IRN

Published 5 November 2026, 22:39

Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado

The Ministry of Justice agency to which all conservatórias report. It handles the cartão de cidadão, passports, birth and marriage certificates, citizenship, and the registration of property, companies and cars. Some services are available online; for the rest you go to an office, either queuing in person or with a ticket from the Siga app.

Where you come across it. A child's birth certificate, cartão de cidadão, passport, citizenship, property register extracts.

After the 2004 reform (completed in 2005), notaries became a private profession and most notary offices are private, but state cartórios notariais remain within the IRN: specialised ones in Porto, Aveiro and Matosinhos, and at the conservatórias of small municipalities such as Barrancos or Mértola. A birth certificate is often issued at the maternity hospital itself: the service, Balcões Nascer Cidadão, is available in about thirty healthcare facilities, but far from all of them; otherwise you go to a conservatória.

Official website: irn.justica.gov.pt

Guides

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