Lagos, Olhão and Faro are among the first cities to simplify the applications for NIF, NISS and NNU for foreigners.
From today, this Monday 17th March 2025, foreign citizens with a regular status in Portugal will be able to apply for these identification numbers all at once, reducing pressure on customer service departments.
“It is an important measure because it simplifies people's lives” and “allows citizens to go to just one service in person, instead of going to three different public services, or to do it comfortably at home, because this service can also be done at home”, via the internet using a digital mobile key, the Minister of Youth and Modernization, Margarida Balseiro Lopes, told Lusa news agency.
It is possible to “request, in a single application, the Tax Identification Number (NIF), the Social Security Identification Number (NISS) and the National User Number (NNU)”, says the Government, in a statement.
There are now 10 of these Espaço Cidadão offices across the country - Braga, Cascais, Lisbon, Olhão , Lagos , Setúbal, Porto, Loures, Oeiras and Faro.
“By saving people from having to visit these stores and public services in person, we are also ensuring that we do not overload the work and lives of the people who work in these spaces, who often find themselves under enormous pressure due to the number of people seeking these public services,” explained the minister.
This measure “is aimed at foreign citizens, who do not have a citizen card and who already have a residence permit or have already requested one, who have nationality from a European Union country, who have requested international protection”, that is, who already hold refugee status or are beneficiaries of international protection.
“There is another problem we have in Portugal, because we have many citizens who do not yet speak Portuguese and who also have difficulty accessing this information because of the language barrier”, acknowledged the minister. On the gov.pt online page, a virtual conversation assistant is now available to clarify doubts in 12 different languages.
From now on, “the virtual assistant tells people all the steps they need to take” to request identification numbers in their relationship with the State, and indicates which “citizen space they can go to”.
This simplification model was foreseen in the Migration Plan announced in June last year by the Government.
The measure “required coordination between several entities, because we are simplifying people's lives”, but required the combined efforts of organisations such as the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum, the Administrative Modernization Agency, the Tax Authority, health and social security services, among others.
According to the Government, “this measure will have a double positive effect: it will simplify the process of obtaining these identification numbers for foreign citizens and, at the same time, it will improve the efficiency of public services to serve all citizens, reducing the pressure on face-to-face service”.
For now, the system is only possible in the 10 'citizen spaces', but the aim is for it to be “progressively extended to the entire network, which as of Monday has more than 930 offices”.
In addition to face-to-face assistance, information about the process is also available by telephone through the Citizen Line (210 489 010), or on the Single Digital Services Portal, gov.pt.
Source https://postal.pt/
