Moving to Portugal Within the EU: Social Security, the A1 and the S1

• You are subject to the legislation of one EU state at a time, normally the state where you work (Regulation 883/2004 art. 11.º).
• A worker posted, or a self-employed person working temporarily, in another state for up to 24 months stays under the first state's legislation (art. 12.º).
• The A1 is the document that proves which legislation applies. It is issued by the institution of the state whose legislation applies, so for a posting to Portugal you ask your home country.
• The S1 lets you register for healthcare in the country where you live when you are insured in another; you ask for it from the institution that insures you (Regulation 987/2009 art. 24.º).
• Portugal's first-year rule for new independent workers is a separate rule: a first enrolment takes effect on the first day of the 12th month after the start of activity (CRC art. 145.º n.º 1).

Moving within the EU raises two questions that are easy to mix up. Which country's Social Security do you pay into? And which country's health system covers you? EU coordination answers both, and gives each answer a document: the A1 for the first, the S1 for the second. This guide takes each from the regulations and from Segurança Social's own guides. If you are starting as a freelancer in Portugal, the contribution rules, including the first twelve months, are in our self-employed Social Security guide.

One country's Social Security at a time

Regulation (EC) 883/2004 art. 11.º n.º 1 says that the people it covers are subject to the legislation of a single Member State only. Under n.º 3, a person employed or self-employed in a Member State is subject to that state's legislation, and a person not covered by the other cases is subject to the legislation of the state of residence. So if you move to Portugal and work here, the starting point is Portuguese Social Security, whatever your nationality or where you paid before.

Remote work is not an exception. Segurança Social's guide N49 says telework is not a posting: the legislation that applies is that of the country where the worker is physically working.

The exception: a posting of up to 24 months

Art. 12.º keeps you under your first country's legislation in two cases. An employee sent by an employer that normally operates in one state to work for it in another stays under the first state, provided the work is not expected to last more than 24 months and the employee is not sent to replace another posted person (n.º 1). A person who normally works as self-employed in one state and goes to pursue a similar activity in another stays under the first state, provided that activity is not expected to last more than 24 months (n.º 2).

Guide N49 adds what Segurança Social checks before it lets a self-employed worker keep paying in Portugal while working in another EU country: that you are contributing to Portuguese Social Security, that you were subject to Portuguese legislation in the month immediately before the posting, and that you normally work in Portugal, looking at your invoicing, at some time working here before the posting (in general, two months may be enough), at keeping the means to resume here, at paying tax here and at work-accident insurance. If you started your activity less than a year ago and are not yet contributing, N49 says to ask for your enrolment to be brought forward.

The A1: proof of which legislation applies

Regulation 987/2009 art. 19.º n.º 2 has the competent institution of the state whose legislation applies certify, at the request of the person or the employer, that its legislation applies, and say until when and on what conditions where relevant. Segurança Social calls that certificate the Documento Portátil A1.

Guide N48 is clear about the default. Workers posted to Portugal, and self-employed people who come to work here temporarily, are compulsorily covered by the Portuguese general scheme unless they prove they remain covered by the compulsory scheme of their country of origin. For the EU, the A1 is that proof. If a posting to Portugal is known from the outset to last more than 24 months, the company that posted the worker must ask for an exception agreement, which needs the approval of Segurança Social's international coordination unit (Unidade de Coordenação Internacional).

Working in two or more countries

For a person who normally works as self-employed in two or more Member States, art. 13.º n.º 2 applies the legislation of the state of residence if a substantial part of the activity is pursued there, and otherwise that of the state where the centre of interest of the activities is. Regulation 987/2009 art. 16.º sets the procedure: you inform the institution designated by the state where you live, which makes a provisional determination of the applicable legislation and tells the other states; it becomes definitive two months later unless one of them objects.

The S1: healthcare where you live, paid by where you are insured

The S1 is about healthcare, not contributions. Art. 17.º of Regulation 883/2004 gives an insured person who lives in a Member State other than the competent one benefits in kind in the state of residence, provided by the institution there at the expense of the competent institution, as if insured under its legislation. Regulation 987/2009 art. 24.º n.º 1 has the insured person register with the institution of the place of residence, and the right is certified by a document issued by the competent institution.

The European Commission names that document: if you are insured in a country other than the one where you live, you register with the healthcare institution where you live, and you may have to ask the institution where you are insured for an S1 to present there. It says this is generally the case for people who retire in a country other than the one that pays their pension, and that the form is not needed for a temporary stay. Your Europe adds that a posted worker who moves to the country of posting asks for the S1 from the institution responsible for their health insurance in the home country and hands it in on arrival. For a temporary stay, the document is the European Health Insurance Card: see our EHIC guide.

If you are not posted: Portugal's first year

Most people who move to Portugal to work for themselves are not posted: they work here, so Portuguese legislation applies and there is no A1 to get. For a first enrolment in the independent workers' scheme, the enrolment only takes effect on the first day of the 12th month after the start of activity (Código dos Regimes Contributivos art. 145.º n.º 1). It is a deferred start, not an exemption. How the contributions are then worked out is in our self-employed Social Security guide, and the opening of activity in our guide to opening atividade.

Checklist

• Decide which case you are in: working only in Portugal, posted to Portugal, or working in two or more EU states.
• Posted to Portugal: get the A1 from your home institution before you start, and present it to the Centro Distrital where you work.
• Working in several states: tell the institution of the state where you live, and wait for its determination.
• Insured in another country while living in Portugal, for example on a foreign pension: ask that country's institution for an S1 and register it where you live.
• Starting as a freelancer in Portugal with no posting: no A1 is needed, and your first enrolment takes effect in the 12th month after you start.