How to Get a Category CE Driving Licence in Portugal

Anyone who already holds a Portuguese category C licence is closer to CE than they may think. The Instituto da Mobilidade e dos Transportes (IMT) treats CE as a single practical exam taken through a driving school, with no separate theory test for the trailer step. The harder questions in Portugal lie elsewhere: which professional course sets the minimum age, why a licence alone doesn’t let you work, and how an IMT renewal table caps the heaviest CE combinations at 67.

Locally, the heavy goods licence is usually called the carta de pesados, and CE is the category on the carta de condução that adds a heavy trailer to it. On the mainland, the IMT issues licences and also runs the professional driver qualification, the CAM, which appears on the licence as code 95.

CE is a trailer entitlement stacked on category C.

The IMT page on driving licences for heavy goods vehicles with and without a trailer defines CE as a combination of a category C towing vehicle and a trailer or semi-trailer whose maximum authorised mass (massa máxima autorizada) exceeds 750 kg. Category C itself covers motor vehicles above 3,500 kg, built to carry no more than eight passengers besides the driver, which may tow a trailer of up to 750 kg.

In practice that means a tractor unit with a semi-trailer, or a rigid lorry pulling a heavy drawbar trailer, whether the trailer is a curtain-sider, a tanker, a tipper or a low-loader. Coaches and buses belong to the D categories, which CE does not cover.

Below C and CE sit the lighter goods categories. C1 covers goods vehicles above 3,500 kg but below 7,500 kg, again with a trailer of up to 750 kg, and C1E adds a heavier trailer as long as the whole combination does not exceed 12,000 kg. To drive heavy goods vehicles with a trailer, the IMT says, you must already be licensed for the towing category: C for CE, or C1 for the lighter C1E combinations. Many learners plan C and CE with the same school, but the entitlements are granted in sequence.

The CE definition has no upper mass limit for the combination, but that is only a licensing definition. Separate rules on weights and dimensions, and the limits in each vehicle's registration documents, set what a combination may actually weigh, how long and wide it may be, and what each axle may carry. A CE licence tells a roadside officer that you may drive that type of vehicle. It does nothing to make an overloaded or oversized one legal.

The age you can start at depends on the professional course you choose

The IMT’s licence page gives 21 as the minimum age for C and CE, or 18 for someone who holds a certificate of professional aptitude. That second route matters, because Portugal offers two forms of initial professional training, and only one opens the heavy categories at 18.

According to the IMT page on goods transport and driver certification, the common initial qualification (formação de qualificação inicial comum, or FIC) lasts at least 280 hours. It allows professional driving of C and CE from age 18. The accelerated initial qualification (formação de qualificação inicial acelerada, or FIA) lasts at least 140 hours. It allows C1 and C1E from 18, but C and CE only from 21.

A 19-year-old who signs up for the shorter course to save time will still finish two years short of the age for articulated lorries. For anyone under 21 who wants CE, the IMT describes the 280-hour course as the only route. For anyone already 21 or older, the 140-hour course meets the age condition for C and CE. Ask the school and training entity to confirm in writing that your age, the course and the category you want fit together before enrolling.

Age is one of five conditions on the IMT list. The others are physical, mental, and psychological fitness; residence in Portugal; not currently serving a driving ban; no disqualification or security measure that would prevent a licence from being granted; and passing the required exam components.

Residence comes first, and the driving school handles the file.e

Portugal issues a first licence only to people who live there, and the identity document shows enrolment as proof. That is an administrative test, not a statement about immigration status. A Portuguese licence does not grant a visa, a residence permit or permission to work, and no course or category creates a right to a job. On the professional side, the IMT says initial qualification training is open to citizens of other EU member states resident in Portugal and to third-country nationals holding a Portuguese stay or residence authorisation, so non-EU nationals need that authorisation first.

Enrolment in a driving school (escola de condução) is compulsory for a first heavy licence; a learner cannot apply to the licensing authority directly. The school registers you with the IMT, books the tests and pays the official fees, which it then recovers in its own price. Enrolment requires:

• a personal identification document showing that you reside in Portugal, with the original shown;
• your Portuguese tax identification number (NIF);
• the electronic medical certificate (Atestado Médico Eletrónico);
• a favourable psychological assessment certificate (Certificado de Avaliação Psicológica).

According to the IMT, holders of an updated and validated Portuguese citizen card can deal with biometric data collection through IMT Online. Check that your name is spelt identically on every document, and keep copies.

