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Attending National Defence Day (Dia da Defesa Nacional)

Researched and written with AI tools from official sources. How we make our guides

Who must attend National Defence Day, how to find your date, how to move it or ask for an exemption, and what happens if you miss it.

The Portugal Brief 11 min read

Attending National Defence Day (Dia da Defesa Nacional)

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

  • You, or your child, hold Portuguese nationality and turn 18 this year or turned 18 recently.
  • Your family became Portuguese and you want to know what military duties now apply.
  • You are Portuguese, live abroad, and have been called to attend.

Not for you if: you are not a Portuguese citizen. The duty does not apply to you. Read Getting Portuguese Citizenship by Naturalisation if you are on that path.

National Defence Day (Dia da Defesa Nacional, or DDN) is one free day of information sessions at a military unit. Every Portuguese citizen must attend, normally the year after turning 18. Military service itself is voluntary. You find your date on a public list, not in a letter. In 2026, everyone born in 2007 is called. If you miss it without fixing your situation, you can be fined €249.40 to €1,247 and cannot work in the public sector until you regularise it.

What the day is

The day runs at a National Defence Information Centre (Centro de Divulgação da Defesa Nacional) inside an army, navy, or air force unit. You attend information sessions on national defence, the armed forces, and the ways to serve. Some centres include a visit to the unit and a look at equipment. The day is free and meals are provided.

It is not training, a test, or a recruitment interview. The government repeats the point: military service in Portugal is voluntary. Attending the day is a duty. Joining the armed forces afterwards is your choice.

Your military duties from 18 to 35

Portuguese citizens have military duties from 1 January of the year they turn 18 until 31 December of the year they turn 35. During that time you must:

  • be on the military register (recenseamento militar);
  • attend National Defence Day;
  • report to the date and place given, if you are ever called up;
  • tell the Ministry of National Defence when your details change, especially your address and education.

The register is automatic. You are added in the year you turn 17. You do not need to do anything. Being on the register does not mean you must serve. Young women and men are both registered and both called.

Who is called in 2026

The Balcão Único da Defesa, the Ministry of National Defence's service portal, says everyone born during 2007 is called in 2026. The gov.pt guide says the day is for people in the year they turn 18. In practice you are usually called the following year, at 19.

If you became Portuguese at 18 or older, you do not have to attend. You still have the other military duties until the end of the year you turn 35.

If you live abroad, see the section on living outside Portugal below.

How to find your date and place

You are called by public notice (edital), not by letter. The notices list each person's full name and Citizen Card number, with the date and place to attend. They are posted:

  • at town halls (câmaras municipais);
  • at parish councils (juntas de freguesia);
  • at Portuguese consulates;
  • online, on the Balcão Único da Defesa notice search.

The online notice also shows your status. If you have already attended, or asked for a new date or an exemption, you can check that your request has been recorded.

If your name is not on any notice, do not assume you are excused. Ask for a date. Fill in the date request form (Requerimento para Marcação de Data) on the Balcão Único da Defesa site. Email it with a copy of your Citizen Card to [email protected] with MARCAÇÃO in the subject line, or send it by registered post.

If your Portuguese nationality was not given at birth, the Balcão Único asks you to email these details so you can be added to its records:

  • a scan of your Citizen Card;
  • a scan of your full birth record (assento de nascimento);
  • your full address, with postcode, parish, municipality, and district;
  • your education;
  • your marital status;
  • your place of birth (parish, municipality, and district if born in Portugal);
  • a phone number and an email address.

On the day

The day starts at 09:00 and ends at 17:30. Arrive 15 minutes early to check in.

What to bring:

  • your Citizen Card;
  • comfortable clothes;
  • practical shoes, such as trainers or boots, not sandals or flip-flops.

The programme is mostly indoors, but you may walk around a military site.

