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Getting Your Firearms Permit for Portugal
Last Updated:
March 5, 2026
Permit Price
£120
Processing Time
40 days minimum from PSP submission
Authority
Polícia de Segurança Pública (PSP) via outfitter
Difficulty
Moderate
Best Hunting Months
Boar Oct–Jan, partridge Oct–Feb, red deer Sep–Oct

Tristan Dummer

Founder

Portugal punches above its weight as a hunting destination. Wild boar montarias in the Alentejo, red-legged partridge drives, and red deer stalking draw hunters from across Europe. Since Brexit, UK hunters need to navigate a document-intensive but manageable import process. Crucially, your outfitter handles the permit application on your behalf — no UK export paperwork is required for temporarily travelling with your own firearms.

Step 1: Confirm Your Hunt and Engage Your Outfitter — At Least 40 Days Out

The Autorização de Importação Temporária de Armas de Fogo (Authorisation of Temporary Importation of Firearms) is issued by the Polícia de Segurança Pública (PSP) — Portugal's national police force. Your outfitter applies on your behalf and must submit the application at least 40 days before your hunt. Contact your outfitter as early as possible; late applications will not be processed in time.

Step 2: Provide Required Documentation

Your outfitter will require from you: a certified copy of your UK Firearm Certificate, and a formal letter of invitation confirming hunting dates and firearms details. The outfitter will complete four application forms in Portuguese. All documentation must be in Portuguese or officially translated — your outfitter will advise.

Step 3: Ammunition Limits and Restrictions

Portuguese regulations permit up to 250 rounds per calibre for rifles and 2,000 shotgun cartridges. Suppressors are strictly prohibited. There is no stated limit on the number of firearms, though this should be confirmed with your outfitter. The Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas (ICNF) oversees wildlife and hunting regulations at national level.

Step 4: Travel and What to Carry

Carry your permit documentation, UK Firearm Certificate, passport, and invitation letter at all times. Declare all firearms and ammunition on arrival and follow your outfitter's instructions for transferring firearms to the hunting estate.

We can manage your application for you

We handle the forms in collaboration with the authorities to make sure everything is in your hands or on your phone before you fly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Some hunting and sporting competition shoots ask outfitters and hosts to organise their guests temporary firearms permits. Your outfitter will be able to do this on your behalf through the Ambulo platform or you can do it yourself.

For outfitters and hosts organising permits for their guests, please contact tristan@ambulo.co to streamline this process.

To amend your application and your permit, before you travel, you need to contact us at least 14 days before your departure date. If you need to make amends to your permit, please email tristan@ambulo.co

Generally, you do not need to buy an additional permit for your stopover. However, some countries may require you to buy an additional permit. This is generally on a country by country basis. For example, if you are travelling to Poland, but flying to Germany and driving across, you may have to buy a permit for Germany, depending on the location.

Permit costs vary depending on the country you are travelling to. Once our permits go live you will be able to see a full pricing break down. We have priced this to be roughly the same price as hiring a rifle or shotgun at your final destination. Nothing beats taking your own equipment across!

At the moment, extending the length of your permit duration is not possible. We advise that you ask your host to either add a buffer time frame to the end of your trip in case you would like to stay longer. You can of course come back earlier if needs be but the duration and date of validity for your permit is linked to your arrival and departure dates you set out in your application.

For business and partnerships, please contact tristan@ambulo.co

At the moment, Ambulo only provides permits for the destination you are hunting within. If you are driving to your destination and crossing countries, you will have to follow each countries firearm rules and restrictions. This generally means you will need a permit for each country, if you are driving through Europe, for example.

We do not offer refunds at the moment, but is something we are working on. The reason we do not offer refunds is based on the agreements set by consulates, embassies and police forces of the destination countries.

You can either scan your Firearms License, Passport and letter of invitation through a traditional printer scanner, or use an application like Turbo Scan.

If you are using an app that converts photos into a scanned file, ensure all areas of the pages you scan are clear and legible and are saved as a PDF. For people with a UK firearms license, where your certificate contains multiple pages, ensure all pages are photographed and collated into one PDF.