Two certificates, from two different professionals

Heavy goods categories belong to Group 2 in the Portuguese system, and they need both a medical and a psychological certificate before enrolment.

A doctor in professional practice issues the medical certificate and sends it electronically to the IMT’s systems, so there is no paper form to carry to the school. The examination checks the fitness standards that apply to professional drivers, including eyesight, and any restriction the doctor records can appear on the licence as a code.

The psychological assessment is separate. The IMT’s page on psychological assessment explains that, following amendments to the Driving Licence Regulation (Regulamento da Habilitação Legal para Conduzir), psychologists in professional practice, as well as the IMT or an entity the IMT designates, can conduct it.

Doctors and psychologists set their own fees, and no IMT page consulted publishes a fixed price for either, so ask when booking.

From the category C theory test to the CE practical

Most CE candidates go through two exam stages: category C, then CE, and only the first includes theory.

The category C stage

For category C, the IMT describes an exam with a theory test (prova teórica) and a practical test (prova prática). The theory test is taken on screen, with multiple-choice questions accompanied by images. Madeira’s regional IMT publishes the category C format on its drivers’ page: 20 questions in 25 minutes, with no more than two wrong answers allowed. No mainland IMT page states the format in the same terms, so the Madeira figures are the best published guide rather than a confirmed national rule, and the school should confirm what applies at your test centre.

Revision material comes straight from the licensing authority: the IMT publishes its exam question groups online in Portuguese, with each question showing alternative answers, only one of which is correct. The same page carries question groups for the CAM exam.

The CE step is a practical exam only.

For CE, the IMT’s wording is short: enrol in a driving school and pass an exam consisting of a practical test. There is no CE theory paper. Practical training normally covers vehicle checks, coupling and uncoupling, manoeuvring (reversing in particular), and driving in traffic, and the instructor will explain how the test is assessed. Reversing a long combination in a tight space is often the hardest part, so ask about extra time on manoeuvres.

Tests take place at public IMT exam centres and at private exam centres; the IMT lists the locations of both on its exam centres page. On the day, candidates identify themselves with a valid identity document or through the official id.gov app, as the IMT page on exam tests explains.

A failed attempt means the school books another one, and the official test fee is charged again. Schools usually add their own charges for extra lessons and vehicle use on top, which is why the retest terms belong in any written quote.

Taking the tests with limited Portuguese

All official question material is in Portuguese. The theory test has a formal route around this: the IMT allows it to be sat with a translator, publishes a list of translators on its exam tests page, and says in its FAQ that requests go through the driving school. Nothing we found covers language arrangements for the CE practical or the CAM exam, where the technical vocabulary of brakes, air systems, and coupling gear matters most. Ask the school and the training entity how they handle it before paying either.

What the IMT charges, and why it is the smaller part of the bill

Official licence fees are modest. The IMT’s heavy goods licence page lists €15 for issuing the learner licence (licença de aprendizagem), €15 for the theory test, €30 for the practical test and €30 for adding the category to the licence (averbamento). The driving school pays them, and online requests receive a 10% discount.

The professional qualification has its own fees on the IMT’s goods transport page: €80 for the initial qualification exam, which includes issuing the CAM if you pass, €30 for the CAM after periodic training, and €30 for recording code 95 on the licence.

Almost everything else is commercial: the school’s lessons, vehicle use and exam attendance, the training entity’s 140-hour or 280-hour course, and the doctor’s and psychologist’s fees. There is no official national price; prices vary by region and provider, and we found no named school’s published price to quote. Compare what each quote covers: the number of practical hours, the vehicle on test day, the terms and cost of a retest, whether the IMT fees are included, whether the CAM course and exam are part of the package, and whether VAT is included.

Licensed is not the same as certified: the CAM and code 95

The IMT’s information note on heavy vehicle driver licensing and certification puts the rule plainly: working as a heavy vehicle driver in Portugal is allowed only for people who are both licensed and certified. Certification means the Certificate of Aptitude for Drivers (Certificado de Aptidão de Motorista, CAM), Portugal’s application of the EU Driver CPC system through its own decree-law on driver qualification. On a Portuguese licence, it shows as code 95.

The process therefore involves two kinds of organisation. The driving school prepares you for the licence. A certified training entity (entidade formadora) delivers the 280-hour or 140-hour initial course and the later periodic courses. Some driving schools hold both roles, others do not, so ask each provider which courses it is authorised to run and check it against the list of certified training entities the IMT publishes through its goods transport page.

