Pending cases for residence have validity extended to June 30, 2020

Portuguese government determined that all residence requests pending in the Immigration and Borders Service (SEF) are considered valid until the end of June 2020.

The decree-law that came into force on March 27 establishes March 19, the date of declaration of the State of Emergency, as the starting date for the validity prorogation of all residence requests already submitted as well as residence permit renovations scheduled to a date from March 19.

According to these "freshly" enacted rules, the scheduling document issued by SEF or proof of request receipt is now valid - and can be used as a kind of permit - in all public services providers, namely to request the social security number, to obtain access to the public health system and social care mechanisms, to sign lease agreements and utilities contracts and to open bank accounts.

All appointment requests submitted in SEF’s pre-scheduling system or any other system used by SEF are now postponed to a later date starting on July 1. In order to guarantee equal treatment for all foreign citizens, the appointments will be rescheduled in chronological order from that date.