How to move from Russia to Portugal: step by step, from ‘I’ve decided’ to ‘I live here’
A move rarely falls apart at the hard parts; it falls apart on the order of things: the wrong certificate was ordered, the dog’s antibody test was done too late, the driving licence expired after arrival, and the AIMA appointment turned out to be a year away. This is a guide to the whole journey: what to do while you are still in Russia, what happens with the visa, what to get done in the first weeks here and what can wait. The details of each step are in our separate guides — here you get a link to the right one, not a retelling.
What lies ahead: three stretches of the journey
A move from Russia breaks down into three parts, and they don’t come one after another — they overlap, and that is exactly why people end up late.
The first part is done while you are still in Russia: choose your grounds for the visa, gather certificates with an apostille and a translation, get a Portuguese tax number (NIF), find housing for the visa, sort out your money and, if you are bringing a pet, start the three-month countdown. The second is the visa: booking, applying, waiting, getting your passport back with the visa in it, and the AIMA appointment set together with it. The third starts after you land: an address, a bank account, social security and health service numbers, AIMA, and then a doctor, school, taxes, your driving licence, phone and internet, utilities.
This leads to the one rule worth remembering from the start: begin with whatever takes longest and depends least on you. That means the consulate queue, the three-month wait for a pet and the AIMA appointment. Everything else — certificates, translations, the bank — can be done in a few weeks if need be.
Where to start choosing is explained in the guide How to choose a visa to move to Portugal; what to do right after you land is in The first weeks after moving.
Choose the grounds you are moving on
There aren’t many grounds on which people move from Russia to Portugal, and they determine everything else — from how much you need in the bank to whether you can work here.
Passive income — the D7 visa: rent, dividends, a pension, interest. The threshold is based on the minimum wage, which in 2026 is €920 a month per applicant; a second adult usually adds half of that, a child about a third. In detail: How to get a D7 visa.
Remote work for a foreign company — the D8 visa: the threshold is higher, four minimum wages, that is €3,680 a month in 2026, and you need an employment contract or client contracts that prove it: How to get a D8 visa. Your own business or freelancing with Portuguese clients — the D2 visa. Study — How to get into a university. Family: joining a relative who already has a residence permit is covered in the guide to choosing a visa.
What we don’t have is a separate guide to the visa for a job with a Portuguese employer; we only have one on what that employment contract should look like once you are here: The employer won’t give you an employment contract. If work is your grounds, read the general overview in choosing a visa and check the list with the consulate.
Certificates, apostille and translation — while you are in Russia
Portugal and Russia are both parties to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention: Portugal since 4 February 1969, Russia since 31 May 1992. So Russian documents don’t need consular legalisation — an apostille is enough. It is issued by the usual authorities: the Interior Ministry for a criminal record certificate, the justice authorities for civil registry (ZAGS) documents, the regional justice ministry office for notarised copies.
An apostille is usually needed on the criminal record certificate, a child’s birth certificate, a marriage or divorce certificate, a document on a change of surname, and school and university documents. The translation is done after the apostille and includes it — the stamp itself is translated too.
The main trap is how recent the document is, not the apostille. Portuguese authorities look at the issue date of the certificate itself, not of the stamp on it, and turn old documents away.
“For Portugal a birth certificate has a shelf life — 6 months. So it won’t do for an apostille. If the certificate already has an apostille, our Consulate will probably accept it. You can ask them or the translators.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkpequenos_PT29.08.2026
A Portuguese NIF and a tax representative
The NIF is the tax number without which in Portugal you can’t rent a flat, open a bank account or sign a contract for electricity or phone and internet. You get it in advance, while still living in Russia, and this is where a rule comes up that few people know about before applying.
Under Article 19 of the General Tax Law (LGT), a person living outside Portugal must appoint a tax representative with a local address (paragraph 6). For residents of the European Union and the European Economic Area this is optional (paragraph 8) — but Russia is not part of either, so the requirement stands. The obligation falls away in one case: if you sign up for electronic notifications from the tax office (paragraph 15).
In practice: while you are not a resident, your NIF is linked to the representative, and the password for your online tax account goes to them, not to you. Agree on this from the outset and insist on getting access.
