🇵🇹 Portugal news, in English, every morning. Free. Subscribe
Sign in Subscribe
guides

Free Portuguese Courses for Foreigners in Portugal (PLA)

Who can join the free state Portuguese course, where it runs, how to enrol, the levels, and what the A2 certificate counts for after the 2026 law.

Free Portuguese Courses for Foreigners in Portugal (PLA)

Last verified: September 2026.

Who this is for

  • You are a foreign resident aged 16 or over, with a residence permit, a pending application, or a NISS.
  • You want free Portuguese classes with a certificate at the end.
  • You need A2 Portuguese for permanent residence, long-term resident status, or citizenship.

Not for you if: you are comparing paid schools, tutors, apps, or the CIPLE exam. Read "Learning Portuguese in Portugal".

Updated September 2026. A new nationality law took effect on 19 May 2026. Its rules on which tests and certificates count had not been published by 23 September 2026. See "What the certificate counts for".

Portuguese as a Host Language (Português Língua de Acolhimento, or PLA) is the state's Portuguese course for foreigners. It is free in most cases. It runs in public schools, IEFP (public employment service) training centres, and Qualifica adult learning centres. The beginner path, from A1 to A2, takes up to 150 hours of classes. A certificate at A2 or above proves your Portuguese for permanent residence and long-term resident status. Under the current rules it also counts for citizenship. Groups form in September, so that is the best month to ask.

Who can enrol

You can join if all of these apply:

  • you are 16 or older;
  • Portuguese is not your first language, or you cannot prove a level in it;
  • you hold one of the documents below.

Documents that get you in (you need one):

  • a residence permit;
  • proof that you have applied for a residence permit, a renewal, or an extension of stay;
  • proof that you have applied for international or temporary protection;
  • proof of your social security number (NISS);
  • a short-stay seasonal work visa, a temporary stay visa, or a residence visa.

AIMA, the migration agency, says the courses are open to people "regardless of their regular situation in the country". In practice, a NISS alone is enough. If you do not have one yet, read "Getting a Social Security Number (NISS) in Portugal".

EU citizens living here can enrol too, for example with a NISS.

IEFP's own summary sheet still gives the minimum age as 18. If you are 16 or 17, start with a public school.

What it costs

AIMA says the courses are free "in the great majority" of cases. Whether a course is free depends on who runs it and whether EU funds pay for it. Courses at public schools, IEFP centres, and Qualifica centres are normally free.

Always ask the provider before you enrol. Do not pay anyone who offers to "sign you up" for a PLA course for a fee.

How the course works

There are two paths. Each takes up to 150 hours of teaching.

Path A: A1 and A2 (basic user). Six units of 25 hours each.

LevelUnitHours
A1Me and my daily routine25
A1Eating habits, culture, and leisure25
A1The human body, health, and services25
A2Me and the world of work25
A2My past and my present25
A2Communication and life in society25

Path B: B1 and B2 (independent user). Five units: three for B1 and two for B2. The listed hours add up to more than 150, but the course is taught flexibly within 150 hours. One B1 unit, on current cultural affairs, is optional if you have passed the other two.

If you use a different alphabet. An extra 25-hour unit teaches the Latin alphabet and Portuguese handwriting. It is for people who read Arabic, Cyrillic, Chinese, or another script. Ask for it if you need it.

Class details:

  • Groups have 15 to 20 learners. Smaller groups need special permission.
  • Timetables must be flexible. Evening and weekend groups exist, but you usually have to ask.
  • Classes can run fully or partly online where the provider can support it.
  • Teachers are qualified Portuguese teachers, preferably trained in teaching Portuguese as a foreign language.

You do not have to start at the beginning

Your provider must test your level before you start and place you at the right level. You do not need to pass A1 to be certified at A2.

If you have lived here a few years and already get by in Portuguese, ask to be tested for A2 or for path B. This can cut your course from 150 hours to far fewer.

