The SNS and your utente number: getting into Portugal's health service

The número de utente is Portugal's version of your NHS number. Getting one is easy; getting the right documents linked to it, so the SNS actually picks up the bill, is where Brits trip up.

The short version

• Foreign nationals with legal residence in Portugal can get an SNS user number (número de utente) [3].
• The number is issued the first time you go to a public health unit, but for the SNS to cover your costs you must link your ID, NIF, Portuguese address and valid residence permit to it [3].
• You then register at the health centre (centro de saúde) for your area, in person [4].
• UK State Pensioners register an S1 at social security first, then at the health centre [1].
• For health advice day or night, call SNS 24 on 808 24 24 24 [3]; for emergencies, 112.

What the utente number is, and isn't

The utente number identifies you in the national health service, the Serviço Nacional de Saúde. You'll quote it at the health centre, the hospital and the pharmacy, and your prescriptions are tied to it.

Here's the catch. The gov.pt guide for migrants says the number is assigned the first time you go to a public health unit, such as a health centre or a hospital, but that having the number alone doesn't guarantee the SNS will cover your costs [3]. For that, these must be linked to your registration [3]:

• an identity document (your passport, or your residence card)
• your Portuguese tax number (NIF)
• your full address in Portugal
• a valid residence permit

Without them, you may be treated but charged, except in some cases set by law [3]. So a Brit who rocks up at A&E on holiday may come away with a utente number, but that doesn't make them a member of the SNS.

Who can register, and how

Anyone with Portuguese nationality, or a foreign national with a residence authorisation in Portugal, can register at a health centre [4]. The FCDO's Living in Portugal guide says residents should register with the SNS and ask for the número de utente at their local centro de saúde, taking their residence certificate, passport and NIF [2].

Step by step

1. Get your NIF and, if you'll work, your social security number (NISS). Our guide to NIF, NISS and AIMA explains both.
2. Sort your residence document. Withdrawal Agreement residents should hold their residence card; newcomers need their AIMA residence permit. The FCDO says to reply to any AIMA request within 10 working days [2].
3. Pensioners: register your S1 at a segurança social office before anything else [1].
4. Find your health centre. It's the one that covers your address. Primary care is provided through family health units (Unidades de Saúde Familiar, USF) [3].
5. Register in person, with your documents. If you don't yet have a utente number, you get one when you register [4]. Some centres also ask for proof of address, so bring your lease or a utility bill.
6. Check your details are linked. Ask the front desk to confirm your NIF, address and residence permit are on your record [3].

The registration itself costs nothing. Expect a queue and a form in Portuguese, so a few phrases (or a Portuguese-speaking friend) help.

Family doctors

Registering at a USF gives you a family doctor (médico de família) and a team that can include nurses, nutrition, psychology, oral health and social support [3]. In practice, many people in Lisbon wait a long time to be assigned a doctor of their own, and some centres register you without one for months. Being without a named doctor doesn't shut you out: ask your health centre how it sees patients in your position, and use SNS 24 when you're unsure where to go.

If you spend part of the year somewhere else in Portugal, say a winter in the Algarve, you can register temporarily at another health centre for up to 12 months while you live there for work, study or other reasons. Your original registration is suspended and comes back automatically [3].

SNS 24 and emergencies

• 112 is the free 24-hour emergency number across the EU [3].
• SNS 24 (808 24 24 24) is the NHS 111 of Portugal: clinical advice 24 hours a day, and admin help from 8am to 10pm. It's charged like a landline call [3]. The FCDO says to press 9 for English [5].

Ringing SNS 24 before going to A&E has a money angle too. User fees were scrapped across the SNS from June 2022, except at hospital A&E when you go without a referral and aren't admitted [6]. If SNS 24 or your health centre refers you, there's no charge [7].

Your Portuguese EHIC

Once you're legally resident and registered with both the SNS and social security, you can apply for a Portuguese European Health Insurance Card (Cartão Europeu de Seguro de Doença) for trips to other EU countries [3]. If you're on a UK S1, the UK issues your GHIC or EHIC for travel instead [1]. Either way, it doesn't replace travel insurance.

Do you still need private health insurance?

Not legally, once you're in the SNS. The FCDO says you can take out private health insurance but don't need to [2]. Plenty of Brits do anyway, for quicker specialist appointments, a wider choice of English-speaking doctors and dentistry, which the SNS doesn't usually cover [1]. For a visa or first residence application, though, you must show proof of healthcare cover [1], and a policy is often how newcomers do it before they've registered with the SNS.

SNS registration is free. The A&E fee amounts change from time to time, so check the current figure with SNS 24 or at the hospital. Our guide to healthcare in Lisbon compares the main private hospitals.

The UK side

Leaving the UK for good? Let your GP surgery know, and get copies of your records. Once you're resident in Portugal, you shouldn't expect free NHS care on visits back home, unless you're one of the UK State Pensioners with a registered S1 who was living in the EU on or before 31 December 2020 [1]. See the NHS when you live abroad for the details.

Stuck at the health centre desk? Our community group for Brits in Portugal has members who've been through registration at most of Lisbon's health centres and can tell you what yours really asks for.

Sources

1. GOV.UK: Healthcare in Portugal (last updated 14 October 2021)
2. GOV.UK (FCDO): Living in Portugal (last updated 10 July 2026)
3. gov.pt: Migrantes – cuidados de saúde em Portugal (updated 23 June 2026)
4. gov.pt: Inscrever-se no centro de saúde (updated 12 May 2026)
5. GOV.UK (FCDO): Portugal travel advice – health (travel advice still current at 7 November 2026 when we checked on 8 November 2026)
6. Portuguese Government: Taxas moderadoras acabam em todo o SNS exceto em urgência hospitalar (May 2022)
7. Postal do Algarve: Quando ainda tem de pagar taxas moderadoras nas urgências (20 August 2026)

Keep reading

• Healthcare and health insurance in Lisbon
• NIF, NISS and AIMA: Portugal's numbers and the immigration agency
• The Algarve as the retiree alternative to Lisbon
• The NHS when you live abroad and the S1 for pensioners in the EU