Renewing Residence in Portugal
Article 78, paragraph 2 – Renewing a Residence Permit (General regime)
Documents Required
The application for the renewing of a residence permit shall be made on-line. It shall be delivered personally, on a standard form signed by the applicant or by his/her legal representative, if the applicant is a minor or legally disabled, and can be submitted in any SEF directorate or regional delegation, which may send it, after proceedings and decision, to the directorate or regional delegation of the applicant’s area of residence. It shall be accompanied by:
- Two recent, identical photographs, in colour with blank background, and easily identifiable (only for appointments at Odivelas, Aveiro or Braga SEF bureau)
- Residence Title valid, or expired in the previous 6 months
- Passport or any other valid travel document
- Evidence of sufficient means of subsistence, as per the provisions of Order number 1563/2007, of 11/12
- Evidence that the applicant has adequate accommodation, in particular by submitting a declaration of residence issued by the Parish Council of the area of residence; or a lease contract registered at the Tax Authority and the rent’s last receipt; or a contract of purchase and sale or the title deed of the estate.
- Permission for SEF to check portuguese criminal record – except for under 16 years old
- Document proving the regularized applicant’s tax situation, where applicable
- Document proving the regularized applicant’s Social Security situation, where applicable
Notes
- Residence Permit may be refused on grounds of public policy or national security reasons.
- A residence Permit shall be renovated only if its bearer has not been the object of custodial sentence (s) that individually or jointly exceed one year of imprisonment, even if, in case of sentencing for felonious crime set out in this legal framework, for crime of terrorism, for highly violent or highly organized crime, the enforcement of the sentence has been suspended.
- Residence Permit shall not be renovated if the holder has been judged by default, unless he / she is able to present evidence that he / she is no longer deemed as having been judged by default
- The residence permit held by a foreign citizen convicted to a custodial sentence shall only be renewed if that same citizen has not been subject to a decree of expulsion
- The application for renewing the residence permit may be submitted by the person concerned between 90 and 30 days previous to the expiry of the title
- Residents shall communicate to SEF any changes in their marital status, or in their home address, within 60 days from the date those alterations occur
- Without prejudice of the special legal provisions applicable (whenever the Aliens Act provides specific different deadlines), with the amendment introduced to article 75 of the Aliens Act, by article 192 of Act n.º 75-B/2020 of 31 december – State Budget to 2021 in force since 01/01/2021 and to 2021 – the temporary residence permit is valid for two years [and not just one] from the date of issue of the corresponding title, and renewable for successive periods of three years [and not just two].
- A receipt attesting submission of an application for renewal of a residence permit, replaces the Residence Permit, in all its effects, for a period of 60 days, renewable
ARTICLE 78, PARAGRAPH 2 OF THE ALIENS ACT, IN CONJUNCTION WITH ARTICLE 63, PARAGRAPH 1 OF THE REGULATORY DECREE N.84/07 OF 05/11, AS AMENDED
ORDER NUMBER 1563/2007, OF 11/12