Driving licence and car

Steps

1. Within 60 days of your move, register your residence with the IMT. At the IMT counter in your area, with your identity document, the comunicação de residência made at the town hall (if you do not have a Portuguese Cartão de Cidadão) and your valid licence. It is free.
2. If you want (or have) to exchange your licence, first have the medical certificate (atestado médico) issued by your doctor: they send it to the IMT themselves through the electronic platform.
3. Submit the application online on the A Minha Carta de Condução portal (log in with your credentials), with the documents below.
4. Wait for the IMT's call. You then go to the counter to hand in your foreign licence and have your photo and signature taken. You can receive the new licence by post or collect it at the counter.
5. Think about renewal. A Portuguese licence is renewed within the 6 months before its end date, online (IMTonline) or at the counter; up to age 50, holders of a category B licence with a Cartão de Cidadão and Chave Móvel Digital can also use the id.gov app.

Documents

• Identity document.
• Comunicação de residência made at the town hall (if you do not have a Cartão de Cidadão).
• Tax domicile certificate from the Portal das Finanças, if your residence document does not show an address.
• Passport, if your residence document has neither a photo nor a signature.
• Your foreign driving licence.
• Psychological fitness certificate, only for categories C, D or E.
• British, Swiss or other OECD-country licence: in addition, a certificate of authenticity of the licence, issued by the authority that issued it or by a consulate, which states the categories obtained by examination and by equivalence.

Costs and timelines

• Residence registration: free, within 60 days; failing to do it is an offence.
• Exchange: €30, with a 10% discount online. No test for EU, EEA and OECD licences; only medical fitness (and psychological fitness for heavy goods vehicles).
• Licence without an end date: mandatory exchange within 2 years of your move.
• Renewal: €30 (€15 from age 70), 10% discount online. Medical certificate mandatory from age 60 for categories AM, A1, A2, A, B1, B and BE.
• Renewal rhythm (Portuguese licence obtained since 30/07/2016): every 15 years up to age 60, then every 5 years from 60 to 70, then every 2 years, with a medical certificate from age 60. Older licences have their own schedule (IMT "Grupo I" table). The schedule that applies to a licence obtained through an exchange is to be confirmed with the IMT.
• Expired licence: beyond 2 years (up to 5 years), special examination with a practical test; beyond 5 years (up to 10 years), training and special examination.

Common pitfalls

• Forgetting the 60-day registration because the licence remains valid: these are two different things.
• Old "lifetime" licences. EU licences without an end date must be exchanged within 2 years; do not let the deadline pass.
• Driving with an expired Portuguese licence. It is an offence, and the longer you wait, the heavier the regularisation.
• British or Swiss licence: the 60-year and 15-year rule. The authorisation to drive with these licences only applies if the holder is under 60 and the licence was issued or renewed less than 15 years ago. These are cumulative conditions of the Código da Estrada (art. 125.º, n.º 1, c)): on the day of your 60th birthday, or when your licence reaches 15 years since its issue or last renewal, it no longer allows you to drive in Portugal. Request the exchange before that date. This authorisation only applies in Portugal, and to add a category, you must exchange first.
• Madeira and the Azores. In Madeira, procedures are carried out with the IMT, IP-RAM (regional service), with the same rules and the same €30 fee; its guide asks for a translation if your licence is not in Portuguese, French, English or Spanish. In the Azores, the exchange comes under the regional transport service (Direção de Serviços de Viação e Transportes Terrestres, in Ponta Delgada); the AIPA association and the local migrant support centres in Ponta Delgada, Angra do Heroísmo and Madalena do Pico can act as intermediaries.

What changes by country of origin

• EU and EEA citizens (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein): licence recognised until its end date, residence registration mandatory, exchange optional (mandatory within 2 years for a licence without an end date, and also mandatory if the licence has to be modified or has been seized in Portugal: Código da Estrada, art. 128.º, n.º 4).
• Swiss and British citizens (Scots included): OECD-country regime (Decreto-Lei n.º 46/2022): you can drive even after you settle if your licence is valid, was issued or renewed less than 15 years ago, you are under 60 and you meet the Portuguese minimum age for the category. Otherwise, exchange without a driving test, with a medical certificate and a certificate of authenticity.
• Car: to register in Portugal a car that comes from abroad, see sheet PT-PERMIS-TOUS-002.

Steps

Passenger car with a European certificate of conformity (CoC):

1. Request the national type approval number online from the IMT: customs needs it.
2. Have the car pass the inspection for registration at a category B inspection centre (CITV). You receive a model 112 certificate, valid for 90 working days.
3. Regularise the car at customs. This is where the ISV is calculated (or the exemption granted); customs tells you the registration number that will be allocated.
4. Return to the same IMT service with proof of the customs regularisation to complete the file.
5. The registration certificate is issued after the ownership has been entered in the register (conservatória).

