Digital nomads in Portugal struggling to obtain residency amid Aima & social security dispute

Lisbon: Portugal’s Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) and Social Security share different opinions in terms of requirements for obtaining residence permits for digital nomads.

These different opinions have also sparked controversies among lawyers as well.

Digital nomads choosing Portugal to live in while working remotely for companies or clients located outside this country are facing challenges in acquiring residency.

It comes after the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) and Social Security share different opinions when it comes to requirements for obtaining residence permits, Schengen.News reports.

While AIMA requires digital nomads to obtain a Social Security Registration Number (NISS) to receive their residence permits, Social Security claims that such a requirement is unnecessary.

Lawyer Larissa Belo told Publico that she decided to go to court to protect her clients who complied with Portugal’s government requirements and moved to this country.

She called on the judges to order Social Security to grant NISS to digital nomads so that AIMA can issue them residence permits.

These workers, who have specific visas, cannot be at the mercy of two public bodies that do not understand each other. They are highly qualified people who want to live in Portugal but continue working for companies in other countries.

Belo said that AIMA is wrong in this process after it treats digital nomads as displaced workers.

That is not their case. There are incentives for these nomads to live in Portugal and spend their salaries in the country, helping to boost the economy. We are talking about people with excellent salaries, who come from abroad, not generated in Portuguese territory.

The issue of whether digital nomads should obtain a NISS number or not, has also sparked controversies among digital nomads.

In this regard, lawyer Fábio Pimentel, from the CPPB Law firm told Publico that digital nomads are required to register with Social Security in spite of whether they have employment ties in Portugal.

“AIMA is correct on this point. And even if the agency did not require the NISS, Social Security cannot deny it to anyone because we are talking about a universal system that is open to everyone. It is the same model as Social Security in Brazil,” Fábio Pimentel, Lawyer From the CPPB Law firm.

In 2022, Portugal started issuing digital nomad visas for remote workers and freelancers from countries located outside the European Union.

Among the requirements to benefit from this visa is to earn €3,480 or more per month. In order to obtain such a visa, applicants are required to wait for about 90 days.

The figures from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have recently revealed that about 5,400 digital nomads have obtained such visas to reside in Portugal, 15 per cent of whom are Brazilians.