Do international schools in Lisbon have waiting lists and how early should I apply?

Lisbon's international sector is not full across the board. A handful of names are, year after year, and they are the names every arriving family looks up first.

Which schools are tight

St Julian's in Carcavelos and Oeiras International School are the two that consistently operate waiting lists. The pressure tends to sit in the year groups where relocating families all want the same few seats, and in the entry classes where siblings already have priority. The foreign curriculum schools with lower fees, such as the Lycée Français Charles Lepierre and the Deutsche Schule Lissabon, are worth approaching early for the same reason: the price gap draws a lot of families.

A timeline that works

1. 12 months out. Shortlist by curriculum and by a commute you can live with. Email admissions and ask how many places are open in the exact year group for the coming September, and how long the list is.
2. 9 to 12 months out. Submit applications, pay the application fees (250 euros at St Julian's; 100 euros at TASIS Portugal, 150 for Pre-K) and book the assessments. Applying to three schools is normal.
3. 6 months out. Accept an offer and pay what secures the place. At St Julian's that is a 750 euro registration fee and a 5,000 euro capital levy. At TASIS it is a 5,000 euro campus enhancement fee from Kindergarten up, or a 3,000 euro deposit credited to tuition for Pre-K. None of it is refundable.
4. Any time after that. Keep asking. Places open when other relocations fall through.

If you miss the window

Two fallbacks. First, the smaller and newer schools, several of which publish fees of roughly 7,000 to 10,000 euros a year and have more room in their year groups. Second, a Portuguese public school while you wait: pupils arriving with qualifications from a foreign school may enrol outside the standard Portal das Matrículas windows where a place exists, and Português Língua Não Materna support is there for children who arrive without Portuguese.

Our schools and childcare guide covers both routes and the documents each needs, and where to live in Lisbon for St Julian's, OIS or CAISL maps the commute once you have an offer.