University of Lisbon Opens 2027/28 Applications for International Students on 4 January: Who Counts as International and What the Fees Are

Students from outside the European Union who want to start a bachelor's degree or an integrated master's degree at the University of Lisbon in September 2027 can apply from 4 January to 5 February 2027. The calendar for the University's concurso especial para estudantes internacionais (special application contest for international students) was published in the Diário da República (the official gazette) on Friday 23 October as Despacho n.º 12975/2026, signed by the rector on 13 October.

New students classed as international can enter these first degrees only through this special contest, not through the national access contest that Portuguese students use, under the international student statute (Decreto-Lei n.º 36/2014).

The 2027/28 calendar

First phase

• Applications: 4 January to 5 February 2027.
• Results: by 5 March.
• Pre-registration or place reservation: by 19 March.
• Places offered to reserve candidates: by 25 March; remaining places published by 31 March.

Second phase

• Applications: 5 April to 21 May 2027.
• Results: by 18 June.
• Pre-registration or place reservation: by 2 July.
• Places offered to reserve candidates: by 9 July; remaining places published by 12 July.

If places are still free after the second phase, each faculty may open a third phase, judging applications in order of arrival or on its own timetable. Every selection and enrolment must be complete by 30 September 2027. Enrolment dates themselves are set by each faculty.

Who counts as an international student

The statute starts from nationality: anyone who is not Portuguese is an international student, with exceptions. Under article 3, as last rewritten by Decreto-Lei n.º 20/2025 for applications from 2025/26 onwards, a student is not treated as international if they:

• are a national of an EU member state or of a European Economic Area country;
• are a family member of a Portuguese, EU or EEA national, whatever their own nationality;
• have lived legally in Portugal for more than two years without interruption on 1 January of the year they want to start, and so do their children living legally with them;
• hold, on that 1 January, equal-rights status under a treaty between Portugal and their own country, such as the status open to Brazilian citizens;
• apply through one of the special access routes set out in Decreto-Lei n.º 64-A/2023.

Time spent in Portugal on a residence permit for study counts towards the two years only while the student is at secondary school in Portugal. Students who fall outside the definition apply in the same way as Portuguese students, through the national contest; our guide to applying to a public university in Portugal explains that route.

Status is fixed at entry. A student admitted as international stays international until the end of the degree, even if they later obtain equal-rights status. The exception is a student who acquires Portuguese, EU or EEA nationality. International students get indirect social support only, such as canteens and residences, and not student grants, unless they have been recognised as students in a humanitarian emergency, under the 2018 version of the statute (Decreto-Lei n.º 62/2018).

What it costs

International students pay far more than the 697 euros a year that Portuguese and equivalent students pay at the University of Lisbon for a first degree. The statute says international fees must reflect the real cost of the course and cannot be lower than the legal maximum fee for national students.

The fee proposal put to the University's General Council on 28 May 2026 keeps international fees for 2027/28 at this year's level, since no faculty asked for a rise. Examples of the annual fee for a first-year bachelor's student:

• 1,500 euros: Law;
• 3,000 euros: the Instituto Superior de Agronomia's degrees;
• 3,500 euros: most degrees at the Faculties of Letters, Sciences and Fine Arts and at the Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas (social and political sciences);
• 5,000 euros: Psychology and Nursing;
• 7,000 euros: the Faculty of Architecture's design degrees;
• 7,500 euros: economics, management and finance at ISEG, the Lisbon School of Economics and Management.

The document notes that the 2026 State Budget's limit on fee rises for 2026/27 covered national and equivalent students and those from Timor-Leste and the African Portuguese-speaking countries, but not other international students, and that the 2027/28 international fees remain subject to the 2027 budget law. The number of international students in Portugal's universities has doubled in a decade, with Brazil the largest source.