Getting the CAM

After completing the initial course, the training entity registers the candidate for the exam with the IMT. There is a time limit: only candidates who finished the course within the past two years are admitted. An IMT dispatch on CAM exams describes a written exam of 60 questions over two hours, marked out of 100, with a pass mark of 60%. That dispatch predates later amendments to the qualification law, so treat the format as indicative and confirm it with the training entity.

Drivers who already hold a passenger transport CAM can be partly exempted and take only the goods-specific subjects.

Periodic training and the five-year cycle

The CAM lasts five years and is renewed through periodic training (formação contínua). According to the IMT, the training must be completed before the CAM expires, in the member state where the driver normally lives or works, and the renewal request should be submitted at least 60 days in advance. No IMT page consulted states the number of hours. The EU driver qualification rules set 35 hours per five-year cycle, and the training entity can confirm the Portuguese course length. A lapsed CAM is not lost for good: the IMT allows renewal through periodic training within five years of expiry, though you cannot work as a professional driver in the meantime.

Code 95, the CQM and an unresolved point

For drivers resident in Portugal, code 95 on the licence is the proof of qualification. Yet the IMT’s goods transport page still refers to a driver qualification card (carta de qualificação de motorista, CQM) for non-resident drivers working in Portugal. A trade association reading of the amending decree-law, which transposed the latest EU Driver CPC amendments, says the standalone CQM was abolished. That qualification is now shown by code 95. We could not confirm this on any IMT page. Drivers who live abroad but work for a Portuguese operator should ask the IMT or their employer which document the IMT currently expects.

Who does not need the CAM?

The exemptions are narrow: vehicles limited to 45 km/h, emergency and armed forces vehicles, vehicles used for driving lessons and tests, non-commercial transport, and vehicles carrying equipment that the driver uses in their own work. For haulage employment, none of these applies, and employers will expect code 95.

Tachograph card, driving hours and ADR are separate matters

A tachograph driver card records driving and rest time in a digital tachograph. According to the IMT FAQ, the IMT issues the card, ard and it is valid for five years. Its conditions show how the rules interlock: a holder of a licence from a non-EU country must first obtain a Portuguese licence, while an EU licence holder does not need to exchange it but must have resided in Portugal for at least 185 days and prove it to the IMT. No fee for the card appears on the IMT pages consulted.

The EU rules on driving time, breaks, rest periods and tachograph use apply to professional drivers, whatever licence they hold. Links to the EU and Portuguese legislation are on the IMT page on social rules in road transport.

Dangerous goods work requires an ADR training certificate, with its own course, exam, and renewal cycle. It is not included in CE or in the CAM, and a CE driver without it cannot take on loads that fall under the ADR rules.

Arriving with a foreign licence: four routes, depending on who issued it

Portugal sorts foreign licences by country of issue, and the IMT’s page on exchanging foreign driving licences has a separate sub-page for each group. Throughout, whether you may drive on a foreign licence and whether you may work on it are separate questions.

EU and EEA licences

A valid EU or EEA licence can be used in Portugal until it expires, according to the IMT page on EU and EEA licences. Holders who settle in Portugal should register their residence with the IMT within 60 days, which is free. Exchange is voluntary. A driver who exchanges a licence in heavy categories needs an electronic medical certificate and, for the C, D and E categories, a psychological certificate, and pays €30. For work, the IMT information note confirms that a CAM obtained in an EU member state and recorded as code 95 on an EU licence is valid for professional driving in Portugal.

OECD countries and Portuguese-speaking countries

Licences from certain OECD countries and from members of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) get particular treatment. The IMT’s page on OECD and CPLP licences lists the countries, including Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, the UK, Switzerland, the United States, and Canada. These licences can be used for driving if they are valid and not suspended, if no more than 15 years have passed since issue or last renewal, if the holder is under 60, and if the holder meets the Portuguese minimum age for the category. The IMT pages do not say whether any of these conditions work differently for the heavy categories. Exchange is exam-free for the categories held, but it needs a medical certificate, a psychological certificate for C, D and E, and a certificate of authenticity from the authority that issued the licence.

Other convention countries

For licences from other countries that are parties to the international road traffic conventions, watch the timing rules on the IMT page on convention countries and other situations. A visitor who has not taken up residence can drive for up to 185 days after entering Portugal. Once resident, the driver may keep driving for up to 90 days while requesting an exchange. Between 90 days and two years, the exchange is still possible, but you may no longer drive on a foreign licence. After two years, you must pass a practical driving test to exchange it. A driver who moves and leaves the paperwork for later can therefore lose the right to drive after only three months.

