Renewing Residence in Portugal
Article 91, paragraph 2 – Renewing a Residence Permit for students in higher education
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 Permit 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
- Permission for SEF to check portuguese criminal record (except for under 16 years old)
- Supporting evidence of regularization of the tax situation and within social security, when the applicant has transmitted the engagement in a professional activity, together with de statement of income
- Document supporting the enrolment in a Portuguese higher education institution
- Proof of payment of school fees for the preceding year by the higher education institution to be confirmed by a declaration of the teaching institution, if applicable
- Documentary evidence of active participation in academic activities to be confirmed by a declaration of the teaching institution
- Health insurance or evidence of being covered by the National Health Service
Notes
- The supporting document of the enrolment, the supporting document of tuition fees and of the school activity, as well as the health insurance and supporting evidence of the coverage by the national health service will not be necessary to students who benefit from a scholarship granted by Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua, IP., in which the supporting evidence of the keeping of the scholarship must be submitted.
- Evidence of the means of subsistence and evidence of tuition payment is not required to students of higher education admitted in a higher education institution approved under decree order of the members of the Government of the Interior and High Education, under nº 5 of article 91 of Law nº 23/2007 (REPSAE).
- 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.
- Pursuant to article 91, n.º 2, of the Aliens Act, the residence permit for students in higher education is valid for one year and renewable, for equal periods of time, if the holder continues to meet the conditions under which the permit has been granted. Because this is a special legal provision, 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 does not apply.
- 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 shall not be renewed, under article 95, n.º 2 of the Aliens Act, as the case may be, if:
- The applicant no longer complies with the conditions provided in article 62, as well as in articles 90 to 94, according to the classification he/she is covered by;
- The applicant lives in the national territory for reasons other than those for which the residence has been authorized;
- The applicant is engaged in a professional activity in breach of as provided in article 97;
- The applicant does not progress in studies with success;
- The documents submitted have been obtained in a fraudulent manner, forged or altered;
- The host entity has been established or functions with the sole purpose to easy the entry of a third State nationals, or has been sanctioned, according to the national legislation, for non-declared work and/or illegal employment; or
- The host entity has not respected the legal obligations in matter of social security, taxing, labor rights or working conditions, or has / had been disbanded or otherwise faced insolvency, under the national legislation, or no longer has any economic activity.
- 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
- 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
- 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 91, PARAGRAPH 2 OF THE ALIENS ACT, IN CONJUNCTION WITH ARTICLE 63, PARAGRAPH 1 AND 7 OF THE REGULATORY DECREE N.84/07 OF 05/11, AS AMENDED
ORDER NUMBER 1563/2007, OF 11/12