Moving to Portugal - The Residence Permit

The residence permit is issued by the Immigration and Border Control Department (Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras) and must be requested if you want to stay for more than 3 months in the country.

To ask for residence permit you must present your identity card or passport, 2 photos and a declaration from your employer stating the likely period of employment. Your direct family has the same rights as you. In case your husband/spouse is not an EU/EEA citizen a document issued by the competent authority in your country of origin proving the family status or that they lived under your roof in the country of origin can be requested.

1. If you want to stay more than three months but not more than a year you must apply for a temporary residence permit to the Immigration and Border Control Department (Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras), that will be issued to you for at least the duration of your employment.

2. If you want to stay for more than one year you should ask for a residence permit which is valid throughout Portugal, for at least five years from the issue date, and may be renewed automatically according to the demand of the interested party for periods of up to 10 years.

Refused Residence Permit

A residence permit can only be refused for reasons of public policy, public safety or public health reasons. These reasons may be invoked when you apply for a residence permit for the first time.

A residence permit renewal may not be refused if the identity papers, which entitled you to enter the country, have expired; the same applies to your spouse and the members of your family.

The above public policy, public safety or public health reasons may not be invoked for economic purposes (unemployment). The reasons relating to public policy and public safety may only be invoked on the basis of your personal behaviour. They may not be based solely on the existence of a criminal record.

Public policy may not be invoked as a reason for refusal on the grounds of your being active in trade union affairs.

Only the following illnesses or disabilities may be invoked to justify refusal of a first residence permit:

a) diseases which might jeopardise public health:

• diseases necessitating quarantine arrangements, e.g. cholera, yellow fever, smallpox, etc. (cf. International Health Regulation No. 2 of 25 May 1951 issued by the World Health Organisation);
• tuberculosis of the respiratory tract (active or developing);
• syphilis;
• other infectious or contagious parasitic diseases, but only if they give rise to protection for Portuguese nationals.

b) diseases and disabilities liable to be a danger to public order or public safety:

• drug addition;
• profound mental disturbance; obvious states of agitational psychosis, delirium, hallucinations or confusion.

Appeals procedure

What to do:

The decision to refuse entry is taken by the Immigration and Border Control Department (Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras).

You have one month in which to lodge an appeal with the General-Director of the Immigration and Border Control Department against the decision and to request its suspension.
You have four months in which to lodge an appeal to the administrative tribunal. The services of a lawyer are required.

Your residence permit does not loose its validity if your absence from the country does not exceed 3 months per year, or if it is due to military service. Absences due to illness or accident, as long as involuntary unemployment, are considered as periods of activity.

Useful references:

• SEF – Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras
  Rua Conselheiro José Silvestre Ribeiro, 4
  1649-007 LISBOA
  Tel: 21 7115000
  Fax: 21 7140332
  Website

Text last edited on: 01/07/2003

Source: European Union
© European Communities, 1995-2007
Reproduction is authorised.