When working in Portugal, foreign workers have the same rights and duties as Portuguese workers.
The information in this section is organized as follows:
If you want to work in Portugal, either temporarily or permanently, and your profession is regulated, you will need to apply for recognition of your professional qualifications to practice it. The application is made to the competent national authority.
Normally, the relationship between the employer and the worker is established by an employment contract, which may be written or verbal. The employment contract includes conditions for providing the service in terms of the rights and duties of both parties, particularly the remuneration the employer will pay the employee.
A written letter of appointment can also be concluded which must contain:
There will also be a probationary period in the initial stage of contracts of employment (variable according to type), during which both parties consider their interest in whether to maintain the contractual relationship or not.
A contract of employment can take various forms:
The fixed-term contract of employment is a temporary contract, i.e. Its duration and termination are previously determined and established by the employer and/or worker according to an event or time period.
It is used in the following situations:
The duration of such contracts may not exceed two years, and they may be renewed up to two times, provided their duration is not greater than one year and the initial conditions of the company’s temporary need continue.
The contract of employment of unspecified duration is also a temporary contract, but its termination is dependent on an event the date of verification of which is uncertain or unknown from the outset.
This type of contract has a maximum duration of four years, on conclusion of which the worker is entitled to compensation.
The contract of employment of indefinite duration indicates that, contrary to fixed-term contracts, the connection does not have a stipulated end. Also known as a contract of employment of unspecified duration, it is marked by not having a fixed duration, since it is in force without a pre-established time-limit. It does not relate to a temporary need of the company.
Very short duration contracts of employment respond to an exceptional and substantial increase in activity of a company whose annual cycle is irregular due to the respective market, or due to structural reasons that cannot be addressed by its permanent structure, particularly seasonal activity in agriculture or tourism lasting no more than 35 days and not exceeding 70 days per calendar year.
The employer must notify the competent social security service of conclusion of the contract and the place of work by means of an electronic form containing the following information:
In the event of failure to comply with the rules, contracts are understood to last for six months.
A contract of employment is said to be part-time when the normal period of weekly work is less than that for a full-time post in comparable circumstances. Collective regulation instruments may establish the maximum percentage of full-time hours for work to be classified as part-time.
A working relationship in which a temporary employment undertaking hires and pays a temporary worker, placing them to work in another organisation which hosts, exercises authority over and manages them by delegation.
The law does not establish a minimum duration for temporary contracts of employment.
Temporary contracts of employment follow the same rules as those for fixed-term contracts (unspecified or specified).
This is a type of contract which is used by self-employed workers with their own businesses who carry out services for different clients.
In these cases it is the workers – or service providers – who have the obligation to pay tax.