Segurança Social benefits: unemployment, sickness, children — who gets them, how much and when they are paid

What you need to get anything at all

Social security number (NISS) and personal account. If you work on a contract, you already have a NISS — without it your employer cannot pay contributions. If you don't, a foreigner can only apply for one online, on the Segurança Social website: you upload your passport or residence permit and a document showing the reason — an employment contract or your registration as self-employed. Then set up a Segurança Social Direta password: almost all benefits are claimed and tracked there.

Contribution record. Benefits that replace a salary — unemployment, sickness, parental — are paid only to people for whom contributions have been paid. How much you need depends on the benefit: six months for sick pay and parental leave, 360 days of work in the last two years for unemployment benefit. Contributions in another EU country count, as do those from countries with an agreement; contributions from Russia do not. Child benefit does not depend on contributions.

The self-employed get sick pay and parental benefit on their own terms, and with contribution debts they get nothing. On contributions, see the guide How to pay Segurança Social contributions when self-employed.

“My husband wasn't paid for his first paternity leave because at that time he hadn't started paying contributions to the segurança yet. The second leave was paid. He took about 30 days”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

pequenos_PT16.12.2024

Unemployment benefit: who is entitled

Contribution record. You need 360 days of employment with salary registered with social security in the 24 months before you lost your job. Days of sick leave, parental leave and unused paid holiday count; days on a previous unemployment benefit do not.

Residence permit. A foreigner needs a valid residence permit or another permit that allows them to work on a contract; the law also accepts the receipt for a renewal application. While you are registered with the job centre, the document must stay valid.

Unemployment not by choice. Eligible: you were dismissed; your fixed-term contract ended and was not renewed; you left with justa causa — for example, your employer was months late with your salary. Not eligible: you resigned, including during a probation period, or you refused to renew your contract when offered. Leaving by mutual agreement (revogação por acordo) gives you benefit only if the company is cutting staff and stays within its quota: with up to 250 staff, three departures or 25% of the workforce over three years. If the quota is exceeded, you still get the benefit, and social security recovers its cost from the employer.

“of course. To get the vast majority of benefits from the segurança, you first have to become someone who pays social contributions. With an employment contract — be made redundant or dismissed at the employer's initiative.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

myptaxes25.06.2025

Unemployment benefit: how much and for how long

The amount is 65% of your previous salary. They take the first 12 of the last 14 months before you lost your job, including holiday and Christmas pay, and divide by 360 — this is your daily reference salary. In 2026 the benefit is at least €537.13 a month (€617.70 if you earned at least the minimum wage) and at most €1,342.83, but also no more than 75% of your previous net salary. If both spouses are unemployed and have children, or a child is being raised by a single parent, each gets an extra 10% — you have to ask for it in Segurança Social Direta. The benefit does not go down over time: the 10% cut after six months was abolished back in 2018. There is no tax, and the benefit does not go on your IRS return.

The period depends on age and contribution record, counting months of contributions since your last unemployment benefit. Under 30, it is paid for 150 days with less than 15 months of contributions, 210 with 15 to 24 months and 330 with 24 months or more. At 30–⁠39 it is 180, 330 and 420 days, at 40–⁠49 — 210, 360 and 540, and from 50 — 270, 480 and 540 days. With a long record, another 30–⁠60 days are added for every five years of contributions in the last twenty.

You can estimate your amount with the simulator on the Segurança Social website.

“4 #SS Unemployment benefit. I'm writing from personal experience: my two-year employment contract wasn't renewed. Don't expect anything from the company, their form shows up by itself in the desemprego section. There you'll need to fill in details about your household, your spouse's job, create an account for job-seeking on ieft — and wait for the benefit to be calculated. They do it quickly, they pay at the end of the month for the previous one. The maximum period is 24 months, the maximum amount is 1300 euros. If by the time the main benefit ends the person still hasn't found a job, they can apply for long-term unemployment benefit.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

myptaxes25.06.2025

“Unemployment benefit has an upper limit, but parental leave pay seems not to. What I especially liked is that no tax is paid on the benefit, so in fact I was getting even more than when I was working 😂”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

beremennost_portugal01.08.2025

Unemployment benefit: how to apply and what to do next

A document from your employer. When you lose your job, your employer issues a declaração de situação de desemprego (form RP 5044) — within five days of you asking; refusing can cost them a fine of €250 to €2,000. More often they fill it in themselves in their own account, and it appears in your Segurança Social Direta. If they don't issue it, go to the labour inspectorate ACT, which will issue it instead.

