Editorial Policy

Unlock Portugal publishes practical guides for people moving to, living in, or visiting Portugal. This page explains how those guides are researched, sourced and kept up to date.

Official sources first

Wherever a guide states a rule, a fee, a deadline or a number, we link to the official source it came from — the government agency, institution or regulator that publishes it. Depending on the topic, that includes:

• Portuguese government bodies and agencies, such as AIMA (immigration), Finanças (tax), Segurança Social, SNS/SNS24 (health), IMT (transport), INE and PORDATA (statistics), and the Diário da República (official legislation).
• Institutions in the European Union, including the European Commission and Eurostat.
• For readers relocating from the United States, US government sources such as the IRS and the Social Security Administration, where a guide covers how US rules interact with a move to Portugal.
• Municipal, tourism-board and other public-interest sources (city councils, Turismo de Portugal, UNESCO) for local and cultural context.

Every guide with sourced claims lists those sources at the end of the article, with a link to the original page and the name of the institution — not just a bare URL.

Rules get re-checked when the law changes

Immigration, tax and housing rules in Portugal change often. When we become aware of a change — from an official source, not from a forum post or a headline — we update the affected guide and log what changed. This is why every guide shows an “Updated” date in its byline: that date reflects when the content was last reviewed against current rules, not just when it was first published.

Corrections

If you spot an error or outdated information in a guide, use the “Report an error” link at the end of the article, or contact us directly. We read every report and correct confirmed errors — we do not leave known mistakes live because a page is popular.

No paid placement in guides

Guides are not for sale. We do not accept payment to include a company, product or service in a guide, and paid partnerships never determine what a guide recommends or how it ranks options.

Affiliate links

Some guides contain affiliate links — for example, to a service we mention as an option for opening a bank account or getting travel insurance. If a link is an affiliate link, clicking it and completing a purchase or sign-up may earn Unlock Portugal a small commission, at no extra cost to you. This does not change the price you pay, and it does not change our disclaimer above: we are not paid to recommend anything, and a service being mentioned is not an endorsement of a specific outcome. See the Disclaimer page for the full affiliate disclosure.