Portugal seasonal work visa

The activity must belong to the government list of seasonal sectors: agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry and fishing; hotels, restaurants and similar; food, beverage and tobacco industries; wholesale and retail trade; construction; and land transport. The contract, or a valid job offer, is with a temporary work agency or an employer established in Portugal and must state the place, working hours, type of work, duration, pay and paid leave.

You also show decent accommodation through a lease or equivalent, which the employer may provide; health cover equivalent to that of nationals or health insurance for periods not covered; work-accident insurance provided by the employer; and compliance with Portuguese rules if the profession is regulated. A return ticket is required for the short-stay visa; the national temporary stay checklist exempts seasonal work from the general return-ticket rule but lists a return ticket among the seasonal documents.

EUR 90 for a short-stay seasonal visa, EUR 110 for the temporary stay visa.

If you were admitted to Portugal for seasonal work at least once in the last five years and respected the entry and stay rules, you benefit from a simplified procedure: you do not have to present the accommodation, regulated-profession and return-ticket documents again, your application is treated as a priority, and the decision may not take more than 15 days.

Holders of a short-stay seasonal visa can ask AIMA to extend their stay; the AIMA fee table has separate items for extensions of up to 30 days and over 30 days for seasonal workers. The total cannot exceed the 270-day seasonal limit.

A refused national visa can be challenged by a complaint to the consulate within 15 days, a hierarchical appeal to the Minister of Foreign Affairs within three months, or an action before the Administrative Court of Lisbon within three months. The routes are not mutually exclusive, and each appeal procedure costs EUR 75 (except for visas following a family reunification approval). Since Lei 61/2025, a visa is also refused to anyone who entered or stayed in Portugal illegally and is subject to an entry ban.