The International Student is the one that does not have Portuguese nationality.

You are not considered an international student if you are in any of the following situations:

• You are a national of a Member State of the European Union or a national of a State Party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area;
• You are a family member of a Portuguese national, a national of another Member State of the European Union or a national of a State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, regardless of your nationality;
• If you are not a national of a Member State of the European Union or of a State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and are not covered by the previous paragraph, you have been legally resident in Portugal for more than two years, uninterruptedly, on 1st January of the year in which you intend to enter higher education, as well as your children who are legally resident with you. The length of residence with a residence permit for study only counts during the period in which the student is attending secondary school in Portugal;
• You are a beneficiary, on 1 January of the year in which you intend to enter higher education, of equal rights and duties status granted under an international treaty or agreement between the Portuguese State and the State of which you are a national;
• If you have requested admission to higher education through the special higher education access and admission schemes regulated in chapter ii of Decreto-Lei n.º 64-A/2023, de 31 de julho;
• Foreign students who are attending a Portuguese higher education institution as part of an international mobility programme to complete part of a cycle of studies at a foreign higher education institution with which the Portuguese institution has established an exchange agreement for this purpose.

Family member of an European Union citizen means:

1. The spouse;
2. The partner with whom the Union citizen lives in a de facto union (união de facto) pursuant to the law, or with whom the Union citizen has a permanente relationship duly certified by the relevant authority of the Member State where he/she resides;
3. The direct descendants who are under the age of 21 or are dependants of the Union citizen, and those of the spouse or partner as defined in the preceding subparagraph;
4. The dependant direct relatives of the Union citizen in the ascending line and those of the spouse or partner as defined in subparagraph 2).

All students who enter higher education under the provisions of this diploma retain the status of international student until the end of the cycle of studies in which they initially enrolled or to which they transition, even if, while attending any of these cycles of studies, they are granted the status of equal rights and duties under an international treaty or agreement signed between the Portuguese State and the State of which they are a national. Exceptions are international students who acquire Portuguese nationality, the nationality of another European Union member state or the nationality of a state party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (the cessation of the application of international student status takes effect in the academic year following the date of acquisition of nationality).

All the information available on the special access for International Students can be found in the following legislation:

• Decreto-Lei n.º 36/2014, de 10 de março, modified by the Decreto-Lei n.º 62/2018, de 6 de agosto and the Decreto-Lei n.º 20/2025, de 18 de março;
• Despacho n.º 8175-B/2014, de 23 de junho, modified by the Despacho n.º n.º 10579/2019, de 18 de novembro.

The first document (Decreto-Lei n.º 36/2014, de 10 de março, modified by the Decreto-Lei n.º 62/2018, de 6 de agosto and the Decreto-Lei n.º 20/2025, de 18 de março) establishes the International Student conditions and the requirements that an applicant must have in order to apply to a higher education institution.

This information does not discharge the reading of the above mentioned legislation.

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• International Student Guide