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Portuguese SNS User Number (Número de Utente) for the National Health Service
Document Checklist
Cartão de Cidadão
Cartão de Cidadão
Where to get: Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado (IRN) — for Portuguese nationals only
Required: Original, valid
Cost: €0 paid to the SNS for the user-number allocation
Portuguese citizens already have a Número de Utente — it is printed on the back of the Cartão de Cidadão and no separate application is needed.
Passport or national identity document
Where to get: Issuing-country passport authority (for non-nationals); EU/EEA/Swiss citizens may use a national ID card
Required: Original, valid
Cost: €0 paid to the SNS
gov.pt's strict minimum for number allocation is the demographic input only (name, sex, date of birth, country of nationality, country of birth). In practice, staff at the Centro de Saúde request photo ID at the desk to verify those facts — bring an original passport or national ID card.
Número de Identificação Fiscal
NIF (Número de Identificação Fiscal)
Where to get: Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira (Finanças) — see the separate Portugal NIF guide
Required: Already issued before this step
When: Required to associate coverage with your Número de Utente, not to obtain the number itself
The NIF is the Portuguese tax identification number. It is a hard prerequisite for SNS cost coverage but not for receiving the user number. Newcomers without a NIF in hand may still be allocated a number, but the coverage layer cannot be activated until the NIF is on file.
Autorização de Residência / Certificado de Registo de Cidadão da União Europeia
Autorização de Residência or CRUE
Where to get: AIMA (Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo) for non-EU residence permits; the freguesia or Câmara Municipal for the CRUE issued to EU citizens staying longer than three months
Required: Valid residence permit (non-EU) or CRUE (EU citizens settling >3 months)
When: Required to activate SNS cost coverage; not strictly required to obtain the user number itself
AIMA replaced SEF as the Portuguese immigration authority — non-EU residence permits (Autorização de Residência) are now issued by AIMA. EU citizens staying longer than three months obtain a Certificado de Registo de Cidadão da União Europeia (CRUE) from their freguesia. Staff at the Centro de Saúde often refuse to process applications for newcomers without the residence permit on hand, even though gov.pt's minimum demographic list does not strictly require it.
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