Work in Portugal as a foreign doctor, nurse or AHP (2026)

• OMOrdem dos Médicos

  Doctors

  Read the registration guide

• OEOrdem dos Enfermeiros

  Nurses and specialist nurses, including maternal health and obstetric nursing

  Read the registration guide

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   1. Confirm which body regulates your profession

   Doctors register with the Ordem dos Médicos and nurses with the Ordem dos Enfermeiros. Radiographers, occupational therapists, speech therapists and other diagnostic and therapeutic professions go to the ACSS, and physiotherapists to the Ordem dos Fisioterapeutas. Each body sets its own documents, language rules and fees, so read its rules before you pay for anything.
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   2. Start learning Portuguese early

   Doctors need B2 medical Portuguese and nurses need C1, and the CEMP recognition exam for doctors is held entirely in Portuguese. There is no English-language route to registration. Most applicants from outside the Portuguese-speaking world find this the longest stage, so plan your study around the exam calendar.
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   3. Apply for specific recognition of your degree

   You apply through the DGES online form to a Portuguese public university (for medicine, one of the medical schools in CEMP) or a public nursing school. DGES says the decision must come within 90 days of a complete file, and the institution sets the fee. Medicine applications must be complete by 1 September for that year's exam cycle; files that miss the date move to the next year.
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   4. Doctors: sit the CEMP recognition exam

   The CEMP exam for medicine has three parts: a written exam, a practical clinical exam on a real patient, and a final master's dissertation defended before a jury. For 2026/2027 the written exam is on 16 November 2026 and the clinical exam is planned for March to April 2027. The cycle is annual, so a failed component usually costs you a year.
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   5. Legalise and translate your documents

   Both orders require foreign documents to be legalised by a Portuguese consulate or with a Hague apostille, unless the issuing body sends them directly or they can be checked online. The Ordem dos Médicos accepts documents in English, French or Spanish without translation; anything else needs a certified Portuguese translation. Criminal record and good standing certificates must be less than 3 months old, so order them last.
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   6. Prove your Portuguese to the Ordem

   Doctors pass the Prova de Comunicação Médica, held monthly in Porto, Coimbra or Lisbon for €300, or show a B2 certificate from a certified Portuguese body. Nurses show a C1 certificate from CAPLE (the DAPLE, or the DUPLE) or pass the Ordem's language communication test. Training completed in Portuguese can exempt you.
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   7. Register with the Ordem

   Apply online and pay the registration charges. The Ordem dos Enfermeiros gives you 30 working days to present originals or certified copies at the regional section, and 10 working days to correct any missing item before the application lapses. Its title committee decides within 30 working days of a complete file.
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   8. Doctors: complete the period without autonomy

   Your first registration with the Ordem dos Médicos is without autonomy, so you work under supervision. Autonomy usually comes with the general training year or a favourable opinion from the Ordem's autonomy jury. Specialists must also apply separately to the relevant college of specialty (colégio de especialidade) before using a specialist title.
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   9. Find a job and apply for a residence visa

   With a job offer you apply at a Portuguese consulate for a residence visa for subordinate work, or for highly qualified activity or an EU Blue Card if the salary meets the threshold. For a regulated profession the consulate asks for your professional certificate where applicable. The national visa fee is €110 and the consulate has 60 days to decide.
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    10. Get your residence permit from AIMA

    The residence visa is valid for 4 months and allows two entries. In that time you book an appointment with AIMA (Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo) and apply for your residence permit, with proof of address, tax registration and social security registration. A work-based residence permit is valid for two years and renewable for three years at a time.

• English tests such as IELTS or OET play no part in Portuguese registration. The requirement is Portuguese, and the level depends on your profession.
• Doctors: the Ordem dos Médicos requires a pass in the Prova de Comunicação Médica, which its guide describes as aligned with B2 of the Common European Framework. It costs €300, lasts up to 120 minutes (listening 30 minutes, reading 40 minutes, writing 30 minutes and an oral exam of 20 minutes before a jury) and is graded pass or fail. Since January 2024 the Ordem also accepts a B2 certificate issued by a certified Portuguese entity instead.
• Doctors exempt from the test include those whose medical training was taught in Portuguese. Under a 2018 Ordem deliberation, Portuguese, Brazilian and other CPLP nationals who finished the 12th year of schooling in Portuguese are also exempt.
• Nurses: the Ordem dos Enfermeiros registration regulation (Regulation 371/2025) requires Portuguese at C1, shown by a certificate from a competent body or by passing its language communication test, which follows the CAPLE assessment system. Its guidance names the DAPLE (C1) and the DUPLE (C2) from CAPLE at the University of Lisbon as the accepted diplomas.
• Nurses can be exempt if they completed secondary or higher education in Portugal, or nursing training in a country whose official language is Portuguese, provided there is no well-founded doubt about their Portuguese. Where doubts remain, the Ordem can require an in-person written and oral language check.
• The CEMP recognition exam for doctors is run only in Portuguese. In July 2026 CEMP said it would consider accepting an official Portuguese as a foreign language certificate as proof for its own language requirement, but this was not yet written into the regulation.

• Residence visa for subordinate work

  The standard route with a job offer. The consulate asks for a work contract, promise of a contract or a demonstration of interest, and a professional certificate when the profession is regulated in Portugal. You also need a criminal record certificate with an apostille or legalisation, travel insurance and proof of means of subsistence, which an employment contract can cover.

• Highly qualified activity

  For subordinate highly qualified work the consulate asks for a contract of at least six months at 1.5 times the national average gross annual salary or three times the IAS social support index, or 1.2 times (or twice the IAS) for professions in short supply. For a regulated profession you must prove you are entitled to practise in Portugal. AIMA's guidance gives reference figures of €2,157.00 a month at 1.5 times and €1,725.60 at 1.2 times, based on 2023 salary data.

• EU Blue Card

  AIMA issues the EU Blue Card for highly qualified work with a contract of at least six months at 1.5 times the national average gross annual salary, or 1.2 times in the cases the law lists. You need health insurance or SNS cover, and for a regulated profession proof of professional certification. The application can be made by you or your employer, but you attend in person for biometrics.

• Fees and timelines

  The consular national visa fee is €110 and the consulate decides a residence visa within 60 days. AIMA's fee table (Portaria 307/2023) lists €133.00 to receive and assess a temporary residence permit application in person and €114.30 for the permit itself, and €169.20 plus €160.50 for an EU Blue Card. Online service is cheaper on several items.

• Skilled job seeker visa

  Portuguese law now provides for a skilled job seeker visa, but the consular visa portal says it is not yet available at consulates while the regulation under article 57-A of the Foreigners' Law is awaited. Do not plan around it until the portal shows it as open.

• EU, EEA and Swiss citizens

  You do not need a visa. If your doctor or nurse diploma is listed in Annex V of Directive 2005/36/EC, the orders recognise it under the EU automatic recognition rules without the university route. You still need to meet the Portuguese language requirement of the order you join.

SNS staff are paid on national career scales rather than by negotiation with each hospital. Base pay for doctors and nurses is set by placing each category and step on a level (nível) of the public administration's single pay table (tabela remuneratória única), which the government updates. We could not confirm the current euro values for each level from an official table, so this section explains the structure rather than quoting figures. Ask your employer for the exact base salary, and check whether a supplement or the full dedication regime applies.