Keep your UK mobile number in Portugal
Relocating to Portugal? Don’t give up your UK mobile number. NumberHolding keeps your existing number live for just £1 a month — callers hear a message you set, and every text lands straight in your inbox.
- Keep your existing number — no new SIM, no roaming
- Callers hear a personal message you choose
- Texts — bank codes, 2FA, messages — forwarded to your email
From Lisbon to the Algarve, a UK number still matters — it’s where your bank sends security codes and where old contacts reach you. NumberHolding holds onto it for you, forwarding your texts to email and greeting callers with a message you set.
Why your UK number still matters in Portugal
A Portuguese number will handle daily life soon enough — but your UK number is still where your UK bank texts a security code every time you log in or pay, where HMRC and your pension provider verify it’s you, and where years of contacts still reach you. Many UK services won’t send a text to a +351 Portuguese number. Give it up and a lot of your admin back home quietly stops working.
Why roaming isn’t the answer
Keeping your old UK SIM roaming in Portugal looks easy, but since Brexit it’s neither cheap nor dependable — networks charge to roam again, and “fair use” rules throttle or surcharge a SIM that lives abroad, usually after 60–90 days. You’d pay for a full UK contract plus roaming for a number you rarely call from. NumberHolding keeps the very same number live for £1 a month — no contract, no second SIM.
How keeping your UK number works from Portugal
You bring your existing number over to us — we handle the port, you just pass on a code from your current provider. From then on, callers hear a short message you record (“I’ve moved to Portugal — WhatsApp or email me”), and every text, including your bank’s codes, is forwarded straight to your email. Set it up once and it just works, from Lisbon to the Algarve.
Built for the move to Portugal
Sorting your NIF, residency and a Portuguese bank account still leans on your UK identity for a while. Keeping your UK number reachable means the verification codes and calls you need during that transition don’t disappear at the worst moment — cheap insurance that keeps one foot at home while you settle in.
How does it work?
You keep your existing mobile number, and we look after it for you. Once it’s moved to NumberHolding, anyone who rings it hears a short message you’ve written, and any text sent to it is forwarded straight to your email — so you never miss a bank code, a delivery text, or a message from home.
- 1
Sign up in minutes
Tell us the mobile number you want to keep and set up your £12/year plan.
- 2
We move your number
We transfer your number over to NumberHolding. It stays yours — nothing changes for the people who call or text it.
- 3
Set your greeting
Write the message callers will hear — “I’ve moved abroad, reach me on WhatsApp” — and we play it to anyone who rings.
- 4
Texts land in your inbox
Every text sent to your number is forwarded to your email, so you keep getting your codes and messages wherever you are.
Transferring a number takes a few working days to complete — we keep you posted, and your number stays active throughout. Just don’t cancel your old SIM until the move is done.
Why not just let it go?
Staying reachable on your old number after you emigrate
Roaming or a second UK SIM
£100s/year
roaming fees or a spare line, just to catch the odd code or text
On NumberHolding
£1/month
just £12 a year — your number stays live, texts to your email, callers hear your message
Your mobile number is tied to your bank, your two-factor logins and years of contacts. Losing it — or paying roaming to keep it — costs far more than £12 a year.
One simple price
No contracts, no per-minute charges, no surprises. Just £1 a month, billed once a year, keeps your number alive and reachable.
NumberHolding
Billed as £12 once a year
- Keep your existing mobile number
- A custom greeting callers hear
- Every text forwarded to your email
- No roaming, no new SIM
- Cancel any time
Billed £12 once a year (that’s just £1 a month), VAT included. Cancel any time — your number is released when your plan ends.
Keeping your UK number in Portugal — your questions
- Can I keep my UK mobile number when I move to Portugal?
- Yes. You don’t have to give up your UK mobile number when you move to Portugal. NumberHolding ports your existing number over and keeps it live for £1 a month — callers hear a message you set, and every text is forwarded to your email. You don’t need a UK SIM or contract to keep it.
- Will I still get my UK bank’s security codes in Portugal?
- Yes. Texts sent to your UK number, including one-time passcodes from UK banks like Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Monzo or Starling, are forwarded to your email inbox — so you can carry on logging in and approving payments from anywhere in Portugal.
- Do I still need to pay for my UK mobile contract?
- No. Once your number is with NumberHolding you can cancel your UK mobile contract completely. There’s no roaming and no second SIM to maintain — just your number kept alive for £12 a year.
- What happens when someone calls my old UK number?
- They hear a short greeting you record yourself — for example, asking them to WhatsApp or email you instead. Calls aren’t put through to your phone in Portugal, so there are no call charges; the service is about keeping you reachable and pointing people to how you’d like to be contacted.
- How long does it take to set up?
- Signing up takes a few minutes. Moving your number over usually takes a few working days once you send us the PAC code from your current UK provider — we handle the rest and email you the moment it’s live.
- Could I lose my UK number?
- No — it stays yours. Your number is ported into our regulated UK telecoms platform in your name. Keeping it active with us actually protects it: a number left on a cancelled SIM can eventually be recycled by the network, whereas with NumberHolding it stays live and reserved for you.
- What if I move back to the UK later?
- Your number is never locked to us. If you move back to the UK — or simply want it on a normal SIM again — you can port it straight out to any UK mobile network like EE, O2, Vodafone or Three, using a standard PAC code, exactly like switching between providers. We hold your number for as long as you need it and hand it back whenever you want.
Keep your number for £1 a month
Set it up in minutes — we’ll look after your number so you don’t have to.