With the coronavirus pandemic, the whole world stopped and a race for vaccines began. After testing and approval of some vaccines, the mass application began.
With the vaccines being applied in Portugal, several questions arise about who has access to it.
The most frequent question in our Relocation department is: after all, can foreigners, who are in Portugal, be vaccinated against COVID-19?
Before giving more details, we want to clarify that, yes, foreigners who are in Portuguese territory, whether they are residents or not, can have access to the vaccine!
For foreign citizens, there are 2 cases that we will explain below: those with an SNS number and those who do not have the SNS number.
Foreigners who have the SNS number
This is the simplest and fastest case for vaccination. Foreigners who are in Portugal and who already have the SNS number can register through the COVID-19 portal, indicating the most convenient place and date for vaccination. Afterward, you will be contacted by SMS on the number 2424 with further information. Simple like that!
Foreigners who do not have the SNS number
It turns out that many foreigners do not have the SNS number and have not requested it, for various reasons, either for lack of regularization or because they have always had access to private health through health insurance in Portugal, and therefore, they never needed the public health system.
For these cases, to be part of the vaccination list and to be vaccinated against COVID-19, these foreigners can submit their application through an online platform created by the general directorate of health (Diretório Geral de Saúde – DGS), which is available in Portuguese and English.
After sending and verifying the data, the health authorities assign a temporary SNS number, which can be used to schedule the vaccine through the COVID-19 portal.
More than 150 thousand people registered on this DGS page for these cases, more than 23 thousand have already received a user number and have already started the vaccination process.
In general, by the way, the numbers are impressive for a country as small as Portugal: currently, there are more than 290 thousand foreign citizens vaccinated against Covid-19, among which there are 198 different nationalities.
Only through our Relocation team, we helped clients of more than 100 nationalities in this vaccination process. A hard work of which we are immensely proud.
If you have any questions or also need help in this process (as we know that the path is not always so clear), don’t worry, our team will be happy to help you, after all, it’s been over 13 years supporting the mobility of corporate expatriates, diplomats, military, private clients and their families. Contact us!