Red Eric

No, not at all - I'm not advising you to take the pension before you want to. You arrange things in the best manner for you.

I'm just raising a possible minor difficulty which you might encounter but saying that if you did and didn't want to get into a load of wrangling about what the regs etc say, then from where I'm sitting the solution looks pretty straightforward and could easily be done from Portugal should the need arise.

I hope my previous post didn't sound as though I was moralising - it wasn't intended that way.

mfesharne

Portuguese NHS care is solely linked to residency and nothing else so if you have that, you're entitled to the same more or less free healthcare as any Portuguese person.

S1 only relates to who pays for that care. If you're in receipt of a state pension then you do the S1. If your not, then you don't.

UK entitlement to PT NHS with/without SS number

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-in-portugal


If you need to complain about not getting registered on the PT NHS system: https://www.ers.pt/pages/356


How to register on the PT NHS in Portuguese & English


https://www.ers.pt/pages/438?news_id=1203

mfesharne

Residency is a right for holders of passports from EU member states & the initial 5 year residencia is a simple registration of residency.

When the initial 5 year residencia is coming up for expiry, you make an appointment with your local SEF office who then issue a 10 year permanent residency card & that's when you need the passport photo etc.

Different rules for holders of passports from non EU countries.

Portal SEF