Apply to the IEFP job centre within 90 days of the end of your contract. A former employee can apply online on iefponline: log in through Segurança Social Direta or Chave Móvel Digital, register as a jobseeker and submit the “Requerimento do Subsídio de Desemprego” in your personal area. You need your residence permit, passport and a bank document with an IBAN in your name. If you are late, you still get the benefit, but the days of delay are deducted from the period. It is paid from the day you apply.

While you are receiving it. You draw up a Plano Pessoal de Emprego — a job-search plan — with the job centre; you must actually look for work and be able to show it. You cannot turn down suitable full-time work, or miss an appointment twice without a reason: the benefit will be stopped, and you can only register again after 90 days. Moving house, travelling abroad and illness must be reported to IEFP five working days in advance; for 30 days a year you can stop looking for work if you give 30 days' notice.

“As a rule, IEFP offers low-paid jobs. There's nothing decent, I think they have a ‘deal’ with the SS to get the guy off benefit for the SS and placed somewhere for IEFP. And you can't refuse — they'll cut you off.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

chatlisboa10.11.2024

“Let's put together all the addresses you need to change when you move, in order of importance. 1. The Finanças portal. Importance — 5, paper notices of tax payments due are sent to this address. Don't pay — fine 2. Segurança Social. Importance — 4, very important for people on unemployment benefit, documents that need an urgent reply are sent to the address and only on paper. Consequence — the benefit is cancelled. People who pay contributions themselves get information about arrears and the size of their pension contributions. 3. Banks.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

myptaxes27.06.2025

Not enough contributions, or you have found some part-time work

Subsídio social de desemprego. If you are short of the 360 days, there is a smaller benefit: you need 180 days of work in the last 12 months (120 if a fixed-term contract ended), family income of no more than €429.70 a month per person, and savings of no more than €128,911.20. It pays €537.13 to someone living with family and €429.70 to someone living alone.

From 2027 it will be gone. Decreto-Lei n.º 166/2026 of 13 August 2026 abolishes this benefit from 31 December 2026 and replaces it with a new payment for people on low incomes — the prestação social única. Anyone who started receiving it before that date will get it until the end of their period. Non-EU citizens need a year of legal residence for the new payment. The ordinary unemployment benefit stays as it is.

Part-time work. Any employment or work on recibos verdes lasting less than three years stops the benefit, even if it pays less than the benefit — report it. If the work is part-time and the salary is lower than the benefit, you can get partial benefit: the benefit plus 35% of it, minus the salary. You cannot work like this for your previous employer.

Sick pay: from which day and how much

The sick note (CIT, certificado de incapacidade temporária) is issued by a doctor — at a health centre, hospital, A&E or private clinic — who sends it to social security. You don't need to apply: the benefit is calculated automatically. If the doctor couldn't send it and gave you a paper note, take it to Segurança Social within five working days; if you are late, you are only paid from the day you brought it in. Show the note to your employer as well.

Conditions. Six months of contributions and 12 days of work in the first four of the last six months.

From which day. Employees are not paid for the first three days — the benefit starts on the 4th day, for the self-employed on the 11th. It is paid from the first day if you were in hospital or had day surgery.

How much. The share of your reference salary rises with time: up to 30 days — 55%, from the 31st to the 90th day — 60%, up to a year — 70%, longer — 75%. With a salary of up to €500 or three or more children, 5% is added for the first 90 days. It is never less than €9.20 a day. Employees are paid for up to 1,095 days, the self-employed for up to 365.

At home. You may go out for treatment and, if the doctor allowed it on the note, from 11:00 to 15:00 and from 18:00 to 21:00.

