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The public hall of the Conservatória dos Registos Centrais in Lisbon, a long counter with numbered service points, blue chairs along it and printed silence notices hanging overhead.

Changing Your Name in Portugal in 2026: A Practical Guide to the Six Words You Get, the Free Routes and the 200 Euro Special Process

Portuguese law caps a full name at six words, two given names and four surnames, and sets out exactly when you may change it. Most changes cost nothing, because they follow a change in your legal status. Simply wanting a different name costs 200 euros.

The Portugal Brief 14 Sep 2026

The arched stone entrance of Portugal's Constitutional Court in Lisbon, with the words Tribunal Constitucional carved into the lintel above the doorway

The Constitutional Court Holds the First Request in Portuguese History to Dissolve a Party for Extremism, and Has Not Yet Found Time to Decide It

A judge of the court set out the difficulty in public: is a Nazi salute enough, or billboards against an ethnic group? She also said the court's own rulings are sometimes simply ignored.

The Portugal Brief 14 Sep 2026

A Portuguese state primary school seen from the street, the name EB1 Dr Catela Gomes on the boundary wall beside a glazed public noticeboard and a closed white gate.

Seguro Escolar in Portugal in 2026: A Practical Guide to What the State Pays When a Child Is Hurt at School, the Journey That Counts, and the Seven Exclusions

Every state-school pupil is covered by a statutory scheme with no insurer and no policy document. It pays for public treatment, travel and compensation worth up to 300 times the minimum wage, and it pays nothing at all if you sorted the problem out privately first.

The Portugal Brief 13 Sep 2026

The departures concourse at Lisbon Humberto Delgado airport, with overhead signs reading partidas, departures and terminal 2

Portugal Has 130 Places to Hold the People It Plans to Remove, and the PSP Wants 306 by Late 2027

The head of the national foreigners and borders unit told Lusa the estate meets Portugal's obligations today. The return law that came into force on Friday lets people be held in it for up to 360 days.

The Portugal Brief 13 Sep 2026

Whitewashed gable walls and terracotta tiled roofs of houses in a Portuguese village against a deep blue sky, with overhead cables and a television aerial.

Building Work on Your Own House in Portugal in 2026: A Practical Guide to the 10 Square Metre Shed, the 1.8 Metre Wall, and What Needs No Council Permission

Portuguese law exempts more domestic building work from council control than its reputation suggests, and the 2024 Simplex reform widened it further. The measurements that decide it, the heritage rule that cancels the whole list, and the fines if you get it wrong.

The Portugal Brief 13 Sep 2026

Traffic in motion blur on both carriageways of the A20 motorway in Porto, under gantry signs for Matosinhos, Leixões and Viana do Castelo.

After a Car Accident in Portugal in 2026: A Practical Guide to the Declaração Amigável, the Eight Days to Tell Your Insurer, and the Fundo de Garantia Automóvel

Signing a declaração amigável at the roadside halves every deadline your insurer is working to. What the law guarantees: two working days to first contact, thirty to a decision, eight to payment, double-rate interest when they are late, and 200 euros a day for a missing reasoned reply.

The Portugal Brief 12 Sep 2026

The arched stone entrance of the Palacio Ratton in Lisbon with Tribunal Constitucional carved on the lintel above it

The Constitutional Court Has Now Twice Voided PAN's Leadership Election, and Says Ordering a New Congress Is Not Its Job

The plenary rejected the party's appeal in a ruling dated 8 September. The national bodies were chosen by a structure the judges say was not competent to choose them.

The Portugal Brief 12 Sep 2026

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