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The Palacio de Sao Bento, seat of the Portuguese parliament, lit at night behind one of the stone lions on its staircase

A Vote Next Wednesday Decides Whether Single Parents Are Included in Portugal's Six-Month Paid Parental Leave

Friday was the deadline for amendments to the citizens' bill taking initial parental leave to 180 days at full pay. The PSD has proposed leaving single-parent families out of the extension; the Bloco de Esquerda has proposed giving them a year.

The Portugal Brief 11 Sep 2026

A Portuguese basic school building behind railings and pine trees, with Escola E. Basico 2,3 Ramalho Ortigao carved into the pale facade beneath a stone relief

A 1962 Decree Still Bars an Unvaccinated Child From Sitting an Exam in a Portuguese School, and This Week the State Deleted the Page That Said So

Decreto-Lei n.o 44198 has never been amended in 64 years. The education ministry and the DGS both say vaccination cannot block enrolment, which describes practice accurately and the statute not at all.

The Portugal Brief 10 Sep 2026

The green-tiled tower of the Ministerio do Trabalho e Seguranca Social at Praca de Londres in Lisbon, photographed looking straight up its glazed facade against a deep blue sky.

Employers Told the Equality Commission 1,777 Times Last Year That a Pregnant Worker's Contract Would Not Be Renewed, and the Law Asks Only for Five Days' Notice

Non-renewing a fixed-term contract for a pregnant or postpartum worker takes a stated reason and five working days. Dismissing one takes a prior opinion from CITE, a presumption against the employer and, if the opinion is unfavourable, a court. The gap is the story.

The Portugal Brief 08 Sep 2026

The yellow and white neoclassical facade of the Faculdade de Direito da Universidade do Porto, with cypress trees at either side and a cobbled forecourt

Half of Portugal's Undergraduates Miss Their Own Graduation Date, and the Foreign Student Body Has Quadrupled to Eighty Thousand in Fifteen Years

A Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation analysis puts on-time completion at 51 percent, first-year dropout at 30 percent of the intake, and architecture completion rates anywhere from 2 percent to 42 percent depending on the school.

The Portugal Brief 07 Sep 2026

The main entrance of Hospital Dona Estefania in Lisbon, Portugal's paediatric hospital, with ambulances parked under the covered walkway

Every Baby Born in Portugal From 16 September Qualifies for the RSV Immunisation, and a Catch-Up Round Reaches Those Born Since April

Norma 004/2026, signed on 2 September, runs the campaign from 16 September to 31 March 2027 and drops the eligibility gap that left some babies uncovered. The catch-up for children born since 1 April closes on 30 October.

The Portugal Brief 03 Sep 2026

The Balcão dos Registos counter at the Campus de Justiça in Lisbon, with a row of people waiting on chairs to the left and staff serving behind the curved reception desk on the right.

Changing Your Name in Portugal in 2026: A Practical Guide to the Six-Word Limit, the 200 Euro Process, the One Official in Lisbon Who Decides, and the Seven Changes That Need No Permission at All

Portugal lets you give a newborn six words of name and then makes an adult apply to the conservador dos Registos Centrais to alter one letter of it. What article 104 exempts, what marriage and divorce do to surnames, the free route under Lei 38/2018, and why foreign residents cannot use any of it.

The Portugal Brief 03 Sep 2026

The dark red and white facade of the Liceu Passos Manuel state secondary school in Lisbon, seen from the street behind iron railings

558 Teachers Retire This Month and 2,650 Timetables Sit Empty, and the Minister's Bridge Across the Gap Is 20 Million Euros of Overtime

FENPROF counts 2,650 unfilled school-contract timetables, more than 50,000 hours, with 378 whole timetables empty in the first cycle. Fernando Alexandre says no teacher is missing from the classroom because the state paid 20 million euros in overtime to June.

The Portugal Brief 01 Sep 2026

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