“Registration with the SS will happen automatically. It can take 5 days for that to happen. And your subsidy will show up there if the sick leave is longer than 3 days. Up to 3 days you're not entitled to anything.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

RussosEmPortugal30.04.2025

“The sick note comes in 3 copies, the doctor sends one copy to segurança social themselves, 2 stay with you, 1 for you for your next appointment with the doctor, 1 to give to the Entidade Patronal. If for some reason the doctor couldn't send the sick note, you have to take it to segurança social on paper within 5 working days of getting it from the doctor. I don't know if you can post it, I took it myself when the computers at the hospital froze.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

left4portugal24.01.2024

Ill for 1–⁠3 days: a self-declaration is not paid

If you are only ill for a short time, you don't have to see a doctor: through SNS 24 you submit an autodeclaração de doença — a statement on your own responsibility, for up to three days in a row and no more than twice a year. It excuses your absence from work, but you are not paid for those days — neither by social security nor, under the law, by your employer.

There is one benefit. If the illness drags on and the doctor issues a sick note from the 4th day, the days of self-declaration count towards the three waiting days, and the benefit is paid straight from the date of the note. Without a self-declaration, the three unpaid days are taken from the note itself.

“Up to three days is done online in a minute. An official sick note. They did this so people don't crowd into clinics with viruses, as I understand it [link]”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

chatlisboa09.04.2025

“Sick pay (baixa médica) only kicks in after three days of illness, and after three days of intensive treatment people are mostly better anyway and go back to work, so they don't get what they pay in for.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

RussosEmPortugal23.02.2024

Parental leave: how many days and how much is paid

The condition is six months of contributions before the leave starts. For the compulsory days (42 for the mother, 28 for the father), contributions in at least one of the last six months are enough.

Shared leave after the birth is taken for 120 days — paid at 100% of the reference salary — or for 150 days — paid at 80%. If each parent has looked after the child alone for at least 30 days in a row (or twice for 15), the 150 days are paid at 100%, and the leave can be extended to 180 days: these are paid at 83% if the father was alone with the child for 30 days, and at 90% if for 60. It is never less than €14.32 a day; on Madeira and the Azores 2% is added.

The mother must take 42 days after the birth and may start up to 30 days before it — but those days are deducted from the shared leave. The father must take 28 days in the first six weeks, the first seven straight after the birth, and may take another seven; his days are always paid at 100%. You tell your employer how you are splitting the days within seven days of the birth.

Apply in Segurança Social Direta (Família → Maternidade e paternidade → Subsídio Parental Inicial) within six months of the first day of leave; if you are late, days beyond six months are not paid. Before the birth you attach a doctor's certificate with the expected due date, after it — the child's document. On pregnancy and birth itself, see the guide Pregnancy and birth in Portugal: from registering with a doctor to child benefit.

“In short, you can take leave either for 120 days paid at 100% or 150 days paid at 80%, there are also options with leave shared between the parents, I won't go into it, you can find it online You can start it either a month before your due date, but then you get less time with the baby, or from the birth”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

beremennost_portugal26.02.2026

“We did it) I've been on leave for 5 months. My husband took the first 35 days (together with me) and the last, sixth month (when my leave will already be over) In that case my salary is paid at 83% for 5 months.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

beremennost_portugal10.10.2025

“But the benefit you get on maternity leave wasn't given to me only because I'd been working officially before that not for 6 months, but 5🫠”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

beremennost_portugal05.07.2025

Child benefit (abono de família)

Who gets it. A child living in Portugal, if the family's income is not high. A foreign parent needs a residence permit, the receipt for its renewal or a visa; no contributions are needed. The family's annual income is divided by the number of children entitled to the benefit plus one, and the result sets the bracket (escalão). Applications in 2026 use 2025 income: first bracket — up to €3,657.50 per share, second — up to €7,315, third — up to €12,435.50, fourth — up to €18,287.50, above that — the fifth, which pays nothing. Family savings must be no more than €128,911.20.

How much a month in 2026. In the first bracket — €190.98 per child under three and €75.13 per older child, in the second — €161.65 and €75.13. In the third — €132.07 under three, €59.33 from three to six and €54.35 over six. In the fourth — €88.43 under three, €44.77 from three to six, nothing over six. Single parents get half as much again, and there are supplements for second and further children under three. Social security automatically tops up first-bracket families on very low incomes to €127.33 a month (Garantia para a Infância).

