SNS user number (número de utente) in Portugal – family doctor, user fees, SNS 24 and 112
Last updated 25 September 2026Rules checked every MondayOfficial sourcesSources & methodology →
Public healthcare in Portugal starts with a number that any health centre gives you on the spot. But the SNS user number (número de utente) alone does not make the state pay, and a family doctor is far from guaranteed in Lisbon. Here is how to register, what is free and which numbers to call.
Portugal's public health service, the SNS (Serviço Nacional de Saúde), gives you a número de utente (SNS user number) at your first visit to any public health unit. The number alone does not make the SNS pay, though. The Registo Nacional de Utentes (RNU – national user register) now follows Despachos 14830/2024, 40/2025 and 3118/2026: your record must be complete within 180 days, family doctors go by priority, and in June 2026 1,672,130 people on the mainland had none.
How do you get the SNS user number (número de utente)?
Go in person to any centro de saúde (health centre) or public hospital. As a foreigner you get the number the first time you go, and you can ask for it without needing care, giving your name, sex, date of birth, nationality and country of birth. The number is unique, national and definitive – no provisional numbers – and anyone can be registered, whatever their residence status.
Quicker, once you have an address: 12 Espaços Cidadão issue the NIF (número de identificação fiscal – tax number), the NISS (social security number) and the user number in one free visit – in Lisbon at the Loja de Cidadão (citizen shop) at Saldanha, at Laranjeiras, LoureShopping and Nova SBE, in Porto at Cedofeita (appointment only, 226 052 740) and Pólo Zero, and in Braga, Setúbal, Lagos and Olhão – with a Chave Móvel Digital linked to your passport, or eIDAS.
Why the number alone is not enough
For the SNS to cover your costs – the condição SNS – your record must also hold an identity document, a Portuguese NIF, a full address in Portugal and a valid residence permit. For EU citizens that means the CRUE (certificado de registo de cidadão da União Europeia) from the câmara municipal (town hall), valid five years and accepted even after expiry with a current proof of address. The residence permit from AIMA (Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo – the immigration agency that replaced SEF) confirms your address; otherwise bring a lease, a loan-for-use contract or a utility bill.
| Status of your record | What it means |
|---|---|
| Registo atualizado (complete) | The SNS pays; you are eligible for a family health team |
| Registo incompleto – data missing after 180 days | Primary-care registration closed; you become terceiro pagador and pay for care, with no medicine co-payment, until you supply the data. Care is never refused |
| Residence permit about to expire | The system warns six months ahead; your status does not change |
| Registo atualizado não residente (Portuguese citizens abroad) | The SNS pays, but no family doctor |
Source: ACSS, Registo Nacional de Utentes FAQ, read 24 September 2026.
Registering at the centro de saúde – and the family doctor lottery
Register at the health centre of your area – ask SNS 24 on 808 24 24 24 if you do not know which – with the user number, your residence permit, NIF, civil ID number, permanent address and proof of any fee exemption. Health centres provide family medicine and nursing. Living elsewhere temporarily for work or study, you can register there for up to 12 months.
A family doctor is not automatic. Under Despacho 40/2025 a family health team is assigned only if the unit has contracted vacancies, your record is complete and you have had contact with the SNS in the last five years; households share a team, and priority goes to families with pregnant women, people with chronic disease and children up to 12. Without a doctor you may be allocated to a CS-SM unit (Centro de Saúde-Sem Médico); your right to care is unchanged.
Where you live matters most. In June 2026, 10,811,298 people were registered in mainland primary care and 1,672,130 – about 15 per cent – had no family doctor, but the spread between local health units (ULS) is enormous.
| Area, June 2026 | Registered | Without a family doctor |
|---|---|---|
| Lisboa e Vale do Tejo region | 3,930,506 | 1,179,164 (30 per cent) |
| Algarve | 561,074 | 122,390 (22 per cent) |
| North region | 3,905,138 | 94,721 (2.4 per cent) |
| ULS Braga | 329,951 | 9,797 (2.97 per cent) |
| ULS Coimbra | 417,197 | 19,022 (4.56 per cent) |
| Porto: ULS Santo António and ULS São João | – | 3.39 and 4.04 per cent |
| Lisbon: ULS Santa Maria | 360,466 | 116,632 (32.36 per cent) |
| Lisbon: ULS São José | – | 25.68 per cent |
| ULS Amadora/Sintra | 582,385 | 194,681 (33.43 per cent) |
Source: SNS Portal da Transparência, dataset Utentes Inscritos em Cuidados de Saúde Primários (June 2026), read 24 September 2026.
