Author
The Asylum Act provides for the right of asylum-seeking children to public education under the same conditions as nationals and third-country nationals whose mother tongue is not Portuguese.[1] This right cannot be curtailed if the asylum applicant reaches adulthood while already attending school to complete secondary education.[2] The Ministry in charge of education is responsible for ensuring the right of children to education.[3]
The general rules for the recognition of foreign qualifications at primary, lower, and upper secondary levels include conditions that are particularly challenging for asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection,[4] such as:
- The presentation of documents certifying academic qualifications,[5] and, eventually, of additional supporting documents;[6]
- The presentation of duly translated and legalised documents;[7]
- In the absence of such documents, the presentation of a sworn statement issued by the applicant or their parents or legal guardian accompanied by a statement from an Embassy or a reception organisation related to the country of origin confirming exceptional individual circumstances;[8] and the completion of a competency tests.[9]
Considering the challenges faced by child applicants for and beneficiaries of international protection in this regard, in 2020, the Directorate-General for Education (DGE) and the National Agency for Qualification and Vocational Education and Training (ANQEP) issued a circular letter[10] defining extraordinary educational measures applicable to child applicants for/beneficiaries of international protection. It clarifies procedures for the recognition of academic qualifications/school placement, the progressive integration in the Portuguese education system, and provides for the reinforcement of Portuguese language training and school social support. These guidelines are only applicable to children within the compulsory school age (6 to 18 years old).
Accordingly, with regard to the recognition of qualifications/school placement:
- In the absence of documents proving the academic/professional qualifications (e.g. certificates, diplomas), applicants must present the following elements: (i) a sworn statement issued by the applicant, their parents or legal guardian, specifying the number of school years completed; (ii) a statement by a competent authority (such as AIMA or CPR) confirming exceptional individual circumstances.[11] If any document concerning previous qualifications is available to the applicant, it should be added to the process. In this case the applicant is integrated in the education system, but no equivalence/recognition is granted. Placement must consider the age of the applicant and the corresponding school level. School attendance must be ensured during the first month following enrolment and may be progressive. While the analysis is pending, the applicant must be conditionally enrolled in school enabling them to attend the corresponding activities.
- If documents proving the academic/professional qualifications are available, in order to obtain an equivalence, the relevant norms[12] apply, but applicants are exempt from translating[13] and legalising the certificates/diplomas. Processes are analysed by DGE (primary, lower, and upper secondary levels) or by ANQEP (other qualifications, excluding higher education). School attendance must be ensured during the first month following enrolment and may be progressive. While the analysis is pending, the applicant must be conditionally enrolled in school enabling them to attend the corresponding activities.
As such, currently, in practice, school placement of children does not require the performance of tests. This has been confirmed by CPR’s experience.
The 2020 circular letter further reaffirmed the increased autonomy of schools in adjusting activities to the specific needs of asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection. Such adaptations include a progressive convergence with the regular curriculum by temporarily exempting students from certain subjects and providing additional Portuguese language classes. The guidelines also clarify the entitlement of asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection to the various modalities of social assistance available to students enrolled in the public education sector for the purposes of food, accommodation, financial assistance and school supplies.[14] Furthermore, the circular letter recommends the creation of multidisciplinary teams in hosting schools to support response to specific needs. However, such teams must be created with existing resources.
According to DGE, in the 2024/2025 academic year, the Ministry of Education reinforced school resources to promote the integration of students who are asylum applicants or beneficiaries, namely by allowing the hiring of cultural mediators and reinforcing the human resources of ‘Portuguese as a Non-Native Language’ programmes. DGEstE reported the creation of multidisciplinary teams with psychologists, social workers, interpreters, cultural and linguistic mediators, among others.