Getting there

The notice tells you which of three transport options applies to your parish or municipality:

  • Your own transport. Get to the centre by 08:45 on your own.
  • A Ministry bus. The Ministry of National Defence runs coaches. The boarding place and time are on the bus timetable on the Balcão Único da Defesa site.
  • A transport voucher. You fill in a form on the portal and receive four vouchers (requisições), two for the outward trip and two for the return. You choose the route and the public transport operator. You swap the vouchers for tickets at the ticket office the day before or on the day. They are only valid for the day you are called.

Even if a bus or vouchers are offered, you may always travel on your own.

Where the centres are

The centres only run on working days. The Balcão Único da Defesa lists them in:

  • North: Chaves, Braga, Póvoa de Varzim, Vila Real, Porto, and Vila Nova de Gaia.
  • Centre: Ovar, Viseu, Coimbra, Castelo Branco, Leiria, Tomar, Caldas da Rainha, and Santa Margarida.
  • Lisbon area: Sintra, Queluz, Lisboa, Almada, and Barreiro.
  • Alentejo: Estremoz, Vendas Novas, and Beja.
  • Algarve: Portimão and Tavira.
  • Madeira: Funchal and Porto Santo.
  • Azores: Flores, Faial, Pico, São Jorge, Graciosa, São Miguel, Terceira, and Santa Maria.

Locations can change. In 2026, people called to the Monte Real air base were moved to units in Leiria, Tomar, or Caldas da Rainha. Always check the online notice for your exact place.

If you cannot go on your date

You can bring your date forward, push it back, or change the place if you have a valid reason. Send the request at least 5 working days before your date.

Valid reasons:

  • illness or an accident that stops you attending;
  • caring for a sick or injured family member, where your help is essential;
  • the death of a spouse, parent, child, grandparent, or sibling in the five days before the day;
  • your wedding in the eleven working days before the day;
  • the birth of your child, or adoption leave;
  • prison, detention, or a hospital stay;
  • an exam at a recognised school on the same day or within two days of it;
  • a temporary move away from home, for example to study;
  • any other reason that genuinely prevents you from attending.

How to ask:

  1. Download the rescheduling form from the Balcão Único da Defesa. The portal calls it Remarcação; the gov.pt guide calls it Adiamento.
  2. Fill it in and sign it.
  3. Email it to [email protected] with the form's name (REMARCAÇÃO or ADIAMENTO) in the subject line, or send it by registered post.
  4. Attach a copy of your Citizen Card and proof of the reason, such as a medical certificate.

A new date depends on free places at the centre. Your transport arrangement may change with the new date.

Asking for an exemption

An exemption (dispensa) means you do not have to attend at all. The Balcão Único da Defesa lists three grounds:

  • A long-term illness. You need a medical certificate stating that the illness is long-term. It must be issued or confirmed by the public health officer (delegado or subdelegado de saúde) for your area, or issued by the hospital where you are staying.
  • Military duties done in another country. You need a document from that country's government. The country must have signed the European Convention on Nationality.
  • Legal residence abroad. You must have lived abroad legally, permanently, and continuously for at least six months before the notices were published. Proof can come from a consulate, a public body, the police, a school, or your employer. A school enrolment certificate or a work contract is accepted.

The six months count back from the notices, not from today. The notices go out at the end of the year you turn 18. So if you moved abroad after they were published, residence abroad will not usually qualify you.

The gov.pt guide also says people born abroad are excused. The exemption page itself only lists residence abroad. If you were born abroad but live in Portugal, ask the Balcão Único da Defesa before you rely on it.

How to ask:

  1. Download the exemption form (Requerimento de Dispensa).
  2. Copy or scan your Citizen Card and your proof.
  3. Send everything at least 10 working days before your date. Email it to [email protected] with DISPENSA in the subject line, or post it by registered mail to DGRDN, Apartado 0401 EC Restelo (Lisboa), 1400-666 Lisboa.
  4. Include a working email address. If the exemption is granted, your military certificate (Cédula Militar) is sent to it.

If the request is refused, you are told the date you must attend.

