TAP Portugal application 2026: what the process looks like, how long the wait is, and the Portuguese language question
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#1 I have been asking about TAP in different threads and getting half answers, so I am putting everything I have learned in one place and I hope crew at TAP will correct me.
Applied through the TAP careers portal in June. The form is in Portuguese and asks for a Portuguese CV format, not the English one. English requirement is B2 minimum, and they clearly prefer a third language, with French and Spanish being the useful ones for their network. A lot of the openings are for Lisbon base and they say so.
The process as I understand it from people who went through last year:
- Online application and CV screen
- Group dynamics session, in Portuguese, in Lisbon (sometimes Porto)
- Individual interview, partly in English
- Medical and then training, which is about six weeks
The part I cannot find a straight answer on: do they take non native Portuguese speakers? I am Portuguese so it does not affect me, but a Brazilian friend and a Spanish friend both want to know. From what I can see the group session being in Portuguese effectively means fluent Portuguese is required even if the page does not say native.
Waiting times: my application has been 'em análise' for eleven weeks. The people I know who joined last year waited between two and five months for the group session invite. TAP recruits in waves tied to the summer schedule, so a June application might not move until autumn.
Pay, for anyone comparing: base is low by European standards, around 1,100 to 1,300 euros gross for new crew from what I have been told, with flight allowances on top. Long haul crew do significantly better than short haul. Lisbon rent is the problem, not the salary.
If you are at TAP and any of this is wrong, please say so. I would rather have the accurate version here than my guesses.
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#2 TAP crew, Lisbon, four years. Mostly right. Two corrections: the group session has switched between Portuguese and mixed language depending on who is running it, but you need to be able to follow rapid Portuguese either way. And Brazilians are hired regularly, the accent is not an issue, the paperwork is (you need the right to work in Portugal already). Spanish speakers without real Portuguese struggle.
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#3 Also TAP. The pay numbers are close. Add that the first contract is typically fixed term and renewed, and that the summer schedule means new joiners start in spring. If your application is from June, the realistic timeline is a group session in the autumn and a course in early spring. Eleven weeks of silence is completely normal.
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#5 @flyingmaria22 it mostly just sits there. A rejection email exists but it comes months later if at all. The Ryanair Porto plan B is not a bad idea, I know two people who did a year at Ryanair and then moved to TAP with better stories to tell.
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#6 Brazilian here, applying to TAP from Brasília. The right to work point is the killer for us. Without an EU passport or a residence permit it does not go anywhere, however good the Portuguese. Sharing so nobody else wastes an application on it.
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#7 Flew for a Brazilian carrier, moved to Portugal on a family visa and got into TAP on the second try. First time I failed the group session because I talked too much, which is a very Brazilian way to fail a Portuguese interview. Second time I let the others speak and got through. Small cultural thing but it is real.