Guides
Move to Madeira
Visas, residency, shipping, banking and healthcare — the sequence, and what each step actually needs.
Every residence route into Madeira, and which ones are open
Portugal's D7, D8, D2, D3 and family reunification routes as they apply on Madeira, plus the D8 income figure no published instrument could be found to set.
An EU passport makes this a registration, not an application
Free movement, the registration certificate issued by the câmara municipal after three months, and why the EU route into Madeira barely counts as a process.
The 2026 nationality law rewrote the descent route
Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 took effect on 19 May 2026. Naturalisation now runs seven or ten years, and the grandparent route added a language and history test.
The property golden visa closed in 2023 and has not reopened
Lei n.º 56/2023 removed every property route from Portugal's golden visa on 7 October 2023, indirect exposure included. What is open, and what a holder keeps.
IFICI is not NHR, and pensions are where the two part company
IFICI replaced NHR from 2024. Foreign income is exempt except Category H, which is pensions, so a retiree on a foreign pension gains nothing at all from it.
How the ninety-day rule counts a scouting trip to Madeira
Madeira sits inside Schengen, so visitor days count across the whole area on a rolling window. What that means for repeat scouting trips made before a move.
The Portuguese tax number, and the representative rule that changed
What a Portuguese NIF is, how a non-resident is registered, and why the fiscal-representative rule for non-EU owners is not what older guides describe.
Opening a Portuguese account, first as a non-resident and then as a resident
The identification the anti-money-laundering law requires, what a non-resident is asked for in practice, and what actually changes on becoming resident here.
Registering for healthcare on an island where the service is SESARAM
Madeira's public health service is SESARAM, not a mainland ARS. How registration works, what a número de utente is, and where the island's acute hospital sits.
Settle the school before the town, because the commutes are ridge crossings
Compulsory education here runs through the regional education secretariat. What is documented about the state system, and why no tuition figures appear on it.
Which regime a foreign licence falls under, and what each one asks
The four Portuguese regimes for a foreign driving licence, the six conditions the OECD and CPLP one attaches, and the deadline that reaches only some of them.
Bringing a car and a container to Madeira, and which of the two is documented
The ISV exemption on a change of residence, its conditions and deadlines, where a mover to Madeira files at the Alfândega do Funchal, and what is not covered.
Taking a dog, a cat or a ferret to Madeira, in the order the rule requires
Microchip before vaccination, the rabies wait, and the EU animal health certificate — plus the 2026 regulation that makes older pet-travel guidance out of date.