Between 2024 and beginning of 2025, a number of legal provisions on education were published, namely:
- Students who enter the Portuguese education system during the academic year in which the exams must be taken may be exempted from taking final exams up to the 9th year of basic education. This includes ‘students under the refugee or international protection regimes, and who are flagged as Portuguese as a Non-Native Language students’;[15]
- Approval of a new learning recovery plan, in which learning Portuguese is deemed as a fundamental pillar for promoting inclusion, equity and academic success, and provides a tailor-made approach to the linguistic needs and background of each student;[16]
- Adoption, inter alia, of measures such as level zero for students who are unfamiliar with the Portuguese language and alphabet; and organisation of classes of ‘Portuguese as a Non-Native Language’ based on student’s level rather than their year of schooling;[17]
- Without prejudice to the previous equivalence regime, establishment of a new framework for a simplified school placement of children. Schools can approve placement without the need for a formal equivalency process, which remains applicable in other circumstances and at other levels of education (from the 9th year of Portuguese basic education onwards, excluding certification of completion of the 9th grade, to which it does not apply).[18]
According to DGE, the latter aims to adapt the system to the individual circumstances of students and the needs of the Portuguese education system itself, by addressing the delays and inefficiencies arising from the equivalency process which are mainly due to lack of supporting documents, complexity of legalising and translating, and context in the students’ countries of origin.
In 2024, DGE published a comprehensive practical guide for the support of student inclusion in schools.[19]
DGEstE supports coordination between reception entities and public schools to ensure integration in the education system.
In practice, accompanied and unaccompanied children are systematically referred to public schools upon accommodation at CAR and CACR or contact with CPR’s social workers. According to the experience of the organisation, enrolment in local public schools is generally guaranteed within a reasonable period (on average, two weeks).
Unaccompanied children enrolling in upper secondary education are usually enrolled in an area of their interest with subsequent adjustments introduced afterwards considering the individual progress. Progressive integration in school is also possible. According to CPR’s experience, this has been positive, allowing a smoother integration in the education system and faster language learning.
Nevertheless, CPR has highlighted the need to consider other frequent challenges, such as the lack of resources in certain schools to ensure the necessary teaching of Portuguese language as well as the lack of literacy courses.
UNICEF[20] has also reported similar observations, adding that, inter alia, the reception of spontaneous unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in different parts of the country has created challenges to the school enrolment due to the lack of awareness of the relevant services.
Following the 2022 amendment, the Asylum Act establishes that all asylum applicants are entitled to access vocational training.[21]
Nevertheless, according to CPR’s experience, access to vocational training by adults remains particularly limited as opportunities generally require a good command of the Portuguese language and diplomas that asylum applicants and beneficiaries of international protection rarely have or are unable to legalise due to the legal requirements of recognition procedures (see Access to the Labour Market). In addition, this access is usually denied to applicants who have not yet been admitted to the regular procedure.
In the case of unaccompanied children, according to CPR’s experience, access to vocational training is only possible if they have a certain level of education (e.g. if they completed the 6th grade in Portugal or if they state having previously attended secondary education), regardless of prior professional experience, for instance.
A study focusing on the situation of asylum-seeking unaccompanied children and ageing out in Portugal published in 2021 revealed that, out of those consulted 55.2% felt safe in school and only 4.5% disagreed. The report also observed that there is an overall positive image of teachers and of the overall school context.[22] With regard to integration, however, language barriers have been mentioned as a significant challenge.[23]
Regarding higher education, the Government introduced the ‘student in an emergency situation for humanitarian reasons’ status in 2018,[24] following a review of the Portuguese educational system by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).[25]
The status can be claimed by any non-Portuguese or EU student who originates from a region affected by armed conflict, natural disaster, generalised violence or human rights violations requiring a humanitarian response.[26] According to the law, beneficiaries of international protection and asylum applicants admitted to the regular procedure are entitled to the status by operation of the law.[27]
Students with ‘emergency situation for humanitarian reasons’ status are entitled to alternative procedures for assessing entry conditions in the absence of documentation such as diplomas,[28] equal treatment to Portuguese students regarding university fees and other levies,[29] full access to social assistance available to higher education students,[30] and may benefit from a scholarship.[31] Failure to renew the permit that establishes the ‘emergency situation for humanitarian reasons’ status will result in termination of the scholarship. It should be noted that the rules do not address the issue of access to entry visas for eligible students living abroad.[32]
At the beginning of 2025, a law was enacted establishing the legal framework for housing supplements for displaced higher education students.[33] Beneficiaries in ‘emergency situations for humanitarian reasons’ and beneficiaries of temporary protection are considered displaced students.[34]
The 2023 edition of the Statistical Report of OM states that while this framework was created in 2018, it was only with displaced students from Ukraine (beneficiaries of temporary protection) that it began to be used as an option for students to remain integrated in a university context. The report notes that enrolments in higher education with this status only occurred in the 2022/2023 academic year, accounting for 366 displaced persons from Ukraine.[35]
With regard to the recognition of higher education degrees and diplomas, the law provides for the possibility of the exemption of documentary evidence in processes concerning applicants in an emergency situation for humanitarian reasons where the qualifications cannot be proved due to that situation.[36] Such exemptions are analysed on a case-by-case basis. In 2020, this possibility was extended to situations where the applicant cannot prove their qualifications due to circumstances affecting the regular functioning of the institutions of the State concerned.[37]
It is unclear to CPR whether this status has an effective impact on access to higher education by applicants for and beneficiaries of international protection.
