Portuguese law for Australians: visas, courts, family, inheritance, tax, licence

Common law meets a code

Australia’s law is judge-made common law layered with statutes, trials on indictment go to a jury (Constitution, s. 80), property passes through a Torrens title register, and there is no inheritance tax. Portugal’s law is a Civil Code of 1966 applied by professional judges — the jury exists on paper for serious crimes, at the request of prosecution or defence (Constitution, art. 207), and is almost never used — property passes by notarial deed and registration, and inheritance is taxed at 10 % outside the direct line. An Australian meets Portuguese law first as a visa applicant: Australians enter the Schengen area visa-free for 90 days in 180 but need a residence visa to stay, work or retire, and Portugal’s D-visas are the route.

• No tax treaty between Portugal and Australia — relief is unilateral on each side
• Social security convention in force since 1 October 2002: Age Pension and Portuguese pensions paid in the other country, periods added together, postings up to four years
• Apostille both ways — Australia since 1995, Portugal since 1969
• Dual nationality accepted by both; Portuguese naturalisation after ten years of residence

Entering and staying

Beyond 90 days an Australian needs a national visa — D7 for passive income and pensions, D8 for remote work, D2 for a business, D1 for a job, D3 for highly qualified work, D4 for study — applied for at the Portuguese consulate with a Portuguese tax number, proof of means, accommodation and a criminal record certificate, and converted into a residence permit by AIMA after arrival. The visa guide walks through each. Permanent residence comes after five years; nationality after ten years of legal residence for a non-EU citizen under the 2026 Nationality Act, with a language and culture test — and Australia lets you keep your Australian citizenship, as Portugal does.

Documents

Australian public documents — birth, marriage and police certificates, powers of attorney, company extracts — are accepted in Portugal with an apostille from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australian Passport Offices in the capital cities, or embassies and consulates abroad). Portuguese documents for use in Australia are apostilled by the Procuradoria-Geral da República for 10,20 €. English-language documents are accepted without translation for nationality files; Finanças and most other services want a certified Portuguese translation, which a Portuguese lawyer, notary or solicitador can certify.

Courts and disputes

Portugal has 23 district courts (tribunais de comarca), five courts of appeal and a Supreme Court of Justice, with julgados de paz for civil claims up to 15 000 €; a lawyer is compulsory above 5 000 €, appeals need a claim above 5 000 € (30 000 € for a second appeal), and cases are decided on written pleadings and a judge’s examination of witnesses, without discovery. Legal aid comes from Social Security on proof of economic insufficiency — available to a foreigner with a Portuguese residence permit. There is no treaty on the enforcement of judgments between the two countries: an Australian judgment is enforced in Portugal only after review and confirmation by the court of appeal of the defendant’s district (revisão de sentença estrangeira, Civil Procedure Code art. 978.º–980.º), which checks authenticity, finality and public policy, not the merits.

Family and inheritance

Marriage in Portugal defaults to community of acquisitions — what either spouse earns or buys during the marriage is shared, prior and inherited property is not (Civil Code art. 1717.º) — where Australia has no matrimonial regime at all and the Family Court divides property on divorce case by case. Divorce by mutual consent is done at the civil registry without a court (art. 1775.º); contested divorce goes to the family court, with one year of de facto separation among the grounds (art. 1781.º).

On death, Portuguese law reserves two thirds of the estate for the spouse and children together (art. 2157.º–2159.º); Australian law has no fixed reserved shares — a will disposes freely, and a court adjusts it only on a family-provision claim decided case by case (as the Victorian Law Reform Commission describes the system). An Australian resident in Portugal can choose Australian law for the whole succession in a will under the EU Succession Regulation (art. 22 applies to any nationality), which removes the forced shares — the tax does not follow the law chosen: Portuguese assets carry 10 % stamp duty, from which the spouse, descendants and ascendants are exempt, while Australia charges no inheritance or estate tax, only capital gains tax when an inherited asset is later sold.

Tax and social security

There is no double-tax treaty. Portugal taxes its residents on worldwide income — 12,5 % to 48 % after a 4 587 € deduction, 28 % on capital income — and credits foreign tax under its own law (IRS Code, art. 81.º), up to the Portuguese tax on that income; Australia taxes its residents likewise with its own foreign income tax offset. Because there is no treaty, an Australian superannuation pension received in Portugal is fully taxable here as a pension, and Australian rental income is taxed in both countries with a credit. The accounting hub has the Portuguese rates and the regimes; NHR is closed and its successor IFICI needs a listed job.

The Convention on Social Security signed in Lisbon on 3 September 2001 and in force since 1 October 2002 (Decreto n.º 11/2002) does three things: it treats each country’s nationals equally, pays Australian Age Pension and Portuguese old-age, invalidity and survivor pensions in the other country (art. 6), and lets periods of Australian working-life residence and Portuguese contributions be added together to qualify (art. 16 and following). A worker sent by an Australian employer stays under Australian legislation for up to four years (art. 12); an Australian resident in Portugal may join the Portuguese voluntary insurance scheme (art. 5).

Driving, property, business

An Australian licence is accepted for driving in Portugal even after taking residence, as long as it is valid, issued or renewed within the last 15 years and the holder is under 60 (IMT rules for OECD countries party to the Geneva or Vienna traffic conventions); exchange for a Portuguese licence is possible on the IMT’s online portal with a medical certificate and a certificate of authenticity from the issuing state. Property is bought by deed before a notary or at Casa Pronta after a lawyer’s title check — no conveyancer, no cooling-off period; IMT is 7,5 % flat for a buyer who is not yet tax resident, refundable within two years of becoming resident. A company (Lda) can be formed with 1 € per partner at Empresa na Hora for 360 €, and needs a certified accountant from day one; an Australian director needs no Portuguese residence.

Steps

Questions from Australian clients