How to apply. You need the child's NISS and your own. In Segurança Social Direta: Família → Desenvolvimento de crianças e jovens → Abono de Família, enter your household and last year's income. If you apply within six months of the birth, it is paid from the following month; later than that — only from the month after you apply. For a child aged 16 or over, a prova escolar — proof of studies — is needed every year by 31 July; from a state school social security often gets it itself, but for a private school, courses or university you submit it yourself.

The bracket matters not only for the money: schools and the municipality use it to give discounts on lunches, after-school care, holiday camps and textbooks. You can get a certificate of your bracket in your personal account.

“3 #SS Payments for children. The exact amounts may vary by region, the key thing is the abono de familia bracket. Here's how you get it: 1. Get a NISS for the children 2. Create an agregado familiar on the segurança website 3. Request the bracket calculation. There you need to enter your income for last year and whether any family member has deposits over 125K euros. About a month later, in the família section of the adult who made the request, the children will appear and you can print a document showing the bracket. It also shows how it was calculated. Some benefit is paid with the 3rd bracket, with the second and first it's more noticeable.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

myptaxes25.06.2025

“if you haven't applied to social services for help (which you'd probably know about), then you don't have a bracket (sem escalão) and you won't get discounts on extra services at school (after-school care, snacks and that sort of thing)”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

schoolinportugal12.09.2024

When payments are made: the payment calendar

Segurança Social pays everyone on the same days, according to the calendar on its website (the Pagamentos section). Unemployment, sickness and parental benefits have two payment days a month — “1º pagamento” and “2º pagamento”; which one your money comes on depends on when social security processed it.

October 2026. Pensions are paid on 8 October. On the 16th — child benefit and the first payment of unemployment, sickness and parental benefits, on the 28th — the second. In September the days were the 8th, 16th and 28th, in August — the 7th, 14th and 28th.

You can see your amount and date in Segurança Social Direta about a week before the payment. On 300 502 502 an automated line gives dates and amounts for your NISS around the clock — you need an access code from your personal account.

“There's a calendar at the bottom of the home page with the exact payment date for each type of payment I got all the money paid in one go.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

beremennost_portugal08.09.2026

“They come closer to the end of the month. About a week or two before, the information appears in the calendar in your personal account.”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

pequenos_PT10.06.2026

Register an IBAN instead of a postal order

The money comes either to a bank account or by postal order (vale postal) through CTT. An account is more reliable: the money arrives on the payment day. A postal order is held at the post office for 60 days, and if it is stolen or handed to the wrong person, social security does not pay a second time.

How to register it. In Segurança Social Direta: Perfil → Conta bancária. Or at an office — form MG 14 and a bank document showing you as the account holder. One number covers all social security payments; while it is being checked it is “pending”, and confirmation arrives in your account messages.

Closing an account? Change the IBAN first. All payments to a closed account stop until you register a new one and submit a claim. If you got the number wrong yourself, the money is only returned if the person who received it gives it back. How to open an account — see the guide How to open an account with a Portuguese bank.

“The segurança has a benefit payment calendar [link] on that day they pay everything out (if there's an iban in your personal account, the money goes to it, if not, then by cheque in the post).”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

beremennost_portugal15.04.2024

The money hasn't arrived: what to do

Check your account first. In Segurança Social Direta — “Consultar recebimentos”: there you can see whether the money was paid and where it was sent. “Não pago” means the money hasn't been credited or the postal order hasn't been collected; “aguarda confirmação” means social security is waiting for a reply from the post office. If the payment day in the calendar hasn't passed yet, wait.

Nothing has come at all — submit a claim in the same place: Pagamentos e dívidas → Valores a receber → Recebimentos em falta, or at an office with form PA 25. The deadline is five years from the month the payment was made.

To ask — call 300 502 502 or 210 545 400 (from abroad +351 300 502 502); a person answers on working days from 9:00 to 18:00; or write through e-Clic in your account (Ajuda → Canal e-Clic). A written request leaves a record, so for disputed cases it is better than a call.