[1] Article 53(1) Asylum Act.
[2] Article 53(2) Asylum Act.
[3] Article 61(4) Asylum Act. For information regarding the functioning of early childhood education and care in Portugal, see here.
[4] Decree-Law 227/2005 of 28 December. In general, enrolment in schools (primary, lower and upper secondary education levels) requires a procedure for the recognition of foreign academic qualifications, but children must be granted immediate access to schools and classes while that procedure is pending (article 8(5) Decree-Law 227/2005).
[5] Article 7(2) Decree-Law 227/2005.
[6] Article 7(4) Decree-Law 227/2005.
[7] Article 7(2) Decree-Law 227/2005.
[8] Article 10(1) and (2) Decree-Law 227/2005.
[9] The content of the test varies according to the level of education and the curriculum, but always includes a Portuguese as a Second Language. See Article 10(5) and (6) Decree-Law 227/2005.
[10] Circular letter – DGE and ANQEP, Medidas educativas de integração de crianças e jovens no sistema educativo, August 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/3mwfSKq.
[11] Applicants previously identified by governmental entities are exempt from presenting this statement.
[12] Decree-Law 227/2005 of 28 December (primary, lower and upper secondary levels) and Order 13584/2014 of 10 November.
[13] Only if the documents are written in German, Spanish, French or English.
[14] Ministry of Education Legislative Order 8452-A/2015 of 31 July 2015, amended by Legislative Order 7255/2018 of 31 July 2018.
[15] Legislative Order no. 4/2024, 21 February 2024, Article 12(7).
[16] Council of Ministers Resolution no. 140/2024, 17 October 2024.
[17] Order no. 29/2025, 7 February 2025.
[18] Decree-Law 7/2025, 11 February 2025.
[20] Per the information provided by UNICEF to the 2023 AIDA Update.
[21] Article 55(1) Asylum Act.
[22] Sandra Roberto, Carla Moleiro, ed. Observatório das Migrações, De menor a maior: acolhimento e autonomia de vida em menores não acompanhados, April 2021, p.44, available here.
[23] Ibid, 54.
[24] Article 8A Decree-Law 36/2014, inserted by Decree-Law 62/2018.
[25] OECD, OECD Reviews of School Resources: Portugal 2018, December 2018, available here.
[26] Article 8A(1) Decree-Law 36/2014.
[27] Article 8A(2) (a) and (b) and 3(a) Decree-Law 36/2014.
[28] Article 14(1)(c) Decree-Law 36/2014.
[29] Article 8A(5) Decree-Law 36/2014.
[30] Article 10(1) Decree-Law 36/2014.
[31] Order no. 9619-A/22, 4 August 2022, amended by Order no. 7647/2023, 24 July 2023.
[32] For a critical assessment of Decree-Law 36/2014, see JRS, Estudante em Situação de Emergência por Razões Humanitárias: Mais um direito sem visto?, November 2018, available in Portuguese here.
[33] Act no. 8/2025, 5 February 2025. In July 2025, there was no regulation in place to allow for its immediate implementation.
[34] According to DGES, this regime will take effect from the 2025/2026 academic year and may include supplements of up to €400/year.
[35] Observatório das Migrações (OM), Requerentes e Beneficiários de Proteção Internacional – Relatório Estatístico do Asilo 2023, p.212-213, July 2023. While the reports produced by the OM were previously available online, at the time of writing it was not possible to access them online, neither in the website of ACM, which was still online, nor in the website of AIMA.
[36] Article 13 Ministerial Order 33/2019 of 25 January, available here.
[37] Article 14 Ministerial Order 33/2019 of 25 January, available here.