After you move, your tax status changes, and you have to report this yourself: the law gives you 60 days (paragraph 5 of the same article). How this is done on the spot is in the guide The first weeks after moving, in the steps on the NIF and your tax address.
“That’s the person responsible for your taxes while you’re not resident — your NIF is assigned to them and the password goes to their address. I don’t know if they issue a NIF to non-residents without a representative these days — my information is that all non-residents have to have a representative.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal14.08.2026
Money: how to pay here and how to bring it over
Russian bank cards have not worked abroad since 2022, and Mir cards are not accepted anywhere in Portugal. So by the time you fly out you need a way to pay: a card from a bank in another country, an account with a European neobank, or cash for the first few weeks.
Transferring your own money is a big topic of its own, and we cover it in full: How to transfer money from Russia to Portugal. It explains direct SWIFT transfers in euros to your own account, documents proving where the money came from, why transfers get sent back, and the €100,000 limit on an account.
Cash across the EU border: from €10,000 you must declare it to customs, and keep a copy of the declaration, otherwise you will have nothing to show the bank later. Portugal accepts these declarations through the Portal Aduaneiro (customs portal).
Portuguese banks open accounts for Russians in different ways and not always — we have two guides on this: How to open a Portuguese bank account and What to do if the bank closes your account. How money works here in general — Multibanco, MB Way, paying by reference — is in the guide How banking works in Portugal. And how to pay in the very first weeks, before you have an account and MB Way, is in The first weeks: it covers Payshop and paying bills in cash.
Housing for the visa: what the consulate counts as an address
For a D visa you are asked to show where you will live. The requirement looks simple, but in practice it is the most awkward part of the whole application: a lease is signed with someone who is already here, and you are still there.
What is accepted depends on the consulate and the type of visa. According to conversations, the consulate in Moscow wrote to applicants that a booking for the length of the visa was enough; a booking for two or three weeks, however, is considered not enough, while people got through with a booking for several months. Often people attach a combination: a short booking for the first period plus a lease with a later move-in date.
What you need to know in advance: the landlord is required to register a Portuguese lease with the tax office, and that registration will later become your proof of address for AIMA and everything else. How it all works and what to look for in a lease: How to rent a home in Portugal; if you plan to buy: How to buy a home.
“Yes, I got a student one) Applied in Moscow. About the rental: the consul wrote to me in an email that a booking for the period of the visa is enough (with 2-3 weeks they’ll either turn you away or ask for an extra document). I read about cases where people with a 120-day booking were refused. I have a temporary booking from September to October and then a year-long contract. For payment: I showed the acceptance letter and confirmation of the money transfer to the university.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkru_Portugal_pt29.06.2026
“I applied in Moscow on 7 May) I just bombarded the consulate with questions about housing) they answered once about a booking for the length of the visa and vanished into the sunset. I applied with a temporary booking from Flatio + a long-term contract, and attached the landlord’s pledge (or whatever it’s properly called) that they’d register the contract on time, since the flat only becomes free on 1 October.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkHigherEducationPortugal10.05.2026
Applying at the consulate or visa centre
You apply for a D visa in the country where you legally live: for someone from Russia, that means the Portuguese consulate or the visa centre that works for it. The procedure, the list of papers and how the application itself goes are covered in the guide How to apply for a Portuguese visa.
On timing, the law says one thing and real life another. Under Article 58 of the law on the entry and stay of foreigners, a decision on a D visa application is made within 60 days. In chat conversations it is months: people write that they have been waiting since spring and that the consulate gives no timescales. Under the same article the visa gives two entries and four months’ stay — that is what you should count from when buying tickets.
Your passport stays at the consulate for the whole time the application is being considered. If you need it for other trips, think about that before applying, not after.
If you are refused, there is a deadline to appeal, and it is short: What to do if your visa is refused.
“We’ve been waiting since April. Went to the consulate the other day, spoke to Ibragim, he said our application is under review, no idea how long it’ll take. The only useful thing I found out is that there’s no refusal and no request for more documents.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkdigitalnomadportugal25.08.2026
“oh I remembered other consulates just like Moscow: Kyiv — the D7 wait went to 8 months, the nomad one 5 months, Jakarta and Bangkok — you can wait for years there and the attitude is about the same. Ankara! — remember when the previous staff were there — people waited months too. All of Africa — forever.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkdigitalnomadportugal06.08.2026
What a D visa actually gives you
A D visa is not a residence permit but the right to enter and apply for one. Under Article 58 it gives you two entries and four months’ stay.
