Working as an Uber driver in Portugal: what you actually need

Published 1 October 2026 · Ler em português

Yes, you can drive for Uber or Bolt in Portugal. It is legal, it is regulated, and thousands of people do it. The rules are stricter than in many countries, and the first obstacle most newcomers hit is not a rule at all. It is a word.

The word nobody tells you: TVDE

Almost everything written about this work in Portugal uses the term TVDE. It is the legal category that covers what Uber and Bolt drivers do. If you have been searching for "Uber driver requirements Portugal" and finding very little, that is why: the government, the training centres and the fleets all say TVDE instead.

Learn that one word and the rest of your research gets much easier.

You cannot sign up with Uber directly

This surprises almost everyone. Portuguese law puts a licensed company in between you and the app. Platforms like Uber and Bolt may only work with TVDE operators licensed by the IMT, usually called fleets, and the fleet is who you actually contract with. The three layers, and the order of the steps.

What you need before you can drive

• You must be at least 21 years old.
• You need a category B driving licence, held for more than 3 years, with a group 2 endorsement. This stops more applicants than anything else.
• You need a 50-hour course at a centre recognised by the IMT. All of them are listed here.
• You need a criminal record certificate, requested for a very specific purpose. Get that wording wrong and the process restarts.
• You need a written contract with the operator.

If your licence was issued outside Portugal, sort that out before paying for anything. Foreign licences, explained.

You will be self-employed, and that has consequences

Unless a fleet hires you as an employee, you will work as a self-employed driver. That means registering your activity at the tax office, issuing a receipt for every payment the fleet makes you, filing a declaration to Social Security every three months, and watching a VAT threshold.

None of it is difficult on its own. All of it has deadlines, and the deadlines do not care that you were driving twelve hours a day.

Your paperwork is also your record

Here is the part most guides miss. For a Portuguese driver, receipts are an administrative chore. If you are building a life here, they are something else: they are the written record of what you did and what you contributed, month by month, in a form the state recognises.

We are not immigration advisers and we will not tell you what any application requires, because those rules change and getting them wrong is serious. What we can say is narrower and still useful: a clean record costs nothing extra to keep as you go, and it is painful to reconstruct years later. Keep it properly from the first month.

The realistic order

• 1. Check your licence: three years, category B, group 2.
• 2. Request the criminal record certificate with the correct purpose.
• 3. Do the 50-hour course and pass.
• 4. Receive the certificate from the IMT.
• 5. Choose a fleet and sign a written contract.
• 6. Register your activity at the tax office.

This guide is informational and does not replace personalised advice. It is not immigration advice. Requirements can change, so always confirm with the IMT.