If you live outside Portugal

If you live abroad, you still have the duty. You must either book a date or ask for an exemption.

  • If you meet the six-month residence test, ask for an exemption with proof from your consulate or another accepted body.
  • If you do not, you can attend any centre that is running before the end of the year you were called. Ask for a date.
  • If neither works, ask to move to a later round, giving a valid reason.

The day is short and meals are included. For some families it is easier to book it around a visit than to gather six months of proof.

Conscientious objection

If your religious, moral, humanist, or philosophical beliefs stop you from using violence against another person, you can ask to be exempt from military duties as a whole. You may then have to do a civic service of similar demand instead.

You apply to the National Conscientious Objection Commission (Comissão Nacional de Objeção de Consciência, CNOC) once you are 18 (or earlier if you are legally emancipated, which now applies only to people who married before 2 April 2025). Apply at least 30 days before your date. You can also apply after you have attended. Your military duties are suspended until the commission decides, as long as you send any missing documents by the deadline it sets.

Your written statement must include:

  • your name, Citizen Card number, marital status, address, education and work qualifications, parish, and recruitment centre;
  • the reasons for your objection;
  • examples of your daily behaviour that match those reasons;
  • your military situation, including whether you have attended the day.

Also sign and attach:

  • a declaration that you are available for civic service;
  • a declaration that none of the legal bars to objector status apply to you;
  • a declaration that you do not work in researching, making, repairing, or selling weapons or ammunition;
  • signed statements from three witnesses, each with a copy of their ID;
  • your birth certificate, criminal record certificate, and a copy of your Citizen Card.

Hand it in, or send it by registered post with proof of delivery, to the President of the CNOC, Rua Rodrigo da Fonseca, n.º 55, 1250-190 Lisboa. You can later give up objector status in writing. If you are under 35 when you do, your normal military duties return.

If you miss the day

Missing the day without a valid reason puts you in an irregular military situation. The gov.pt guide lists what follows:

  • a fine of €249.40 to €1,247;
  • no public sector job, and no applications for the armed forces or security forces;
  • you must still attend on a new date;
  • if the armed forces ever need to call people up, you are among the first called.

How to fix it. The Balcão Único da Defesa says you regularise your situation in one of two ways:

  1. Ask for a new date, or go to a centre that is running on a day listed in its calendar.
  2. Ask for an exemption, if you meet the conditions.

The gov.pt guide also has a form to justify the absence (Requerimento de Justificação de Falta). Email it to [email protected] with "JUST FALTA" and your military identification number in the subject line, with your Citizen Card and proof. Use it together with a request for a new date, not instead of one.

If you plan to apply for any public sector job, sort this out first.

The military certificate (Cédula Militar)

The Cédula Militar shows your military situation on the day it is issued. It carries your military identification number (Número de Identificação Militar), which is given automatically. It records whether you attended the day and your move to the recruitment reserve.

  • You issue it yourself on the Balcão Único da Defesa portal.
  • It is available 2 to 3 days after you attend.
  • The information on it is valid for one year. You can reissue or check it on the portal at any time.
  • You can use it to show your school or employer that you attended.

If you work, tell your employer at least five days before the day and show the notice. Your employer may ask for the certificate within 15 days afterwards.

After the day

If you do not volunteer to serve, you move automatically into the recruitment reserve (reserva de recrutamento) until 35. In a national emergency, people in the reserve can be called up with 60 days' notice. Outside that, keep your details up to date with the Ministry.

Contacts

Balcão Único da Defesa:

  • Email: [email protected]
  • Phone: +351 213 804 200
  • In person: Av. Infante Santo, n.º 49, 1399-056 Lisboa, Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 17:00
  • Post: DGRDN, Apartado 0401 EC Restelo (Lisboa), 1400-666 Lisboa

If your child was born in Portugal recently, the military register entry follows from the civil birth record 17 years later. See Registering a Birth in Portugal.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules change often; check the official source before you act.

Sources

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

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

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