Together with the visa you get a pré-autorização de residência — a preliminary residence authorisation, which contains provisionally assigned numbers: the NIF tax number, the NISS social security number and the SNS health service user number. This is stated directly in paragraph 6 of Article 58, and it makes the first weeks much easier — in the past all three numbers had to be obtained in person, one after another.
The visa comes with an appointment at AIMA — the migration agency that issues the residence card. The date of that appointment is the big surprise of the move: it is sometimes well beyond the four months the visa is valid for. This is not a mistake and no reason to panic: waiting for the appointment is a legal basis for being in the country, but you need to prepare for it in advance.
What to do with the appointment, how to ask for it to be moved and what to bring is in the guide How to book with AIMA and renew your residence permit.
“Yesterday a student applying from inside the country got a slot for 02 June 2027. I’m a bit shocked. With a D visa you can at least request again, speed it up”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkHigherEducationPortugal03.09.2026
“Your AIMA appointment could be for March 2027 if, say, they put a D7 visa in your passport today. Then anything from a week to several months waiting for the plastic card, depending on your luck, and if the appointment doesn’t get moved.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkbanksdeportugal18.08.2026
Children: what to gather before you leave
For a child you need a birth certificate with an apostille and a translation, and if only one parent is travelling, the other parent’s consent, also with an apostille. Separately, gather everything from school: the latest school report or certificate, a letter from the school the child attends, and the vaccination record.
The school documents are needed for equivalence — recognition of the child’s Russian schooling. The application for a certificado de equivalência (certificate of equivalence) is made at a Portuguese school in the area where you live, and this is done once you are here, but the papers for it have to be brought from Russia. Without equivalence the child will be taken into school, but their year group and further study will be left hanging.
From here on, see our guides: How to enrol a child in school, How to choose a school, How to get a child into nursery and How to help a child who doesn’t speak Portuguese. If the child is finishing school: After year 9 and How to get into a university: a foreign school-leaving certificate has its own admissions quota and its own deadlines.
“To the first paragraph the answer is yes)) We did the equivalence at the Portuguese school where we live (the one we belong to by our home address). Can’t help with the other questions. We applied as a national student”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkHigherEducationPortugal20.08.2026
“Finally I can share our story of getting into university as a national student. We moved when our son was finishing 9th grade in Russia, decided not to throw him into a Portuguese school with zero knowledge of the language, didn’t even really think about it, he just studied remotely and flew back to his school to sit all the exams. In June 2025 he got his certificate, came back to PT and handed it in to a school for equivalence. Last year, straight after finishing school, we weren’t even planning to apply, since we definitely wouldn’t have got the documents done in time + we were waiting for 2 years as of 1 January 2026.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkHigherEducationPortugal30.08.2026
A cat or a dog: three months you can’t squeeze
This is the step that most often pushes a move back. Since 16 September 2024 Russia has been removed from the list of countries in Regulation (EU) 577/2013 and is treated as a country with a higher risk of rabies. So besides a microchip and a vaccination you need two more things: a blood test for rabies antibodies — the ‘titre test’ — at an EU-approved laboratory, no earlier than 30 days after the first vaccination (if boosters have never lapsed, the test can be done at any time), and a three-month wait from the date the blood was taken until entry into Portugal.
Add it up: vaccination, a month, the test, another three months. From deciding to flying out with a pet takes at least four months, and you need to start earlier than you apply for the visa.
New pet travel rules have applied since 22 April 2026 — Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/131 instead of the previous 576/2013. What matters for families: if the pet is brought not by its owner but by an authorised person, it can only travel within five days before or after the owner’s own trip. The plan ‘we’ll go and my sister will bring the dog later’ no longer works the way it used to.
One more small thing that can cost you a flight: veterinary checks at Lisbon airport don’t operate from midnight to 6am, and in Porto from 11pm to 7am. On a night flight with a pet from a non-EU country there will simply be nobody to process it.
