How Can I Get a Permanent Residency in Portugal?

Jayshree Makadia
3 min readJun 16, 2022

For many, moving out of your old home and moving into an even bigger and better one makes for a major milestone in life. This achievement is even greater if you move to a different country. Portugal is one of the top destinations to visit in Europe as it offers good opportunities for work alongside great living conditions.

Planning to move to Portugal takes a great deal of time and care to accomplish. Among the list of things, you need to prepare, a residency permit is one of the most important things to have. Portugal residency gives you great benefits as it helps you many benefits. In this article, we will be tackling the different Portugal residency requirements and how you can achieve Portugal's permanent residency.

Why Consider Portugal as a Place for Residency?

Portugal offers in its country an array of benefits that make getting a Portugal residency permit worth it. When it comes down to moving to another country, it is important to know the benefits of living there and how they can improve your life. Here are 2 reasons why you would want to consider moving to Portugal.

· Low Crime Rate

Portugal is often ranked highly in terms of safety in many statistical analyses. Portugal offers it the lowest crime rates and local residents are openly friendly and welcoming.

· Low Basic Cost of Living

While the cost of living in Portugal is considerably high, it is in fact one of the cheapest European countries when it comes to purchasing basic necessities. Other countries in Europe such as United Kingdom and Spain have a considerably higher cost for basic necessities which makes Portugal a better option for those looking to move to Europe.

How Can I get a Permanent Resident in Portugal?

All immigrants that are planning to move into Portugal have to get a temporary residence permit before they are able to apply for permanent residency in Portugal. Permanent residency requires you to have at least stayed in the country for 5 years as part of the process of naturalization.

Residing in the country for at least 5 years is a common requirement for many countries, Portugal being no exception to that. A temporary residence permit allows you to legally stay in Portugal for an extended period of time. Once the duration of the permit expires, you can renew for another few years. Once 5 years have passed, you can then obtain your Portugal citizenship and permanent residency.

Other ways to get permanent residency in Portugal?

Other than using a temporary residency permit, one of the most common ways to get permanent residency is through Portugal residency by investment. This Portugal residency program allows you to gain permanent residency in Portugal with more lenient requirements but the same benefit to living, work,ing and studying in Portugal.

The program typically requires you to make a minimum investment of around € 250,000 and only requires you to stay in Portugal for a minimum of seven days a year over a five-year period. Taking this program makes it significantly easier to get your permanent residency if you are able to comply with the requirements easily.

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