A student is considered an international student as long as he or she is not Portuguese nationality and:
- Is not a national of a Member State of the European Union;
- Has resided legally in Portugal for less than two years on 31 August of the year in which they intend to enter higher education, as well as their children legally residing with them, even if their nationality is not from a Member State of the European Union;
- It is not covered by the following situations (regulated by Decree-Law no. 393-A / 99 and Decree-Law no. 272/2009:
- Portuguese Diplomatic Mission abroad;
- Portuguese officials of Portuguese diplomatic mission abroad and family members accompanying them;
- Portuguese citizens abroad or public officials on official missions abroad and family members accompanying them;
- Officers of the Portuguese Armed Forces - Officers of the permanent staff of the Portuguese Armed Forces, in the ambit of satisfying specific training needs of the Armed Forces;
- PALOP scholarship recipients - National scholarship students from Portuguese-speaking African countries, within the framework of cooperation agreements signed by the Portuguese State;
- Foreign diplomatic mission accredited in Portugal Foreign officials of diplomatic mission accredited to Portugal and family members residing here, on a reciprocal basis;
- High-performance athletes;
- Natural and natural children of the territory of East Timor
- You are not attending a Portuguese higher education institution as part of an international mobility program to carry out part of a study cycle of a foreign higher education institution with which the Portuguese institution has established an exchange agreement for this purpose.
