16 June 2022, Alges, Lisbon

Portugal’s government has just announced that the country will be launching a new visa category for job seekers and digital nomads.

Aimed at streamlining and simplifying immigration procedures for those seeking to settle and work in Portugal, the new visa regime will coincide with the scrapping of the quota based system for those seeking to work in Portugal.

Want to find a job and settle in Portugal? Thanks to the recently announced new Portuguese visa category for job seekers, you will now be able to gain access to Portugal for up to six months while you’re looking for your dream job. 

Ana Catarina Mendes, the Deputy Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, is on record as saying that the visa aims to revitalize the job market and attract more qualified human resources to the country. 

While no financial incentives are expected to be offered, the new visa regime will seek to simplify the process of getting a longer term visa for Portugal. (The exact requirements for this new visa category has not yet been announced.)

The regular Portuguese tourist visa – a C-Category Schengen visa – is good for a total of up to 90 days out of every 180 day period.

In contrast, the new job seeker visa will be initially valid for up to 120 days, with the possibility to extend it for up to 60 more days – so 180 consecutive days in total.

The new legislation still needs to be debated in the Portuguese parliament, so it’s not fully clear who will be eligible to apply for this visa in future.

However, according to Deputy Minister Mendes, the visa will be suitable for a broad range of people seeking to move to Portugal for work purposes.

One of the possible scenarios outlined by industry insiders is that Portuguese embassies may be allowed to issue these work search visas without approval from SEF – although nothing has been confirmed thus far. Furthermore, it is expected that Portugal will be rolling out the red carpet for the citizens of the so-called Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP). 

Prospective job seekers from CPLP countries’ Portuguese language skills should help facilitate a fast and seamless societal integration – and a significant value-add in the workplace.

The Portuguese government hopes that this visa liberalization can help combat the country’s labor shortages.

As is the case across most of Europe, the average population age in Portugal is well above 40 years. In fact, as of 2022, the average age in Portugal is a whopping 46.2 years, which is already creating profound productivity and economic growth challenges for the country.

As for digital nomads and remote workers?

It is expected that a variation of the 6-month job seeker visa could be made available to remote workers seeking to work from Portugal for up to six months, but who don’t wish to settle permanently or eventually become Portuguese citizens. 

In the past two years since the pandemic, scores of digital nomads have opted to apply for the D7 Visa with a view of establishing a longer term base in Portugal.

It is also expected that the anticipated ease of applying for this 6-month job seekers visa may see demand for the D7 visa drop substantially among a younger generation of remote workers.

In contrast however, demand for the D7 Visa appears to be growing steadily among foreign retirees, who were the intended target market of the D7 visa since its launch in 2007.

This is a developing news story, and we will keep our reader abreast of the latest developments as they’re unfolding. Feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions in the interim.

Next up… Discover how you can obtain your NIF online in Portugal – fast.

Also discover how you can open a Portuguese bank account remotely.

Then have a look at Sweden’s new Job Seeker Visa…

And finally discover the new, and massively underrated new €200K Golden Visa option for 2022…