Portugal Job Seeker Visa (Withdrawn in 2025)

We have kept this page rather than deleting it, because a lot of people are still planning around this visa and a great deal of published advice — including advice being sold — has not caught up. This page tells you what actually happened, what it means for you, and where to go instead.

What this page covers

What the job seeker visa was, what replaced it (and why that replacement is not usable yet), what to do if you already applied or already hold one, and which routes are genuinely open to you now. If you are simply trying to work out which route fits you, start with Which Immigration Route Is Right for You?.

What happened

Official Requirement. Lei n.º 61/2025, de 22 de outubro amended the immigration law and came into force on 23 October 2025. Among many other changes, it rewrote Article 57.º-A, the provision the job seeker visa rested on.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs put it plainly: the visa "ceased to exist in the terms previously defined". From 23 October 2025, consular posts and their outsourced visa centres could no longer accept applications, and applicants who already held appointments had them cancelled.

The route that replaced it is narrower. It is a visa for seeking qualified work, and the Ministry's own instructions page for it currently carries no requirements at all — only a notice that it is not yet available at Portuguese consular posts, awaiting the regulation of Article 57.º-A. Until that regulation is published, there is no application to make.

Observed Practice. We cannot tell you when the regulation will appear. Nobody credible can. Treat any specific date you are given as a sales pitch.

What this means for you

If you were planning to use this visa to move to Portugal and look for work: that plan is not currently available, and you should stop building around it. The alternatives are below, and most of them require the thing the job seeker visa was designed to avoid — an employer, or an income, secured before you move. That is an unwelcome answer, and we would rather give it to you now than let you discover it after you have given notice on a job or a flat.

If you already applied before 23 October 2025: the new law's transitional rule (Article 8.º) provides that procedures started before it came into force continue to be governed by the previous law. If your application was filed before that date and is still alive, it should be assessed under the old rules. We could not verify how consular posts are handling these in practice, so if yours has gone quiet, that is worth a direct written enquiry to the post — and, if it stays quiet, a lawyer.

If you already hold a job seeker visa, or entered Portugal on one: the route as originally designed let you find work and then apply to AIMA for a residence permit. We could not verify from any official source how AIMA is treating these cases after the change, and we are not going to guess about something this consequential. Do not rely on a blog — including this one — for that answer. Ask AIMA in writing through the official contact form, keep the reply, and if the answer is unclear or unfavourable, that is a lawyer's job.

What actually works instead

The honest summary: Portugal now expects you to arrive with a reason. Pick the route that matches the reason you have.

• You have a Portuguese job offer or contract — Work Residence (D1). This is the mainstream route and the closest replacement for what most people wanted the job seeker visa for. The real task becomes finding the employer first, from abroad.
• You work remotely for employers or clients outside Portugal — the Digital Nomad Visa (D8). If you can keep your current job and do it from Portugal, this is very often the fastest legal way in.
• You live on pensions, rent, dividends or other passive income — Passive Income (D7).
• Your work is highly qualified — Highly Qualified Activity Residence (D3). Worth a serious look: the visa is free, the decision period is 30 days, and it is the one route whose family reunification is not held up for two years.
• You will study — Student Residence (D4). Note that a student permit itself authorises work, with no separate authorisation and no statutory hours cap — so studying is, for some people, a legitimate way to arrive and work.
• You will start a business or work independently — Portugal Entrepreneur Visa (D2).
• You are a researcher — Researcher Residence.
• You are joining family already resident here — Family Reunification.
• You are a citizen of a Portuguese-speaking (CPLP) country — read CPLP Residence carefully. That route changed on the same day, and it no longer lets you enter and regularise from inside Portugal.

Watch out for scams

Frequently asked questions

Can I still apply for the Portugal job seeker visa?

No. Applications stopped being accepted on 23 October 2025, and booked appointments were cancelled.

Is there a replacement?

Yes, on paper: a visa for seeking qualified work, under Article 57.º-A. But it is not available at consular posts and has no published requirements, because the regulation it depends on has not been issued. There is nothing to apply for yet.

When will the qualified job seeker visa open?

We don't know, and we won't guess. The Ministry has not published a date. Anyone who gives you one is not working from an official source.

What were the old requirements?

They no longer apply, so we are not republishing them as if they were current — that is exactly how out-of-date advice spreads. The old route required financial means set as a multiple of the minimum wage, and it is safe to assume the replacement will set its own thresholds when it is regulated. Any figure you see quoted today for a job seeker visa is describing a route that is closed.

I applied before 23 October 2025. What happens to my application?

The transitional rule says procedures started before the law came into force continue under the previous law. In practice, contact the post you applied to, in writing. If it has gone quiet, escalate — and if that fails, take advice.

I'm already in Portugal on a job seeker visa. Can I still convert to a work permit?

We could not verify the current answer from any official source, and this is too important to guess at. Ask AIMA in writing and keep the reply. If the answer is unclear or negative, that is a lawyer's job.

Can I come as a tourist and look for work instead?

No. Entering visa-free as a tourist does not authorise you to move to Portugal or to work, and it does not convert into a residence route. The in-country regularisation routes that used to make this viable — the manifestação de interesse and, for CPLP nationals, in-country application — have both been closed (the first in June 2024, the second in October 2025).

Is a lawyer worth it here?

For a stuck pre-October-2025 application, or a status problem caused by the change, yes. For "getting me a job seeker visa now", no — because there is nothing to get.

Sources

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs — job seeking (instructions page carrying the "not yet available" notice)
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs — national visas
• Lei n.º 61/2025, de 22 de outubro (Diário da República)
• Portuguese immigration law — consolidated Lei n.º 23/2007
• AIMA