SNS number (número de utente): how to get one in Portugal

What the número de utente is (and what it is not)

The número de utente, officially the Número Nacional de Utente (NNU), identifies you in the Registo Nacional de Utentes (RNU), the register of everyone who uses the Serviço Nacional de Saúde (SNS, the national health service). It is unique, national and permanent: there are no provisional numbers, and a number once assigned is never replaced. Portuguese citizens have it on the back of the Cartão de Cidadão; foreigners receive it on their first visit to a public health unit.

The current rules are in Despacho n.º 14830/2024 (the register) and Despacho n.º 40/2025 (enrolment at health centres), both in effect since 1 April 2025 and amended by Despacho n.º 3118/2026. The old categories (ativo, transitório, inativo) belong to Despacho n.º 1668/2023, which has been revoked.

Who is entitled: your situation decides the record type

Anyone who receives SNS care gets a número de utente, including foreigners without a residence permit. The health framework law (Lei de Bases da Saúde, base 21) lists among SNS beneficiaries citizens of EU states, of third countries, stateless people, international-protection applicants and migrants "with or without their status regularised". What changes from case to case is the record type and, with it, who pays.

With a complete record ("registo atualizado"), the SNS covers the cost ("condição SNS"). With an incomplete one ("registo em curso", which becomes "registo incompleto" after 180 days), you are a "terceiro pagador" (third payer): you pay for care at the SNS price table and get no SNS contribution towards medicines and tests, unless you show an entity that pays for you. Care is never refused because data are missing.

Where and how to apply

You apply in person. The official service page lists only the in-person channel, and the ACSS explains why: your identity is checked at the counter to prevent fraud. There are two routes.

At an SNS centro de saúde or hospital

For foreigners, the number is assigned on the first visit to a public health unit, and you can ask for it even when you do not need care. For everyday use, choose the centro de saúde for your area of residence: that is where primary-care enrolment happens, and if you have no number yet, you get it there and then. If you do not know which one is yours, the SNS 24 line (808 24 24 24) will tell you.

At an Espaço Cidadão: the single NIF, NISS and número de utente request

Foreigners with an address in Portugal and no Portuguese Cartão de Cidadão can request all three numbers at once at an Espaço Cidadão, free of charge. It is open to people who have applied for or hold a residence permit, EU citizens, international-protection applicants and people with refugee status. AIMA reviews the request and replies by e-mail: approved, approved with conditions (only some numbers assigned) or rejected; the numbers then appear in your gov.pt personal area. If you only need the Segurança Social number, our NISS guide covers the online route.

The official page lists 10 Espaços Cidadão offering it: Braga (Município), Lagos, Olhão, Loja do Cidadão Saldanha and Loja do Cidadão Laranjeiras, Loures (LoureShopping), Nova SBE – Citizen Lab, Porto (the parish union of Cedofeita, Santo Ildefonso, Sé, Miragaia, São Nicolau and Vitória, by appointment only, 226 052 740), Pólo Zero – FAP (Porto) and Loja do Cidadão Setúbal. You need a Chave Móvel Digital linked to your passport, or eIDAS sign-in; without one, you can create the Chave Móvel Digital on the spot with your passport. If the request is for a child, the child must be present.

Documents to bring

To assign the number, the counter asks for your name, sex, date of birth, country of nationality and country of birth; they may also ask for your address, mobile and e-mail. For the record to be complete (and the SNS to pay), a foreign resident needs these on file:

• a civil ID document (passport or ID card);
• a Portuguese NIF (see our NIF guide);
• the residence permit, with its number and expiry date (for EU citizens, the registration certificate);
• a full address in Portugal.

The residence permit itself proves your address. Without it, the centro de saúde accepts a tenancy contract, a comodato (free-use loan) contract, or a water, electricity or gas bill; our page on proof of address explains how to get each one. A junta de freguesia declaration is not a residence document in the SNS: it only proves more than 90 days in Portugal for people without legal status, for urgent and vital care.

For centro de saúde enrolment, the official list adds proof of any health benefits you have. For foreign children, the NIF and the residence permit are not required; the ID document number is required from 2 months of age.

