Key figures — as of 2026-08-22: Foreign workers' Social Security contributions hit €4.15 billion in 2025, roughly 14% of Portugal's total contributions, up from €480.7 million in 2015 — Portugal's bilateral social security agreements historically favour Brazil, Cape Verde and other Portuguese-speaking countries over India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan — a standard Portuguese pension normally requires 15 years of qualifying contributions unless aggregated under an EU rule or bilateral treaty — study published 17 July 2026 by the Observatório das Migrações.
A widening gap in who gets to keep what they paid for
A new government-linked study has put a hard edge on something immigration lawyers in Lisbon have quietly flagged for years: Portugal's lack of social protection agreements with countries in South Asia is generating inequalities between immigrants from these countries and others, according to the Observatório das Migrações, the official body under AIMA that tracks migration data and policy.
The study, titled "Mapear a proteção social para além das fronteiras: os acordos bilaterais de Segurança Social em Portugal," was published to analyse the network of agreements Portugal has signed with third countries and their role in the social protection of migrants and Portuguese emigrants abroad. It lands at a moment when foreign labour has become structurally important to the Portuguese welfare state: the number of foreign contributors grew from 204,150 to 1,115,541 between 2015 and 2025, while total contributions increased from €480.7 million to €4,148.96 million, representing roughly 14% of total Social Security contributions in 2025.
Who's exposed, and why
The problem sits specifically with workers from the Indian subcontinent, one of the fastest-growing migrant groups in Portugal over the past decade. For nationals of India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan, although these workers can access, in a situation of legal residence and contributory inclusion, the benefits provided for in the Portuguese system, the absence or insufficiency of international coordination mechanisms limits the portability of the rights acquired in situations of return, re-emigration or circular mobility.
The researchers found the structure of Portugal's agreement network is itself the issue: it surveys Portugal's bilateral agreements in the social security area, which favour countries with a tradition of migration to Portugal, such as Brazil or Cape Verde, rather than considering new places of origin. In other words, the treaty map was drawn for a migration pattern — Lusophone Africa, Brazil — that no longer reflects who's actually paying into the system today.
These agreements aren't paperwork formalities. The study describes them as "instruments with political, institutional and distributive relevance" because they allow "the totalization of contribution periods, the export of certain benefits and the articulation between different national systems" — meaning without one, a worker's years in Portugal simply don't talk to their years back home.
Portugal's parliament has already taken notice. The Communist Party (PCP) filed formal questions to the government in late July asking whether it plans to open dialogue with the mentioned countries, with a view to concluding bilateral Social Security agreements, and what measures will guarantee that these workers' contributory career is recognised for social protection purposes, namely in cases of return. No government timeline has been announced.
What it actually costs a worker
Here's the GrowIN Portugal calculation that makes this concrete. A worker earning the 2026 minimum wage of €920/month pays 11% in employee-side Social Security contributions — about €101/month. Combined with the employer's standard 23.75% share, total contributions on that single salary run to roughly €320/month, or around €30,700 over eight years of continuous work. Under Portuguese rules, a standalone pension typically needs 15 years of contributions; EU Regulation 883/2004 lets workers aggregate time across EU/EEA states to hit that threshold, and Portugal's bilateral partners (Brazil, the US, Canada, Australia and others) offer similar totalization. A worker from Nepal or Bangladesh who leaves after eight years, with no aggregation route home, has no straightforward way to convert that record into a benefit — anywhere.
"For a worker from Kathmandu or Dhaka, eight years of Portuguese payslips can buy less long-term protection than eight years from São Paulo, simply because of a treaty that was never signed," says GrowIN Portugal Editorial.
What doesn't change, and what to watch
This doesn't affect access to Portuguese benefits while resident — unemployment pay, sick leave, healthcare via the SNS, and NISS-linked entitlements still apply to anyone in legal, contributory employment regardless of nationality. The exposure is specifically about portability on exit: what happens to the record if someone returns home, re-emigrates, or moves in and out of Portugal over a working life. Workers concerned about this should request a certified contribution statement from Segurança Social before leaving and keep it on file, since a future bilateral agreement — should one ever be signed — would likely require proof of the Portuguese contribution period to apply retroactively.
For now, anyone planning a long-term move to Portugal from South Asia should factor this gap into decisions about how long to stay and whether to plan around reaching the 15-year mark. Our visas hub and tax & NIF guide cover the residency and contribution mechanics in more detail, and our relocation section can help newcomers map out what registering with Segurança Social actually involves from day one.
Nothing here changes today — but it's a fault line worth watching, and the next parliamentary session may bring the first sign of whether Lisbon intends to close it.