Without a certificate of conformity: the manufacturer or its representative confirms on the Modelo 9 IMT form that the car corresponds to a national type approval; otherwise, request the type approval from the IMT regional service before going to customs (€165 fee).

Then, every year: pay the IUC (Imposto Único de Circulação) in the anniversary month of the registration (sheet PT-IMPOTS-TOUS-003), keep valid insurance and respect the inspection schedule.

Documents

• Modelo 9 IMT form.
• Certificate of conformity (CoC), original or copy, if there is one.
• Identity document of the applicant.
• Original registration certificate (original or copy authenticated by customs).
• Proof of regularisation at customs.
• Model 112 inspection certificate.
• Without a CoC or national type approval: the type approval of the country of origin (original or authenticated copy).

Costs and timelines

• Registration at the IMT: €45 (with CoC, or with national type approval); €165 without national type approval. Payment at the counter (cash, Multibanco, cheque payable to the IGCP) or by post.
• Inspection for registration: €76.03 plus VAT; re-inspection: half the fee (fees displayed by the IMT, year not stated on the page).
• ISV: calculated by customs according to engine size, emissions and age of the car, payable within 10 working days after notification of the calculation.
• ISV exemption for transfer of residence (Código do ISV, art. 58.º to 61.º): be over 18; have lived at least 6 months in another EU or non-EU country; have owned the car in that country for at least 6 months before your departure (date of the registration certificate or the leasing contract); have bought it there paying the normal taxes; bring it into Portugal at the very moment you transfer your residence there. One car per person, and only once every 10 years. Application online on the Portal das Finanças (DAV and form 1460.1), within 12 months after the transfer of residence, with the official certificate of residence of the country you left and proof of daily life (rents, water or electricity bills, payslips). Free.
• Deadlines: the car must be presented to customs (DAV) within 20 working days after its entry into Portugal; the ISV is paid within 10 working days after notification of the calculation; after the tax regularisation, you have 60 days to pay the registration tax at the IMT and request the registration certificate. For the exemption on transfer of residence, the application can be filed up to 12 months after the transfer of residence, but the car must enter Portugal at that time.
• Periodic inspection of a passenger car (M1): 4 years after first registration, then every 2 years up to 8 years, then every year; €30.46 plus VAT for a light vehicle.
• IUC: 2026 scale in sheet PT-IMPOTS-TOUS-003.
• Property register (IRN): €55 for the initial registration of a car registered less than 60 days ago, reduced by 15% online, i.e. €46.75 (Regulamento Emolumentar dos Registos e Notariado, art. 25.º and 28.º). To be done within 60 days.

Common pitfalls

• Driving for a long time with foreign plates. The European Union has no common deadline. In Portugal, the car must be presented to customs (DAV) within 20 working days after its entry; after that, keeping it in Portugal may give rise to the ISV (the AT cites this case on its page). And for the exemption, the car must arrive at the time of your move: the AT refused it to a person whose car had entered Portugal seven months before their transfer of residence (ruling of 2022).
• Letting the inspection certificate expire. It is only valid for 90 working days: go quickly from customs to the IMT.
• Selling an imported car too soon under the exemption. For 12 months after the Portuguese plate is allocated, you can neither sell it, give it away, rent it out nor lend it (Código do ISV, art. 47.º); otherwise the whole ISV becomes due, with penalties. You must also keep your normal residence in Portugal, at least 185 days per calendar year. In a 2019 ruling (case of a departure for Switzerland), the AT held that leaving for abroad with the car, without selling, renting or lending it, is not a chargeable event for ISV, provided those 185 days were observed.
• Staying uninsured. Third-party liability motor insurance is compulsory. If three insurers refuse to insure you, the ASF designates an insurer that must cover you.
• Forgetting the IUC. It is due every year as long as the car is registered in your name, even if it is not driven.
• Madeira and the Azores. Procedures with the regional services (in Madeira, the IMT, IP-RAM). The ISV is collected by customs as on the mainland: the AT page on buying a car does not mention an ISV rule specific to the regions, only a different VAT on new cars (22% in Madeira, 16% in the Azores, 23% on the mainland).

What changes by country of origin

• Car coming from an EU country: no customs duties; the procedure above applies, with the European CoC simplifying the type approval.
• Car coming from the United Kingdom (Scotland included) or Switzerland: this is an import from a non-EU country. The AT states it clearly: customs duties, VAT and ISV. The ISV exemption for transfer of residence also applies from a third country (same 6-month conditions). EU law also provides for a customs duty exemption for personal property, car included, if you have lived at least 12 months in a row outside the EU and declare it within 12 months after you settle (Regulation (EC) n.º 1186/2009); these conditions are to be confirmed with customs. For VAT, ask customs (Alfândega) before the move.
• Driving licence: see sheet PT-PERMIS-TOUS-001.