Direct answer: The permit gives your children the right to live in the country with you, but it says nothing about schools. Before a term or a year there, settle three things: that each child is on the permit, how and when enrolment works where you will live, and whether the stay changes your family's tax position.

Most families who hold the option never use it for school. Those who do usually try it for a term or a year. This page is a checklist, not a guide to individual schools, and most of its school specific points are still to be confirmed.

Which children the permit covers

  • Portugal. Family members include minor or incapacitated dependent children and, for ARI holders, adult dependent children who are unmarried and studying (Foreigners Act, Article 99, as amended in 2025). AIMA describes the adult children as 18 to 25; the law itself does not give the age.
  • Greece. Unmarried children under 21 are covered, and a child who turns 21 gets an independent three year permit on presenting the previous one.
  • Italy. Family members who qualify for reunification can come with the investor, including minor children. Adult children qualify only if totally disabled (Immigration Act, Article 29).

School questions to settle before you go

  • Whether children on a residence permit can enrol in state schools on the same terms as local children, and what documents the school asks for.
  • When the school year starts and when enrolment for it closes.
  • Whether a term rather than a full year is possible, and how a return to your home school system is handled.
  • International and bilingual schools: availability near where you would stay, fees and waiting lists.
  • In Greece, schooling in Greece can exempt a person from the naturalisation knowledge exam, according to the government's procedure record. That matters only to families thinking about citizenship.

Time there and tax

A school year usually means a long stay. In Portugal and Greece, more than 183 days in any twelve month period, or a home or center of life in the country, can make you tax resident. A parent who stays with a child for the school year may cross that line. See tax residency traps before you plan the year.

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Sources

  1. Lei n.º 23/2007 (Foreigners Act), consolidated text, Articles 3, 82, 90-A, 98, 99, Procuradoria-Geral Distrital de Lisboa (consolidated text of the law published in Diário da República). Official source. Last checked 28 October 2026.
  2. Lei n.º 61/2025 (amendments to the Foreigners Act, including family reunification), Procuradoria-Geral Distrital de Lisboa. Official source. Last checked 28 October 2026.
  3. Perguntas frequentes: Autorização de Residência para Investimento (ARI), AIMA. Official source. Last checked 28 October 2026.
  4. Law 5100/2024, codified Migration Code text including Article 100 (investor residence), Ministry of Migration and Asylum, Hellenic Republic. Official source. Last checked 28 October 2026.
  5. Naturalization of foreign nationals (procedure record), MITOS, National Register of Administrative Procedures, Hellenic Republic. Official source. Last checked 28 October 2026.
  6. Decreto Legislativo 286/1998, Article 26-bis (entry and residence for investors), text in force, Normattiva, Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato. Official source. Last checked 28 October 2026.
  7. Decreto Legislativo 286/1998, Article 29 (family reunification), Normattiva. Official source. Last checked 28 October 2026.
  8. Código do IRS, Article 16 (tax residence), Portal das Finanças, Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira. Official source. Last checked 28 October 2026.
  9. Greek Income Tax Code (Law 4172/2013), Article 4 (tax residence), as reproduced, taxheaven.gr. Secondary source. Last checked 28 October 2026.

This page is general information, not legal, tax, immigration or investment advice. Rules and fees change, so check the sources above and the date we last checked them. No approval, permit or timeline is guaranteed. We are paid for introductions; here is how.