Do you need social security to live in Portugal?

Registring with the local social security service known as Segurança Social is necessary for people planning to live and work in Portugal. Anyone coming to work in Portugal needs to register with the Institute for Social Security. While you might not necessarily need to get its benefits, registering for social security also opens up the Portuguese healthcare system for you, as all healthcare benefits are included in the social security coverage.

What is the registration like?

Suppose you are coming as a self-employed worker or a freelancer. In that case, the registration will be administered by the local Tax department, which will inform Social Security about you after you register for your Taxpayer Number.

If, on the other hand, you will be working for a company, then your employer must mediate the registration on your behalf. However, upon starting a new job on the Portuguese territory, an employee must contact Social Security within 24 hours.

After the registration is complete (in either of these two ways), you will receive your Social Security Identification Number (NISS). Depending on your situation, you will fall under one of the three social security schemes:

a contributory scheme for employed individuals and their families
a contributory scheme for self-employed individuals
a non-contributory scheme for those who do not meet the minimum income requirements for the first two schemes.

Which benefits does Social Security provide in Portugal?

There are various benefits you can get from the Portuguese Social Security. The most significant ones are unemployment benefits for dependent workers and cessation of business benefits for freelancers. You are entitled to a retirement pension, sickness benefits, and also parental allowance, which in Portugal is paid by Social Security itself and not by the employer.

What will you need?

When registering for Social Security in Portugal, you will be asked to provide the following documents. The forms mentioned in the last two points can be found in the PDF documents on the Segurança Social website.

Passport (Passaporte) Identity Card (Bilhete de Identidade)
Portuguese tax number or national insurance number from country of origin (Número de Indentificação Fiscal - NIF)
Residency Card (Cartão de Residência), or evidence of application
Proof of address in Portugal (Comprovativo de Morada)
Employees (Trabalhadores por Conta de Outrem) must complete Form RV1009/2009
Self-employed workers (Trabalhadores Independentes) must complete Form RV1000/2007 - DGSS

Further information

While until not long ago, the Institute for Social Security used to have an English webpage, for some reason, that is no longer the case, and its official site is only in Portuguese. However, on the official page of the European Commission, you can easily find a PDF file, which explains in great detail all information you need to know about the Portuguese social security system.