How to find a course and enrol

  1. Search the national course list. Go to the Portal da Oferta Formativa (ofertaformativa.gov.pt). Type "Português Língua de Acolhimento" in the course name field (Designação do Curso) and filter by your area.
  2. Search IEFP courses. IEFP's online course search (iefponline) lists PLA groups at its training centres.
  3. Ask AIMA if you find nothing. Email AIMA's Portuguese language team at [email protected]. Give your town, and say where you work. They will tell you the nearest schools and centres. AIMA does not run courses itself.
  4. Contact the provider directly. Each school or centre sets its own enrolment steps, start dates, and timetable. Ask when the next group starts, and whether there is an evening, weekend, or online option.
  5. Bring your documents. Take your passport, one document from the list in "Who can enrol", and your NISS if you have one. Ask the provider whether it needs anything else.
  6. Do the placement test. Ask which level it puts you in, and how many hours you will need.

Local migrant support centres (CLAIM), often run with the town council, can also help you find a group.

If no course opens near you

The most common reason is numbers. A group needs at least 15 people to open. This is why small towns often hear "not this term".

  • Put your name on the list anyway. Groups open when enough people sign up.
  • Ask about online classes. They widen the choice a lot outside the big cities.
  • Ask a neighbouring town. Schools and IEFP centres in the next town may have a group.
  • Ask about an exception. The rules allow smaller groups where there are too few learners in an area.
  • Study while you wait. AIMA's free Plataforma de Português Online (pptonline.aima.gov.pt) has self-study lessons and exercises. It does not give a certificate that counts for residence or citizenship.

The certificate

When you pass all the units for a level, you get a certificate for that level. It is issued through SIGO, the national education and training records system.

  • If a partner organisation ran your course, a public school or IEFP centre must approve (homologate) the certificate.
  • For a copy, ask the school or centre that issued it. If it has closed, ask ANQEP, the national qualifications agency.
  • Keep the original safe. You will need it for your residence or citizenship application.

If you did an older course. Certificates at A2 or above from the older state courses, run from 2009 under the Português para Todos programme, still count. Check your papers before you start again.

What the certificate counts for

A PLA certificate at A2 or above proves your Portuguese for these applications.

Permanent residence (non-EU citizens). Yes. AIMA lists the A2 certificate among the accepted proofs of basic Portuguese. A new immigration law passed in September 2026 did not change this. See "Getting Permanent Residence in Portugal".

Long-term resident status (non-EU citizens). Yes, on the same terms.

Citizenship, if you applied on or before 18 May 2026. Yes. The old rules apply to your application. The A2 certificate proves your Portuguese, and you do not need to sit the state language test (the PaN).

Citizenship, if you apply from 19 May 2026. The new law asks for more than language. You must prove, by a test or a certificate, that you know:

  • the Portuguese language;
  • Portuguese culture, history, and national symbols;
  • the basic rights and duties of a citizen and how the state is organised.

The government had 90 days, until mid August 2026, to update the nationality rules and set out how to prove this. On 23 September 2026 those rules had still not been published. Until they are, nobody can tell you officially whether a PLA certificate alone will be enough. The current rules still list it as proof of Portuguese, and AIMA still says so. It will very likely cover the language part. It may not cover the culture and civics part.

What this means for you: get the A2 certificate now if you will need it. It is the part of the proof that is not in doubt. Then check the registry's nationality pages before you apply. "Getting Portuguese Citizenship by Naturalisation" explains the rest of the new law.

If you are a national of a Portuguese-speaking country, the new law presumes you know the language, unless you clearly do not.

Using the course to get a Portuguese qualification

The PLA units can count towards a Portuguese school certificate or a vocational qualification.

If you have little schooling, or cannot prove the schooling you had abroad, your provider must refer you to a Qualifica centre. There you can have your skills and your foreign school years assessed and certified. Language units of at least 100 hours inside a vocational qualification also count as proof of Portuguese for citizenship.

If your qualification is a university degree, read "Recognising a Foreign Academic Qualification in Portugal".

If you are looking for work, the IEFP centres that run PLA also run the public job service. See "Finding a Job in Portugal as a Foreigner".

Sources

Last verified September 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.

Read next