The reunified members, as legal residents in Portugal, will be entitled to benefit from the public educational system. As legal residents, the applicants can apply to the Portuguese universities/schools.
Ask A Question | Learn more about Portugal
Will the children of a Portugal Golden Visa holder enjoy any university benefits?
My family and I are in the process of obtaining Golden Visas for Portugal. My two oldest children will be starting university in a few years. Can they obtain any educational benefits like Portuguese citizens can? What are they? How about lower tuition rates?
Answers
-
-
According to Decree no. 36/2014, in order to not be considered an international student, your children should hold legal residency for at least two years and should continuously live in Portugal for that period. In this case, since they have legal residency they do not continuously live in Portugal, they can enjoy the special university admission regimen into Portuguese universities but cannot enjoy university fees exemption, reduction or pay the same amounts as Portuguese citizens do.
-
Golden Visa holders have the same rights as Portuguese citizens in regards to living, studying and working in Portugal. Tuition is stablished by the universities/schools and the lower tuition rates depend on the verification of some requirements that are also stablished by the universities/schools.
-
In Portugal it is necessary to differentiate public and the higher education. In public higher education, the amount of tuition is fixed according to the nature of the courses and their quality, with a minimum value corresponding to 1.3 of the national minimum wage in force and a maximum value calculated from the application of the Consumer Price Index of the National Institute of Statistics. For the academic year 2018-2019, this maximum amount was 1,063.47 euros. In private higher education, it is the responsibility of the institution that establishes the school to define the amount of tuition and other expenses due by the students attending the courses of study. On the other hand, each university, public or private, can decide the application of a differentiated tuition fee to Portuguese or equivalent students and to the international students. As such, it is important to verify if the applicant is considered an international student. Those who do not have Portuguese nationality are considered international students as general rule, with the following exceptions: European Union citizens; family members of Portuguese nationals or of European Union citizens, regardless of the applicant's nationality; those who, not being European Union citizens, have been legally resident in Portugal for more than two years, on an uninterrupted basis, on 1st of January of the year in which they intend to enter higher education, as well as the children living with them rightfully; those who are beneficiaries, on January 1st of the year in which they intend to enter higher education, of equal status of rights and duties assigned under an international treaty granted between the Portuguese state and the state of which they are nationals. Also consider students admitted under the special access and entrance regimes in higher education: (a) Portuguese officials of a Portuguese diplomatic mission abroad and their family members accompanying them; (b) Portuguese citizens abroad or public officials on official missions abroad and their families accompanying them; (c) officers of the permanent staff of the Portuguese armed forces, in the context of satisfying specific training needs of the armed forces; (d) National scholarship students from Portuguese-speaking African countries, within the framework of cooperation agreements signed by the Portuguese state; (e) Foreign officials of a diplomatic mission accredited to Portugal and their families residing here, on a reciprocal basis; (f) Practicing athletes with high competition status or integrated in the course of high competition; (g) Natural and children of natural persons of the territory of Timor-Leste; foreign students who are attending a Portuguese higher education institution as part of an international mobility program to carry out part of a study cycle of a foreign higher education institution with which the Portuguese institution has established exchange agreement for this purpose.
Call Us
+1-800-347-9390
