What Is Changing and When
Starting in late July 2026, AIMA will automatically assign immigrants their Social Security Identification Number (NISS) during regularisation appointments, in real time, through a new digital connection with the Social Security IT infrastructure. The announcement was made by AIMA on 15 July 2026 and confirmed by Luís Farrajota, president of the Social Security IT Institute (Instituto de Informática da Segurança Social). The change goes live in late July — no specific date within the month has been confirmed at the time of writing.
Under the system active until this change, immigrants who needed a NISS had to complete two separate administrative steps: first attend the AIMA appointment for regularisation, then travel to a Social Security service counter to request the number, and in many cases return a second time to collect it. With the new integration, the number is assigned the moment AIMA enters the applicant's identification details during the appointment, eliminating both additional visits. This is a meaningful reduction in administrative burden — in 2025 alone, approximately 250,000 people visited Social Security counters for the sole purpose of requesting a NISS.
Why NISS Has Been a Bottleneck for Immigrants
The NISS became a mandatory requirement for AIMA applications on 28 April 2025, when AIMA introduced its strict complete-application rule. From that date, any file submitted without a valid NISS was treated as incomplete and returned — not placed in a queue for later completion, but rejected outright. This created an immediate problem: to get a NISS, you needed to visit Social Security in person (unless your employer obtained it for you), but Social Security counters were already under significant strain from immigration-related demand. For applicants without an employer willing to handle the registration, obtaining a NISS independently could take weeks, particularly in Lisbon and Porto where counters were frequently at capacity.
The practical consequence was a two-stage bottleneck: applicants had to obtain the NISS before they could even submit their application to AIMA, and then wait months for AIMA to process the submission and schedule a biometric appointment. For some applicants, particularly those arriving on D7 or D8 visas without an employer and without prior Portuguese administrative experience, navigating the NISS acquisition step was one of the first major frustrations in the regularisation process. Immigration lawyers frequently cited NISS delays as a reason behind incomplete-application rejections — applicants would assemble every other document correctly but miss this one requirement.
How the New Automatic Assignment Works
The automatic NISS assignment uses a real-time data link between AIMA's applicant management system and Segurança Social's identification database. When an AIMA official enters the applicant's identification details during the regularisation appointment — passport number, name, date of birth, country of origin — the system queries Social Security to check whether a NISS already exists for that person. If no NISS is found, Social Security assigns one immediately and returns the number to AIMA, which records it against the applicant's case. If a NISS already exists (for example, if the applicant's employer previously registered them), the existing number is retrieved and confirmed.
From the applicant's perspective, the process requires no additional action: the NISS appears in their case record and should be communicated to them during or after the appointment. The number is the same format as a NISS obtained through any other channel — it does not carry any different status or limitation because it was auto-assigned. Once assigned, the applicant can immediately use it for employer registration, SNS health centre sign-up, and the other downstream administrative steps that require a Social Security number.
What This Means for Your Regularisation Timeline
For immigrants beginning their regularisation process from late July 2026 onwards, the practical timeline shortens by the time it previously took to visit Social Security for a NISS — typically one to three weeks in major cities, longer during peak periods. This is not a dramatic compression of the overall process, which is still measured in months from first submission to receiving a physical residence card. But it removes a step that had become a genuine friction point, particularly for D7 and D8 visa holders who did not have an employer handling their Social Security registration.
The change also reduces the risk of incomplete-application rejections stemming from a missing NISS. Under the pre-July 2026 system, an applicant who forgot or was delayed in getting their NISS before the submission deadline faced an outright rejection and had to restart the submission queue from the beginning. With auto-assignment at the appointment stage, NISS acquisition is folded into the appointment process itself, making it impossible to miss for applicants who have reached that stage. Note, however, that applicants who have not yet attended a biometric or processing appointment — and who are still at the online submission stage — still need to obtain their NISS through the existing channels before uploading their documents, since the automatic assignment only activates at the in-person appointment.
NISS vs NIF — the Two Numbers Every New Immigrant Needs
One of the most common points of confusion for newly arrived immigrants is the difference between NISS and NIF. Both are identification numbers used throughout the Portuguese administrative system, but they are issued by different agencies, serve different purposes, and must be obtained through separate processes. The automatic assignment announced in July 2026 applies to the NISS only — the NIF must still be obtained independently.
The NISS (Número de Identificação da Segurança Social) is your Social Security identification number, issued by Segurança Social. It is used for registering with an employer (so they can make contributions on your behalf), accessing the National Health Service (SNS), and receiving any Social Security benefits or contributions. The NISS is a nine-digit number starting with a digit that indicates the type of contributor. The NIF (Número de Identificação Fiscal) is your tax identification number, issued by the Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira (Finanças). It is required for opening a bank account, signing rental agreements, making purchases above a threshold, receiving income, and filing tax returns. The NIF can be obtained at any Finanças office, online through the Portal das Finanças if you have a Chave Móvel Digital, or through a fiscal representative if you are not yet in Portugal. For most immigrants arriving on a D7 or D8 visa, getting the NIF is typically the first administrative step — it is required for many of the activities that precede an AIMA submission — while the NISS follows once the regularisation appointment is scheduled.
After July 2026, the NISS will be obtained automatically at the AIMA appointment for those who do not already have one. The NIF remains a separate requirement, obtained through Finanças, and should ideally be in place before you arrive at your AIMA appointment since it is one of the documents required in a complete application.
What Mid-Process Applicants Should Do Now
If your AIMA appointment is already scheduled for late July or August 2026, you may benefit from the automatic NISS assignment if it is live by the time of your appointment. However, the safest approach is to obtain your NISS through the existing channels now, rather than waiting to see whether the auto-assignment is active on your appointment date. If you arrive at your appointment without a NISS and the integration system is not yet live or experiences a technical issue, you risk your application being flagged as incomplete.
If you have already submitted your application online and your NISS is on file, no action is needed — the automatic assignment will not overwrite an existing number. If your online submission included your NISS and your appointment is pending, you are simply waiting for the appointment as before; the July change does not affect your queue position. If you are in the early stages of planning your regularisation and your appointment is in August or later, monitor AIMA's news section at aima.gov.pt/pt/noticias for a confirmed live date before deciding whether to rely on the auto-assignment or obtain your NISS independently. The full NISS guide covers the standard acquisition process if you need it now.
For applicants whose cases are already mid-process (submitted, biometrics done, waiting for decision), this change has no effect. The NISS auto-assignment is a step in the regularisation workflow before the biometric appointment — if you are past that stage, your NISS is already on record.
Frequently Asked Questions
See the Q&A section above for detailed answers on the timing of the change, whether the NISS requirement for online submission still applies, the difference between NISS and NIF, the situation for applicants who already have a NISS, and what to do once a NISS is assigned automatically.