Non-convention countries

Licences from countries outside the conventions cannot be exchanged on paper alone. The IMT’s page on non-convention countries requires a theory test and a practical test for each category held. The exchange costs €30 and each test another €30, so a driver holding several categories faces several sets of tests.

Driving is allowed; working is another matter.

A foreign licence that may lawfully be used on Portuguese roads does not, by itself, allow its holder to work as a heavy vehicle driver. The IMT information note says that apart from holders of EU licences with code 95, every driver with a foreign licence who wants to work as a driver in Portugal has to exchange the licence for a Portuguese one, complete a qualification course that the note describes as at least 140 hours, and pass the qualification exam at the IMT. The steps can overlap in one respect: you may attend the course while the exchange request is being processed, but youcan’tt take the exam until the exchange is complete.

International driving permits

An international driving permit translates a licence; it is not a licence. According to the IMT’s page on the international driving licence, the Portuguese permit is for driving outside the EU and EEA, costs €30, is valid for one year or until the underlying licence expires (if sooner), and must be carried with the national licence. It adds no categories and does not stand in for an exchange or a CAM.

Renewal comes round often, and heavy CE stops at 67

Group 2 licences in Portugal are renewed far more often than car licences, and the schedule depends on when the heavy categories were first obtained. A Group 2 renewal table from the IMT divides drivers into bands by licensing date. Under the current rules, heavy categories are renewed every five years from the date they were obtained until the age of 70, then every two years. The oldest licences follow the earlier pattern of a first renewal at 40, then every five years to 65, then every two years, and an intermediate band of drivers follows its own line on the table. Every renewal requires a medical certificate, and from 50 a psychological certificate as well.

The same table records that category CE for combinations above 20,000 kg expires at 67, a limit on the heaviest work that applies regardless of individual fitness.

Apply in the six months before expiry, says the IMT page on licence renewal. The fee is €30, dropping to €15 from age 70, with 10% off online requests. A licence expired for more than two years can only be restored through special exam procedures.

The licence and the CAM run on separate clocks. A valid CE licence with an expired code 95 lets you drive the vehicle privately but not for work, and a valid CAM is useless if the licence behind it has lapsed.

Madeira, the Azores and the next EU directive

The autonomous regions administer their own driver services in Madeira; that is the IMT IP-RAM, which publishes its own guidance on categories, theory tests, renewal, and professional certificates, including ADR. We found no equivalent regional page for the Azores, so residents there should confirm with the regional transport services which office will handle their file. The categories and core rules come from the same national law throughout Portugal.

At EU level, a new Driving Licence Directive has been adopted, alongside changes to driver qualification rules, and member states have several years to transpose it. We found no Portuguese implementing measure on the IMT pages consulted. Until Portugal amends its Driving Licence Regulation and driver qualification law, the rules set out here apply, and the directive remains future law.

An order of work that avoids lost months

For a resident starting from a car licence, this sequence follows the dependencies in the IMT rules:

1. Check your age against the course: under 21 means the 280-hour FIC for CE, and non-EU nationals need their stay or residence authorisation in place first.
2. Book the medical and psychological assessments, since the school cannot register you without both certificates.
3. Choose a driving school, and confirm whether it is also a certified training entity for the CAM or whether you need a second provider.
4. Pass the category C theory and practical tests, then the CE practical test.
5. Take the CAM exam within two years of finishing the course, then have code 95 recorded.
6. Apply for a tachograph driver card before starting work, and note the separate renewal dates for the licence and the CAM.

Portuguese drivers holding a CE and the CAM can set up a profile in the FastDriver.eu driver section and browse employer vacancies. FastDriver.eu is a job portal: it issues no licences, approves no qualifications, and cannot guarantee a job, visa, or work permit; employers make hiring decisions and conduct their own document checks.

Unanswered questions for the IMT

We could not find an IMT page that states the hours of periodic CAM training, a mainland statement of the category C theory format, the language rules for the CE practical and the CAM exam, or the office that handles licences in the Azores. The status of the separate CQM for non-resident drivers also remains unclear. On all of these, the Instituto da Mobilidade e dos Transportes has the final word, and its FAQ is the place to start before paying a school or training entity.

Official sources

• IMT, heavy goods licences with and without a trailer
• IMT, goods transport and driver certification (CAM)
• IMT, information note on heavy vehicle driver licensing and certification
• IMT, exchange of foreign driving licences
• IMT, Group 2 renewal table (PDF)
• IMT IP-RAM, drivers in Madeira