SNS 24, 112 and the hospital
In a life-threatening emergency call 112: free, 24 hours, transferred to INEM for medical cases. For everything else call SNS 24 on 808 24 24 24 – clinical triage and referral around the clock, administrative help from 8h to 22h, at the cost of a call to a landline. Call before going to a hospital emergency department; it also saves you a fee. Specialist consultations need a credencial (referral) from your family doctor or a hospital.
The SNS 24 portal and app – log in with the Chave Móvel Digital, the Cartão de Cidadão, or your user number, date of birth and registered contact – handle GP appointments, teleconsultations, prescriptions and sick leave; Balcão SNS 24 desks help you use them.
What do you pay? User fees in 2026
Taxas moderadoras (user fees) were abolished across the SNS in June 2022 by Decreto-Lei 37/2022, with one exception: a hospital emergency visit when you were not referred by a health centre, SNS 24 or INEM and are not admitted. The amounts, unchanged since 1 April 2016, are €18 at a polivalente emergency department, €16 at a médico-cirúrgica one and €14 at a básica one, plus up to €40 for tests.
Exempt are pregnant women, everyone under 18, people with a disability of 60 per cent or more, blood donors, unemployed people on benefit of 1.5 times the IAS or less, asylum seekers and refugees with their spouses and children, and people in economic insufficiency: in 2026 a household with an average monthly income of at most €805.70 per member, 1.5 times the IAS (indexante dos apoios sociais – social support index) of €537.13. Apply on the SNS 24 portal, at the health centre or a Balcão SNS 24; the decision takes 10 working days. Consultations and tests prescribed in primary care, a first specialist appointment on referral, cancer, diabetes, mental-health and chronic-pain consultations, dialysis, vaccinations and screening are always free.
EU cards, the S1 form and insurance
On a temporary stay, EU, EEA and Swiss citizens use the European Health Insurance Card (CESD) for unplanned care in public units; without it, get a provisional replacement certificate at once, or the bill is issued in your name and you claim it back at home. EU pensioners and family members of people insured in another EU state bring form S1 to the Centro Distrital de Segurança Social of their area; the health centre then assigns the user number and treats them like any resident.
Once insured here, request your own Portuguese card in Segurança Social Direta (Doença > Assistência médica no estrangeiro) or at a Social Security desk with form GIT-53; it arrives in five to seven working days, is valid three years, and each family member needs their own. AIMA asks for health insurance or proof of SNS cover with a residence-permit application, so a private policy may bridge the months before your record is complete.
What to do now
| Step | What | When |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Get your número de utente at a centro de saúde or an Espaço Cidadão | In your first weeks |
| 2 | Complete your record: ID, NIF, address, residence permit or CRUE | Within 180 days |
| 3 | Register at the health centre of your area and ask for a family health team | Once your record is complete |
| 4 | Save 112 and 808 24 24 24; log in to the SNS 24 portal | Now |
| 5 | Income of €805.70 or less per household member? Apply for the fee exemption | Decision within 10 working days |
| 6 | Request your Portuguese European Health Insurance Card | Before your first trip abroad |
Source: ACSS, SNS 24 and the Social Security Institute (ISS), read 24 September 2026.
Official sources
The official pages this guide is based on, read 24 September 2026. Links open the authority’s own website.
- gov.pt – Obter o número de utente do SNS (ACSS) · gov.pt
- ACSS – Registo Nacional de Utentes (FAQ) · acss.min-saude.pt
- gov.pt – Inscrever-se no centro de saúde (ACSS) · gov.pt
- SNS Portal da Transparência – dataset 'Utentes Inscritos em Cuidados de Saúde Primários' (API query, periodo 2026-06) · transparencia.sns.gov.pt
- gov.pt – Migrantes: cuidados de saúde em Portugal · gov.pt
- Portal do Governo – Taxas moderadoras acabam em todo o SNS exceto em urgência hospitalar sem referenciação (5 May… · portugal.gov.pt
- ACSS – Perguntas Frequentes taxas moderadoras (documento atualizado fevereiro 2025) · acss.min-saude.pt
- gov.pt – Pedir a isenção de taxas moderadoras por insuficiência económica (ACSS) · gov.pt
- ACSS – Saúde internacional · acss.min-saude.pt
- gov.pt – Pedir o Cartão Europeu de Seguro de Doença (ISS) · gov.pt
- gov.pt – Pedir os números de identificação fiscal, segurança social e nacional de utente (saúde) para estrangeiros… · gov.pt
Relocate in Europe provides general information, not legal or financial advice for your individual situation. Check with the authority named above before you act – rules change, and your case may differ.