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that only a short update when something in Portugal really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Read on
The knowledge base on Portugal
Per phase, the articles that are already there. They're written from the same journey and go deeper than what fits above.
Closing the Netherlands
- 3 min
Tax in Portugal: the paradise is closed (and what does apply)
The famous NHR regime has been closed to newcomers since 2024. Its successor (IFICI) is for a narrow group of professions — most Dutch emigrants simply fall under the normal Portuguese rates. What that means, before you decide.
Updated 10 August 2026
- 2 min
Arranging the NIF before you leave: the opening move of your Portuguese process
Without a NIF — the Portuguese tax number — no bank account, no rental contract, no contracts. As an EU citizen you can already apply for it from the Netherlands, without the tax representative that commercial services make you pay for.
Updated 10 August 2026
Registration in Portugal
- 3 min
The CRUE: the registration at the câmara that's mandatory after three months
After three months in Portugal you have 30 days to register — not at an immigration office, but at the town hall. What it costs, what you bring, and the fine almost nobody knows about.
Updated 10 August 2026
- 3 min
NISS and número de utente: the two numbers that carry your Portuguese life
After the NIF come two more numbers: the NISS for work and social security, the número de utente for healthcare. Who applies for them, where, and the route pensioners take through the CAK — with a counter that arranges three numbers in one go.
Updated 28 August 2026
Leaving the Netherlands — for every destination
- 2 min
Keeping a bank account and DigiD: the two lines you never cut
After your deregistration you still need the Netherlands for years — for the M return, refunds and your pension. Within the EU your bank account is a right, towards Australia a favour from the bank. And your DigiD you arrange before departure, not after.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
The protective assessment: the bill that travels with you, and that never expires for one item
On emigration the Netherlands imposes an assessment on your pension, your annuity and your substantial shareholding that you don't have to pay — as long as you do nothing that makes it collectable. For pension and annuity it usually lapses after ten years. For a substantial shareholding it doesn't: that one remains valid indefinitely.
Updated 27 August 2026
- 2 min
Emigrating with children after a divorce: the consent that comes before everything
With joint custody you can't just go abroad with the children — you need the consent of the other parent, or substitute consent from the court. What the court weighs, and why leaving without consent is legally child abduction.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Emigrating on early retirement: the CAK route is expected to close as of 1 November 2026
Whoever moves to the EU or Switzerland with a Dutch pension arranges their healthcare via the CAK. That door is closing to a crack: as expected, from 1 November only new applicants with AOW, Anw, WAO, WIA or Wajong will be admitted. Early retirement and RVU fall outside it — whoever is already a customer keeps their rights.
Updated 16 August 2026
- 2 min
The M form: the tax return for the year in which you emigrated
For the year of your departure you lived partly inside and partly outside the Netherlands, and a separate return goes with that. Nowadays it can be done online — but you have to think of it yourself, because an invitation rarely comes by itself.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 2 min
Your AOW accrual stops on departure — and you have one year to repair that
Every year outside the Netherlands costs you 2% AOW (the Dutch state pension), for life. The SVB has a voluntary continuation that closes that gap — but signing up is only possible in the first year after departure, and almost everyone misses that deadline.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Your Dutch pension abroad: what comes along, and who levies
The AOW (the Dutch state pension) travels fully to the EU and to Australia — the latter thanks to a treaty from 2001. Your company pension too, but *where* you pay on it depends on the tax treaty, and the exemption you arrange yourself.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 3 min
Cancelling your health insurance without a gap
Your Dutch basic insurance is tied to living or working in the Netherlands and stops being a given on emigration. The art is to have the end date match your new cover — and to know which route belongs to your situation.
Updated 28 August 2026
- 2 min
Taking medicines across the border: certificates, supply and the 90-day ceiling
For medicines under the Opium Act you need a certificate — and the Dutch system only carries you for three months. What you arrange with the CAK, what Australia wants to see at the border, and why finding a local doctor simply belongs to your first weeks.
Updated 11 August 2026
- 9 min
Partner comes along without a job of their own: deregistering, healthcare, AOW and the house
Your partner has a job, a visa or a right of residence there; you come along without a job of your own. Administratively you're then no passenger: the deregistration, the end of your health insurance and your AOW accrual apply to you separately. What you get back if you arrange it well, what it costs if you let it slide — and why "just staying registered" isn't an option.
Updated 7 September 2026
- 2 min
Stopping allowances on emigration: do it yourself, and in time
Housing allowance, healthcare allowance, childcare allowance and child budget don't stop by themselves on the day you leave. Whoever lets them run gets a reclaim months later — this is what you arrange per allowance.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 3 min
Deregistering with the municipality: when exactly, and what stops then
Deregistering from the BRP is only possible from five days before departure, and is compulsory as soon as you're away for more than eight months a year. What stops at that moment, what stays, and which piece of paper you have to ask for right away.
Updated 9 August 2026
- 6 min
When does your pension stay taxed in the Netherlands? The three pots and the three conditions
"Your pension is taxed in your new country of residence" is right by approximation and not in the details. Your AOW, your company pension and your government pension each follow a rule of their own, and with the company pension the Netherlands can still levy if three conditions apply at once. This article explains which three, and which four questions you have to answer for your own situation.
Updated 27 August 2026
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