TECH VISA Changes 2022

Ordinance nº59-A/2022 makes the most recent amendment to the Tech Visa Program. The following changes to the aforementioned Program should be highlighted:

What is Tech Visa in 2022?

Originally enshrined in Ordinance nº 328/2018, of December 19, the Tech Visa Program undergoes its most recent changes for the year 2022, and is currently a more comprehensive company certification program. The certification now covers the granting of “residence permit for a worker transferred within the company to carry out the professional activity of manager, specialist or training” and the part referring to the definition of technological and innovative companies is removed, referring now only to companies, and defining them as any type of entity that, irrespective of its legal form, carries out, through the competitive offer of goods or services on the market, an economic activity.

Changes in the criteria required for the certification of companies

The criteria required for the certification of companies are also changed and, where previously it was a requirement that the company develop an activity of production of internationalizable goods and services, it is now necessary to have a permanent establishment in the national territory and to develop activity whose exercise requires technical skills. specialised, of an exceptional nature, or an adequate qualification for the respective exercise.

Still within the changes concerning the criteria required for the certification of companies, instead of the company having to prove the technological and innovative base by fulfilling at least two requirements from a list defined in the previous decree, the diploma determines that, now, it has to develop an activity of production of internationalizable goods and services, namely, goods and services produced in sectors exposed to international competition and that can be object of international exchange, or, in the case of technological interface centers or collaborative laboratories, have an economic activity of providing services to companies with the activity of producing internationalizable goods and services.

Companies Obligations

It is currently the obligation of companies to formalize an employment or service contract with a minimum duration of 12 months and with a minimum annual salary equivalent to 2.5 times the social support index (IAS), and in the case of a highly qualified worker transferred within the company, issue an addendum to the contract, giving an account of their placement in the company in Portugal.

Certified companies must ensure that technicians hired under the Tech Visa program perform their duties in the certified company, which cannot only serve as an actor in the hiring process for the placement of workers in other companies;

These companies also need to update the area for monitoring the terms of responsibility, included in the “Tech Visa” program platform, in relation to all terms issued, in order to identify their use for the purposes of visa application, application residence permit and contractual status.