Be careful. A retired UK Chartered Financial Planner myself, I am particularly struck by the high quality of Blevins Franks publicity machinery and the plethora of articles under their name, none of which give quite enough information.

Obtaining NHR is incredibly easy, once you have obtained your residency, fiscal number (NIF), as well as a Portuguese telephone number - elsewhere on this site are clear guidelines on how to proceed. Having also obtained your login details from the Portal Das Finanças (apply online to register, and the details are posted to you) merely access the site and answer the 3 simple question in order to make the application. If you are in central Portugal pm me and we can do that final step together in about 5 minutes.

As far as pensions are concerned, the question might be more complex. Not all final salary pensions can be transferred, and it may not be in your best interests to do so, and I would advise you to discuss this with a UK based Pensions Transfer specialist (something which I used to do). They should assess the merits of such a transfer and in my view should charge a fee for the advice, with that fee not being contingent upon a transfer taking place. I would like to add that there are, indeed, many reasons supporting such a transfer and, with NHR, one of them is the normal ability to access the entire pension fund (plus any growth within the NHR period if accessed within that period) free of all UK or Portuguese taxes.

I can’t see any obvious benefit for transferring the fund out of the UK. And if transferred to Portugal then I surmise that it might be seen as Portuguese sourced income, hence outside the NHR remit and this taxable in Portugal