Qualified youths who remain in Portugal can request their school fees to be reimbursed

Youths with an undergraduate or master’s degrees who work and reside on Portuguese soil can now request their wage bonus for qualification enhancement. The electronic form to request the so-called "school fee reimbursement" is now available on the ePortugal website. 

The annual bonus amounts to 697 for an undergraduate degree. For a master’s degree, it is 1500 euros. If it is an integrated master’s, the bonus will be 697 euros for the time relating to the undergraduate degree and 1500 euros for the time relating to the master’s degree. The bonus will be paid annually for the number of years equivalent to the study cycle. 

For the annual bonus to be given, the request must be made by the end of May. 

The bonus applies to young workers who reside on Portuguese soil who are up to 35 years of age at the date the bonus is given and who graduated from Portuguese (public or private) higher education institutions as of 2023 (including) and subsequent years. The rules apply to the same academic levels obtained abroad, as long as they are recognised in Portugal. 

This bonus is for youths whose incomes fall under category A (working for others) or category B (freelance workers) who, in the legal timeline, filed their income statement and have their taxes in order.

The bonus may also be requested by youths who concluded their undergraduate and master’s degree prior to 2023, as long as the number of years since the degree is lower to the number of study years.

The wage bonus will be paid by the Tax Authorities by bank transfer using the IBAN that is on the taxpayer records and is not liable for income tax or social security payments.

The rules for the wage bonus for qualification enhancement in the labour market is contained in Ordinance 67-A/2024, published on Thursday 22 February in the Diário da República Government Gazette. 

The measure is set in Decree-Law 134/2023 of 28 December 2023.