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Using a U.S. document in Portugal

Valid in Portugal Accepts the U.S. apostille. Verified against official sources on 2026-11-02
Hague ConventionMember since February 4, 1969
What you needApostille from the state that issued the document
TranslationDepends on the authority
Consular informationPortal Consular / Vistos – Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros de Portugal (Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs visa portal) ↗

Step by step

  1. Obtain the U.S. public document (e.g. FBI criminal record certificate, birth or marriage certificate).
  2. Get the Hague Apostille from the competent U.S. authority: the state Secretary of State for state documents, or the U.S. Department of State Office of Authentications for federal documents such as FBI records.
  3. If the document is not in English, French or Spanish, obtain a certified Portuguese translation (certified by a Portuguese notary, registry officer, lawyer/solicitor, recognized chamber of commerce, or the Portuguese consul).
  4. Submit the apostilled document to the Portuguese consulate (visa) or to the Portuguese authority (e.g. AIMA) handling your case.

Translation

According to AIMA (Portugal's Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum), foreign-language documents must as a rule be accompanied by a certified Portuguese translation, but documents in English, French and Spanish do not need translation. Translations can be certified by a Portuguese notary, a registry officer, a lawyer or solicitor practicing in Portugal, a recognized chamber of commerce or industry, a translator certified by one of these, or the Portuguese consul in the country where the document was issued. Other Portuguese authorities may apply their own rules.

Common uses

  • Residence visa for retirement or passive income (commonly called D7)
  • Residence visa for remote work (digital nomads)
  • Residence visas for work, study or research
  • Family reunification visas
  • Criminal record certificate required for residence visa applications (age 16+)

Important

For residence visas, the criminal record certificate must be issued by the competent authority of the applicant's country of nationality or of any country where the applicant has lived for more than one year, and must carry the Hague Apostille where applicable. Applicants under 16 are exempt. The consular post may request additional documents.

Which state issued your document?

Apostille fee and processing time in that state.

Fee per document$15.00
TimeMail: at least 2 weeks · In person: same day
See the office in Texas →

Sources

See the official sources (6)
Editor's note

HCCH status table: Portugal ratified 6-XII-1968, in force 4-II-1969. The vistos.mne.gov.pt 'Document authentication' page loads its content via JavaScript and could not be read, so the authentication/translation rules come from AIMA instead. A specific validity period for the criminal record certificate (often cited as 3 months) is NOT stated on the official residency page reviewed and is not included. The 'D7' label is a common name; the official page calls it 'fixed residency for retirement, religious purposes, or people living from passive income'. Portuguese nationality (IRN) requirements were not verified. The official website of the Portuguese Embassy/consulates in the U.S. could not be confirmed (candidate mne.gov.pt subdomains did not respond), so the MNE visa portal is given as consulate_url. Portugal lodged an objection to India's accession to the Apostille Convention (irrelevant for U.S. documents).