To attract more technology professionals, a specific type of visa was created in Portugal: the Tech visa. The Portugal Tech Visa program helps Portuguese companies to attract skilled individuals into Portugal. This article provides an overview of the most important points employers should know about the visa.
This page provides general information only. We can’t provide specific information about the kind of visa you’ll need to enter a foreign country, or which entry and exit rules apply to you.
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Table of Contents
What is the Portugal tech visa ?
Launched on January 1, 2019, The Portugal Tech visa is specifically for candidates who are highly competent in the digital technology fields. It helps them to come to work in the Portuguese tech sector. Also known as the Global Talent Visa, it is intended for businesses with a fast track to hire highly qualified non Schengen professionals.
The IAPMEI is responsible for assessing and accrediting companies looking to hiring global tech talents.
Who is eligible?
The key requirement of the Tech Nation visa is that the company is registered and hold the IAPMEI certificate. Regarding the applicant, he must be endorsed with either a technical or business background in digital technology. Technical specialists include developers, engineers and data scientists.
For applicants
To apply for a Tech Visa in Portugal, the candidate must comply with the following requirements:
- The candidate must be a third country national who does not live in the European Union territory
- Candidates must have no criminal record.
- The candidate must have at least 18 years old
- Candidate must have completed a Bachelor’s degree or 5 year experience in specializes tech functions
- The candidate must be proficient in, at least, Portuguese, English, French or Spanish.
For companies
Companies can apply online (in Portuguese only) for a Tech Visa certificate.
To apply for this program, companies have to follow a set of requirements, and employees wanting to be hired will have to fulfill eligibility criteria defined in the law.
Portuguese companies applying to the Tech Visa Program will be assessed based on several criteria including:
- Company must be fully incorporated.
- It must have no debts to Social Security nor to the Tax Authorities
- It must not have salaries in arrears
- The company should not be in the restructuring phase.
Overall companies will have the opportunity to recruit up to 50% of their total workforce numbers under the Tech Visa Program. However, companies based in remote or peripheral areas would have the possibility to recruit up to 80% of their total workforce.
There will be a mandatory minimum wage for workers recruited through the Tech Visa Program.
Tech Visa Certified Companies
The company needs to be certified for the Tech Visa Program to compliantly hire candidates. This certification occurs through an agency called IAPMEI, I.P. – Agência para a Competitividade e Inovação, which is a public institute.
On the Institute’s website, you can check the list of companies with the Tech visa certification. There are numerous companies qualified to hire professionals who will be able to immigrate to Portugal through the Tech Visa Program.
If the company is not certified
If you are in the technology field, got a job offer, but the company is not certified for the Technology Visa for Portugal, you do have other options. It is possible to apply for another visa and residence permit.
First, you can fall under the general regime of subordinate workers (D1 Visa), or even the highly qualified workers (D5 Visa).
In short, there are other ways to immigrate to Portugal, which can guarantee your residence and, later, even the acquisition of Portuguese nationality.