If data are missing, your record is "em curso": the SNS contacts you when you register and again after 90 days, and after 180 days without the data the record becomes "incompleto" and your centro de saúde enrolment ends. Completing the data later changes the record type but does not restore the enrolment by itself: you have to ask for it again. Data updates are made in person, but a relative, carer or someone you name can go instead, with your documents.

What the número de utente gives you

The number opens your record; centro de saúde enrolment is the next step, and it is optional. With a complete record the SNS pays for care with or without enrolment; without enrolment you are seen as an "occasional contact". Enrolment is what lets you have a family doctor.

Family doctor

Three conditions apply: a family-doctor vacancy at the unit where you want to enrol, a complete record with all mandatory data, and contact with the SNS in the last 5 years. Waiting lists are filled as vacancies open, with priority for families with pregnant women, people with multiple or chronic conditions, and children up to 12. Since 2026, people who have a family doctor and no contact with the SNS for more than 5 years can lose the doctor; they keep the enrolment as "não utilizador".

Taxas moderadoras (user fees)

Since 1 June 2022, taxas moderadoras are only charged at hospital A&E (Decree-Law 37/2022). They are not charged when the SNS referred you to A&E, for example through the SNS 24 line or your centro de saúde, or when the visit ends in a hospital admission. Exempt groups include pregnant women and women in labour, children, people with a disability of 60% or more, people in economic hardship, blood donors, firefighters, asylum seekers and refugees. The economic-hardship exemption is requested on the SNS 24 portal, the SNS 24 line, at the centro de saúde or at a Balcão SNS 24.

Prescriptions and SNS 24

Prescriptions are electronic ("Receita Sem Papel", in use since 2015): they arrive by text, e-mail or a treatment guide and show up in the SNS 24 portal and app. With the número de utente you can sign in to the SNS 24 personal area, where you see your details, your health unit, vaccinations, prescriptions, tests and appointments. For non-urgent health problems, the SNS 24 line is 808 24 24 24; in an emergency, call 112.

Non-residents: what changed in 2026

The law for non-resident foreigners has not changed yet. On 16 October 2026 the Assembleia da República passed, at first reading, bills from PSD, CDS-PP and Chega to regulate non-resident foreigners’ access to the SNS. According to the Government, they require proof of address or health insurance and stronger charging mechanisms, while keeping access to urgent care, paid by the person or their insurer. The bills went to committee: there has been no final vote and nothing has been published in the Diário da República.

What is already in force in 2026 is something else:

• Under Despacho n.º 3118/2026, in effect since June 2026, Portuguese citizens living abroad have their own record type, "registo atualizado não residente": the SNS pays, but there is no family doctor.
• In July and August 2026, the ACSS sorted the roughly 19.3 million RNU records into the five record types; according to the Government, about 4.4 million lack complete identification. If your record ended up "em curso" or "incompleto", take your documents to the centro de saúde to complete it.
• People on a short stay get a number with minimum data and pay for care, unless an international agreement or the European Health Insurance Card covers them.

How to find your number and prove your registration

The número de utente is on the back of the Cartão de Cidadão. Without a Cartão de Cidadão, you see it in the SNS 24 portal or app, under "O meu perfil" > "Informação pessoal"; the "Unidade de saúde" tab shows your centro de saúde, enrolment date and family doctor, if you have one. If you used the single request, the three numbers are in your gov.pt personal area, under "Números de identificação para estrangeiros" (or in the gov.pt app, if you linked your Chave Móvel Digital to your passport before the request). The numbers do not expire.

When you renew a residence permit, AIMA checks your SNS registration directly in the databases (art. 42-M of DR 84/2007). The rules only require health cover explicitly when renewing a student permit (art. 63(7) of DR 84/2007); when the database check is not possible, a statement issued by an SNS service, which you ask for at the centro de saúde, or a statement from your insurer will do. Our page on renewing your residence permit decodes each slot of the renewal portal.

If your residence permit expires, your record does not change by itself: the system flags it six months before the expiry date and keeps the "registo atualizado", and the centro de saúde should contact you to update the document. Take your renewal receipt when you go. Our page on the expired residence card covers the rest.