Getting an SNS user number

The SNS user number, número de utente, is the identifier the public health service uses for appointments, prescriptions and your personal area on SNS 24. Without it you can still get urgent care, but routine care is slower and more expensive at the wrong door.

Who assigns it

Registration usually happens through a primary-care unit, the agrupamento de centros de saúde that covers the address where you live. Take a passport or residence document, your NIF when you have one, and proof of address. EU citizens with a European Health Insurance Card still ask for a local number if they settle here; the card is not a permanent substitute.

Once you have the number, create or open the personal area on sns24.gov.pt. The Chave Móvel Digital is the login most people use. That step is in the digital mobile key guide.

Family doctor

A user number and a named family doctor are related but not identical. Some new arrivals get the number first and wait for a médico de família to be assigned. Others are told the list in their parish is full and are pointed to a neighbouring unit. The Porto walkthrough is in A family doctor in Porto.

When you are ill tonight

For fever, doubt, or “is this urgent?”, call SNS 24 on 808 24 24 24 before you sit all night in an emergency room. Life-threatening cases go to 112. The local habits are in When you are ill in Porto.

Checked 27 October 2026. This is not legal, tax, medical or immigration advice. If an official page disagrees, follow that page.