How the Driving Licence Points System Works in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

• You hold a Portuguese driving licence, or have just exchanged a foreign one.
• You have received a traffic fine and want to know what it does to your points.
• You passed your test in Portugal in the last three years and want the extra rules for new drivers.

Not for you if: you need to pay or challenge a specific fine. Read Paying or Contesting a Traffic Fine in Portugal instead.

Every Portuguese driving licence starts with 12 points. Serious offences cost 2 or 3 points, very serious offences 4 or 5, and road crimes 6. Minor offences cost none. At 5 points or fewer you must take a road safety course, at 3 or fewer you must retake the theory test, and at zero you lose your licence for at least two years. Three years without a serious offence earns you 3 points back, up to 15. The system is run by the road safety authority, ANSR (Autoridade Nacional de Segurança Rodoviária), and you can check your balance online for free.

How points are lost

Offences under the Highway Code (Código da Estrada) are minor (leve), serious (grave), or very serious (muito grave). Only serious and very serious offences, and road crimes, cost points.

A shared space (zona de coexistência) is a street designed for both pedestrians and vehicles, with a 20 km/h limit.

The 6-point deduction applies when a court bans you from driving as part of a criminal case. It also applies when a criminal case is closed because you met the conditions the prosecutor set. Driving with 1.2 g/l of alcohol in your blood or more is a crime, and a court must then ban you from driving for 3 months to 3 years.

When points go. Points are removed only when the decision becomes final: after the deadline to challenge it has passed, or after the court's ruling is final. Losing points is not itself a penalty. It comes on top of the fine and any driving ban.

Daily cap. If you are convicted of several offences committed on the same day, you lose at most 6 points for them. Alcohol and drug offences are the exception: their points are always deducted in full, even above the cap.

Common offences and their points

These are ANSR's figures for a car or motorcycle.

Running a red light, ignoring a stop sign, or crossing a solid white line is a very serious offence and costs 4 points. For drivers in their first three years, and for professional drivers, the alcohol limits are lower. The serious offence starts at 0.2 g/l and the very serious one at 0.5 g/l. Driving without third-party insurance and parking in a disabled bay without a card each cost 2 points.

What happens as your balance falls

The law sets three steps. They apply automatically.

1. 5 or 4 points left. You must attend a road safety training course (ação de formação de segurança rodoviária). ANSR publishes the list of approved training bodies.
2. 3, 2, or 1 point left. You must retake the theory part of the driving test (prova teórica).
3. 0 points. Your licence is cancelled (cassação). You cannot get a new licence for any motor vehicle until two years after you are notified of the cancellation.

If you miss the course or the test without a valid reason, or fail the test, your licence is cancelled too. You pay for the course and the test yourself. You can challenge a cancellation decision in the courts.

How to earn points back

• 3 points at the end of every three years with no serious offence, very serious offence, or road crime on your record. The maximum is 15 points. A minor offence does not stop this. The three years run from the date your last deduction became final.
• 2-year cycle for some professionals. For drivers of emergency vehicles, school transport, taxis, heavy vehicles, and dangerous goods, the period is two years for offences committed at work.
• 1 point at each licence renewal if you had no road crime in that period and you took a road safety course voluntarily. This is the only way to go above 15, to a maximum of 16 points.

You do not need a new licence card when points change.

New drivers: the probation period

If you got your first licence in the last three years, you are on probation (regime probatório). Your licence lapses if, during those three years, you are convicted of:

• a road crime, or
• one very serious offence, or
• a second serious offence.

This happens however many points you still have. To drive again you must pass a special driving test, which you can take only after any driving ban has ended. If a case is still open when the three years end, probation lasts until it is decided.

Probation does not apply to a licence you got by exchanging a foreign licence, if that licence let you drive for more than three years. For the exchange rules, see Driving in Portugal and Exchanging Your Foreign Driving Licence.

If you drive on a foreign licence

ANSR describes the 12 points as attached to your driving licence. Its pages do not explain how points are recorded for someone driving in Portugal on a foreign licence. What is clear is that fines, driving bans, and criminal penalties apply to every driver on Portuguese roads. Once you exchange your licence for a Portuguese one, the points system applies to you in full.

How to check your points

1. Go to ANSR's Portal das Contraordenações.
2. Register and sign in with your Citizen Card and a card reader, or with your Digital Mobile Key (Chave Móvel Digital).
3. Your balance appears in your account.

If you are registered but cannot see your points, email ANSR at [email protected] with your tax number (NIF). ANSR does not see the public in person. For fines, you can go to the GNR and PSP service points that ANSR lists.

A worked example

You start with 12 points. You are stopped with 0.9 g/l of alcohol in your blood. That is a very serious alcohol offence: you lose 5 points once the decision is final, and you have 7 left. Eighteen months later you are caught holding your phone while driving: 3 more points, leaving 4. You must now take the road safety course. If you skip it, you lose your licence.

Now the other way. You keep a clean record for three years and go from 12 to 15 points. You take a voluntary course before your next renewal and reach 16. That cushion of four points can absorb one serious mistake before any course or test is triggered.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. For a specific case, read your notice carefully and get advice before the deadline to respond.

Sources

This guide is written from official sources and, where relevant, organisations' own websites.

• ANSR, the points system (carta por pontos): https://www.ansr.pt/contraordenacoes/carta-por-pontos (12 points; deductions by offence; 5 and 4, 3 to 1, and 0 point steps; earning 3 and 1 points; same-day cap; points removed when the decision is final; three-year count from that date; loss of points not a penalty; fines, bans, and points tables for speed, alcohol, phones, and child seats; lists of 2-point and 4-point offences; probation lapse; Portal das Contraordenações and [email protected]; no in-person service), checked 2 October 2026
• ANSR, Portal das Contraordenações: https://portalcontraordenacoes.ansr.pt/ (where to check your balance), checked 2 October 2026
• gov.pt, checking your licence points: https://www.gov.pt/servicos/consultar-os-pontos-da-carta-de-conducao (who can check, minor offences do not stop the 3-point gain, 4 or 5 points course, 1 to 3 points theory test), checked 2 October 2026
• Highway Code (Decreto-Lei n.º 114/94, of 3 May), consolidated text kept by the Lisbon Regional Public Prosecutor's Office: https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=349&tabela=leis (article 81: alcohol limits and fines; article 84: phones; article 121-A: 12, 15, and 16 points; article 122: probation; article 130: lapse and special test; articles 145 and 146: serious and very serious offences; article 148: deductions, cap, steps, earning points, course and test costs, two-year wait, challenge in court), checked 2 October 2026
• Penal Code, consolidated text kept by the Lisbon Regional Public Prosecutor's Office: https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=109&tabela=leis (article 292: driving at 1.2 g/l or more is a crime; article 69: driving ban of 3 months to 3 years), checked 2 October 2026

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