How to get your NISS

What the NISS is

The NISS (Número de Identificação de Segurança Social, the Social Security identification number) is an 11-digit number that links you to the Segurança Social (Social Security) system. It is what records your contributions, the months you have worked and, later on, what underpins your subsídio de desemprego (unemployment benefit), abono de família (family allowance), baixa médica (sick pay) or reforma (pension).

If you are going to work in Portugal, as an employee or self-employed, you will need it. Without a NISS, nobody can declare to Segurança Social that you have worked, and so there are no contributions recorded in your name. It is asked for less often day to day than the NIF, but it is equally mandatory the moment you enter the labour market.

NISS vs. NIF: not the same thing

It is the most common mix-up among newcomers. These are two numbers, from two different bodies, for different things.

In short: the NIF belongs to Finanças and is asked for almost everywhere; the NISS belongs to Segurança Social and comes into play when you start working. If you do not yet have a NIF, sort that out first. I have written a separate guide about it.

Who needs to request it (and who does not)

Not everyone has to make an active request. Some people receive the NISS automatically:

• Do you have a Cartão de Cidadão (Citizen Card)? The NISS is assigned automatically when you apply for the card. You do not have to request anything.
• Companies and legal entities also receive the NISS automatically when they are created.

The manual request is mainly for two groups:

• Foreign citizens who do not yet have a NISS.
• Portuguese citizens with a lifetime identity card (the old document, without a Cartão de Cidadão).

And there is a route that spares you from doing anything at all: if you are about to start work as an employee, it is often the employer who requests the NISS for you. More on that below.

Apply online (foreign citizens)

For foreigners, the request is made through a dedicated form on the Segurança Social website: Pedido de NISS – Cidadão Estrangeiro ou Cidadão Nacional sem obrigatoriedade de ter cartão de cidadão (NISS request for a foreign citizen, or a national not obliged to hold a citizen card). You do not need a Segurança Social Direta password to fill it in: you confirm your email with a code instead.

1. 1
   Open the form
   On seg-social.pt, find the Pedido de NISS for foreign citizens, read the general information and accept the declarations, which include consent to the biometric check. Then confirm your email with the code sent to it. The form runs in four blocks: Motivo e representação, Identificação, Morada e contactos, Resumo.
2. 2
   Fill in your details and attach documents
   The reason for the request (work for an employer, self-employment, a Segurança Social benefit, a benefit from another body, or other) with a document that proves it, your identification, your country of residence and address, and a mobile number. You upload scans of your documents (next section) as PNG, JPG or PDF, up to 3 MB each.
3. 3
   Submit and save the request ID
   After submitting you get a request ID. Keep it with the email you used: with those two and your date of birth you open the Consultar pedido de NISS (check NISS request) page and follow the status.
4. 4
   Get the proof with a biometric check
   Once the NISS is assigned, the same page offers Obter comprovativo do NISS (get NISS proof). You validate the ID document you attached, then do facial recognition, following the on-screen instructions. If both pass, you download the proof with your number. Details below.

Documents needed

The documents depend on your nationality. You have to attach them as scans, all of them valid. Documents with a front and back go in as two separate files: legible, with the edges visible and the photo free of glare. Attach the same ID document you will have with you for the biometric check later.

Citizens of the EU, EEA or Switzerland

One of these:

• Civil identification document from your country of origin (and a plain copy), or
• Passport, or
• Cartão de residência (residence card).

Citizens of third countries (outside the EU/EEA/Switzerland)

Two kinds of document:

• Identification: passport, or your residence title;
• Proof of your residence situation: the Autorização de Residência (residence permit, temporary or permanent), a work or residence visa (job-seeker and digital nomad visas count too), or proof that you have applied for residence.

You also attach a document that proves the reason for the request: an employment contract (translated into Portuguese), your início de atividade (self-employment registration) with receipts, the company's certidão permanente (commercial registry certificate), a contract with a foreign employer if you are a digital nomad, or proof of seguro social voluntário (voluntary social insurance). Have them to hand before you start.

Via your employer (employees)

If you are starting a job and do not have a NISS, there is a simpler route: the company requests the NISS for you. From their side, the flow goes like this:

• They sign the employment contract with you;
• They request your NISS on the same online form, as your representative, attaching the contract, a power of attorney or the PA 12 form (Declaração de Autorização a Terceiros) and a copy of your ID;
• Once the NISS is assigned, they report the employment relationship through the Segurança Social portal.

That admission report has a deadline. Since 1 January 2026, under the new rules for reporting to Segurança Social, the employer must report the worker by the day before the contract takes effect, that is, before you start working (the old rule was 15 days in advance). In specific situations, such as very short contracts or shift work, the report can be made within the 24 hours following the start. At the end, the employer gives you a declaration with your NISS, your NIF and the admission date. Keep it.

If you are starting a job, ask HR right at the outset "do you handle the NISS, or do I have to request it myself?". It saves you the worry of running a parallel request that turns out not to be needed.

Timeline and proof

Through the foreign-citizen form, the NISS does not appear on screen straight away. Segurança Social reviews the request first, and there is no fixed deadline for assigning the number. You follow the status on the Consultar pedido de NISS (check NISS request) page, with the request ID, the email and your date of birth.

Once the NISS is assigned, that page offers Obter comprovativo do NISS (get NISS proof), and the download sits behind a biometric check. You click Iniciar Biometria (start biometrics), validate the ID document you attached to the request (have it with you), then do facial recognition, following the on-screen instructions. If the check passes, you download the proof with your NISS straight away.

If it does not pass, the proof comes through a video appointment, booked by phone on 210 548 888 or 300 088 888 (working days, 9:00 to 18:00), or at a Segurança Social service desk, where you show your valid ID document.

You will still find claims that the NISS arrives by registered letter and is collected at a desk. Some official pages, gov.pt among them, still say so, but Segurança Social's own practical guide (version 1.18) and its NISS help page describe the online proof with biometrics. The desk is now the fallback.

Once you have it

With the NISS in hand, two practical steps remain that are worth doing early:

• Register on Segurança Social Direta (SSD). This is the online portal where you see your contributions and declarations and where, if you are self-employed, you manage your contributory situation. The access password is requested separately and arrives by post.
• Check that the number is correct. Before using it on forms, it is worth validating the 11 digits in the NISS validator. A badly copied number causes problems with your employer's reports. If you later need to look the number up, the same page explains where to find your NISS.

If you are going to work for yourself, the NISS is one of the building blocks for abrir atividade (opening activity) and issuing recibos verdes (green receipts). It is the natural next step. I've left the link alongside.