Step by step on microchips, vaccinations, carriers and airlines: How to move to Portugal with a dog or cat.
“Watch the timing. The titre test takes a month. So at best you’ll fly out at the end of August. In Russia they won’t put the vaccination in a Euro passport.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkportugal_pets22.07.2026
“we’ve already driven dogs from Russia to Portugal by car, I know all about the paperwork, just waiting for three months to pass since the titre test, two weeks to go”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkportugal_pets13.05.2026
Car, driving licence and belongings
Driving licence. A Russian licence lets you drive in Portugal for the first 185 days after entry — and only until you become a resident. Once you have settled here, the law gives you 90 days to exchange your licence for a Portuguese one (Article 125 of the Highway Code); the fine for breaking this is €300 to €1,500.
Only valid licences are accepted for exchange. The Russian three-year extension does not convince the Portuguese authority IMT: people in the chats say that if your card has expired by local standards, the application is turned down. Besides the licence itself, you are asked for proof of address and a certificate that the licence is valid from the issuing authority or the embassy — that is what Article 14 of the driving licence regulations says; in practice IMT also asks for a translation. The whole procedure, the deadlines and what to do when a case gets stuck are in the guide How to exchange and renew your driving licence. It also covers the rule from 9 June 2026: for non-Europeans, a licence is now valid for as long as the residence permit.
The car. Whether to bring your own from Russia or buy one here is a question of money: on import you pay ISV (vehicle tax) and, if the car is not from the EU, VAT and customs duty as well. Do the sums with How to import your own car, and choose one here with Which car to buy in Portugal.
Belongings. To be honest: about shipping belongings from Russia by container or by car, in two years of conversations there are only adverts from carriers — not a single account with a price, a timescale and what happened at customs. We won’t make up figures; when real stories appear, we will write about it separately.
“No chance. I had exactly the same situation. IMTT’s answer: your licence is valid in Russia, but here it’s expired and can’t be exchanged.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatlisboa21.08.2026
You’ve landed: the first weeks
Everything here is built around your address: almost every next step depends on a comprovativo de morada — proof of where you live.
In short, the sequence is: rent a home and get the lease in your hands, registered by the landlord with the tax office; move your NIF to your local address; get an atestado de residência (certificate of residence) from the Junta de Freguesia — the local parish council; open a bank account; get or confirm your NISS social security number and your SNS health service user number; set up phone, internet and utilities.
All of this, with forms and links, is covered in detail in the guide The first weeks after moving to Portugal — it is the main page for the next month of your life. Also useful: How to connect electricity, water and internet and How to choose a mobile and internet provider: phone and internet contracts come with 24-month tie-ins that are expensive to get out of.
AIMA: the appointment, the card and what to do if your slot is far off
The AIMA appointment is the day the whole thing was for: that is where you apply for your residence card. Bring more than is on the list: your passport with the visa, the lease and its registration, the certificate of your tax address, insurance, NIF, NISS.
The card arrives differently for different people: two weeks for some, months for others. If the slot is too late, people try to move it through the form and the portal, and in difficult cases it ends up in court — the whole procedure, including escalation, is described in the guide How to book with AIMA and renew your residence permit.
Until you have the card, you are still living here legally: waiting for the appointment is a legal basis. But leaving and coming back with an expired visa and no card is a separate headache, and it is worth bearing in mind when planning trips.
“that’s normal, not sure about student ones, but almost everyone’s D visa expires, we waited a year and a half for our appointment with an expired visa and even Revolut accepted it”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkru_Portugal_pt03.09.2026
Once you’ve settled in: doctor, taxes and complaints
Then ordinary life begins, and there are a few things in it that are better done straight away rather than when you’re pushed.
Health: register with a Centro de Saúde (local health centre) and join the queue for a family doctor — How to register with a Centro de Saúde and Family doctors in Portugal. Until you have a doctor, there is SNS 24 and private clinics: How to use private clinics, How to choose health insurance. Where to go if you are unwell right now: Emergency services and urgência.
Taxes: once you have lived in Portugal for more than half a year, you become a tax resident here and pay IRS (Portuguese income tax) here. How it is calculated: How to calculate and pay IRS; how to file your first return: How to file an IRS return for the first time. What you still owe Russia is covered in What happens if you don’t declare your income and in the guide on transferring money.
