My spouse and I have our 2 year ARI residency permits. Are we eligible for health coverage by the SNS immediately? I know we need to have Portuguese phone numbers. We don’t have a permanent Portuguese residence (our lawyer’s address is on the residency cards.) Has anyone done this. We arrive in Portugal in 2 weeks.
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I have done it, but so after moving to Portugal. I still have lawyer’s address on my residence card, but I created numero de utente pretty easily. But you need to prove you real address with rent contract and some utility bill.
Yes you are eligible to get both the Permanent Utente and NISS(Social Security) along with the European Health Insurance cards as we have done that already. You don’t have to be in Portugal to get the Permanent Utente numbers, all you need is to email the copies of your passport, mobile numbers and título de residência to the nearest health care center’s email. The health center you should pick based on the area you are most likely to stay during your visits to Portugal and the address printed on the Residency cards doesn’t affect them in anyway. However, the Healthcare Centre needs one address to be entered into the system which needs no proofs whatsoever. The Portuguese phone numbers are quite important to receive the SMS updates, OTPs and to use the SNS24 mobile app.
Once you register into the public healthcare system, you shall be eligible for everything inside. Your first visit to the Family GP should be scheduled in advance or you can walk-in early in the morning to get the open ticket. The GP shall takedown all the medical history and series of questions and then you shall be redirected to your family nurse who verifies your mandatory vaccination History of MMR, Tetanus and Diphtheria. Carry the proofs if you have any from your home country, else they shall give you the shots for free and schedule you the followup shots.
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As far as this link goes, only Tetanus and Diphteria are mandatory in specific scenarios:
- To enrol in an educational establishment, you must have up to date diphtheria and tetanus vaccinations.
- In order to take an exam at an educational establishment, you must also have up to date vaccinations against diphtheria and tetanus.
@TommyReine Do you know if a non-PT mobile phone can be registered for the Utente? Like some PT banks can use non-PT numbers for sms.
And the registration with the GP - is it automatic upon receiving the Utente, or a separate process?
In principle any EU number is accepted, I haven’t tried any non-EU numbers so far.
Regarding the second question, a GP shall be assigned to you automatically and there’s no separate process to it. However, you are the one who should initiate the first appointment and make a visit to a GP and the family Nurse to validate your Health and Vaccination history. There are some extra vaccinations recommended for the elderly (if you qualify) like Gripe, those shall be administered as per your convenience and stock availability.
Has anyone registered for the SNS number in Lisbon recently? We have relocated here permanently on ARI resident cards and have moved into our property in Lisbon (Santo António area around Avenida). I emailed the required details over a week ago to:
lxcentral.inscricoes@arslvt.min-saude.pt
which is an email address I found online apparently for Santo Antonio registrations but we have heard nothing back. Late last week we visited our nearest primary healthcare clinic in person and were given a sheet with a different email address on it:
ulssjosecsp.inscricoes@ulssjose.min-saude.pt
The lack of any response may be normal and we just have to wait it out especially as it’s August and presumably everyone is on their notorious annual leave this month. But some confirmation from anyone here who has successfully done it using the first email address would be comforting.
We evidently need this SNS number to commence a driving licence course at a nearby driving school so the radio silence is quite inconvenient. Thanks for any input you can give us.
We got our numbers about 4 years ago, when they had, I think, introduced the idea of getting them via email. The single person responsible in our area had over 5,000 unopened emails. We did it in person. I’ve seen other reports in the last year or so where the email was replied to almost instantly and the number was pretty promptly received.
Still, I would have a go at making an inperson visit. Sao Jose is only about five minutes from you, and it is worth being familiar with the setup anyway. The ER entrance is a five minute walk from Martim Moniz and a 15 minute drive from the same place, all around your elbow. I’d be surprised if they would handle the SNS, so then you can go off to Central.
Either way, make it a priority and then register at your local Centro. It will save you precious minutes at the balcao if you have to present at the ER.
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Not recent but we registered in Santo Antonio in early 2022 using the lxcentral.inscricoes address you posted above. We were given that email address on a paper handout when we went to a local Centro de Saúde to try register in person. It took a few weeks before we got a positive response but it did work eventually. Did you at least receive an auto-reply when you emailed? From memory we received one acknowledging the application and saying it might take several weeks to process.
We don’t live in Portugal but were able to register using our lawyer’s office address in Santo Antonio, which is the address on our residency cards.
Thanks for the replies. We did not get any response or auto-reply from the emails to that address (neither did they bounce) which is why I asked here. We will try Sao Jose hospital. I suspect the lack of response may be because it’s August and, well, Portugal but getting this number is important so I want to expedite it. Next world of pain will be the Atestado de Residencia and the NISS.
We did the NISS at the Loja at Saldanha. Took 15 minutes.
Any idea if that’s available for anyone to use or just people that live in that area?
I think the address on your residence card has to be in their service area.
Do you need a residence card? Don’t have ours yet
My card’s address is in Porto (our lawyers’). Has anyone managed to get SNS from Porto without having owning/leasing a residential property there?
Hello, a couple of questions about the SNS:
- I just received my número de utente, and the document contained a note “Condição com responsabilidade financeira SNS.” Can somebody explain what that means in real life beyond the literal text translation?
- It also came with the following notes under “Isenção/Benefícios”:
• [ T ] Sem Isenção da Taxa Moderadora
• [ R ] Sem Regime Esp. de Comp. Medica.
• [ O ] Sem Medicação
Are these all expected? I’m here on an ARI (“golden visa”) and do not have a NISS if that matters.
Thanks!
In case this is helpful to others, they (São José Local Health Unit in Alameda, Lisbon) only accept applications via email, with the following requirements:
• Full name, date of birth, mobile phone number, email address, “degree of kinship in the family unit (primary holder, spouse, first child, second child, etc.)”
• Identification document (citizen card or passport)
• NIF, if available
• NISS, if available
• Proof of address (residence certificate issued by the parish council, rental contract, water/electricity/telecommunications bill)
• Valid residence authorization document, in the case of foreign citizens with permanent† residence in Portugal.
The auto-response email warned that the process could take up to four weeks, but mine was completed in three days.
† I interpret this to be a mis-translation of “not a tourist visa” rather than permanent residence. They accepted my residence card.
Just ignore that document and it is not expected to be signed and sent back to them. As long as you are a legal resident of Portugal, you are entitled for all the SNS services on par with PT/EU/Swiss nationals. There are special conditions which needs documented proofs from the Social security office in order to obtain free services and medications, as a GV holder it wont apply in your case.
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