And one local habit worth picking up straight away: the complaints book. Everyone who sells goods or services has one, and it works better than you might think: Livro de Reclamações.
Your Russian international passport: the queue is longer than you think
People hardly think about this until the passport is about to expire — and it is tied to everything: your residence permit, your bank, the border.
The international passport is renewed at the consular section of the Russian Embassy in Lisbon. According to chat conversations, you first have to catch an appointment on the website, and that is the longest part: people write about waiting six months for a slot and about a queue that stands still for months and then suddenly moves all at once. They issue a ten-year biometric passport; a second international passport is also done there.
This is a case where we say it honestly: we have not checked the official timescales, and everything written above is people’s accounts with dates. The practical conclusion doesn’t change: you need to look at your passport’s expiry date not a month ahead but a year ahead, especially if you have a residence permit renewal or a trip coming up.
“An internal passport is only done in Russia, for an international one you need to join the (online) queue at the consulate, you’ll be able to book in about six months”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatporto04.08.2026
“lots of appointments for replacing/getting an international passport have appeared for September at the Consular Section of the Russian Embassy in Lisbon, if you need one, hurry) I was 460+ in the queue for two months and it didn’t move. If anyone wants a reminder, I can send instructions on how to renew.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatlisboa20.08.2026
How long it all really takes
A summary of timescales so you can sketch out a calendar. Everything about the law comes from primary sources; everything about real life comes from conversations, with the month and year.
D visa: by law a decision within 60 days; in the chats in 2026, anything from a month to five to eight months, depending on the consulate (August 2026). The visa is valid for four months and two entries.
AIMA appointment: set together with the visa, and the range is huge. Recent examples: a visa issued on 28 August 2026 came with an appointment on 30 July 2027; a student who applied from inside the country was given 2 June 2027 (September 2026). The residence card after the appointment: from two weeks to several months.
A pet from Russia: 30 days from vaccination to the test plus three months of waiting — at least four months.
Driving licence: you can drive on a Russian one for 185 days, then you have 90 days to exchange it; the exchange itself at IMT took anywhere from a week to eight months in people’s accounts.
Tax office: 60 days to report your change of tax status after moving.
This adds up to an honest answer to ‘how long does a move take’: from deciding to holding your residence card is usually more than a year, and that is a normal scenario, not a bad one.
What to bring
- An international passport with plenty of validity left: it has to outlast both the visa application and the wait for the residence card
- A criminal record certificate with an apostille and a translation
- Children’s birth certificates and your marriage certificate — with an apostille; for a child travelling with one parent, also the other parent’s consent
- Proof of income for your grounds: statements, contracts, certificates — for the last few months
- Children’s school documents: school report or certificate and a letter from the school — for equivalence here
- Health insurance for the length of the visa
- A lease or a housing booking in Portugal
- A NIF obtained in advance, and contact details of your tax representative with access to your online tax account
- The pet’s passport, the antibody test result and vaccination dates
- Driving licence — valid, not extended after the fact
- A card from a bank outside Russia and cash for the first weeks
Where people most often trip up
- Titre test for a dog or cat: the test no earlier than 30 days after vaccination and then a three-month wait — start this countdown before anything else
- The AIMA appointment comes with the visa and may be a year away: the visa’s four months don’t cover it, and that is not a mistake
- Your passport stays at the consulate for the whole time the application is considered — other trips during that period are off
- How recent a certificate is depends on the document’s issue date, not the apostille on it
- A non-resident’s NIF is linked to the tax representative, and the password for the online account goes to them
- Only valid Russian licences can be exchanged: an extension under Russian rules doesn’t count here, and you have 90 days after moving to exchange it
- Veterinary checks at Lisbon and Porto airports don’t operate at night — on a night flight with a pet there is nobody to process it
- A Russian international passport is renewed in Lisbon after a long wait for an appointment: check its expiry a year ahead
- Russian cards don’t work abroad and Mir is not accepted in Portugal — you need money for the first weeks sorted in advance
- You must report your change of tax status after moving yourself, and you have 60 days to do it