Another 360 officers bolster Portugal’s airport immigration service from Monday

From Monday, the PSP police force will deploy more than 360 officers at Portuguese airports as part of a series of measures to boost the PSP’s capacity to screen passengers and maintain efficient, queue-free operations.

These 367 police officers, who are part of the PSP’s National Foreigners and Borders Unit (UNEF), completed the theoretical part of their air border control course on Friday and are today beginning a two-week operational placement at air border posts.

A PSP source told Lusa that, although they are undertaking a two-week placement, these officers will begin reinforcing border controls at airports on Monday, carrying out their duties under the supervision of more senior officers.

The 367 officers will be deployed to the airports in Lisbon (170), Porto (78), Faro (69), Funchal (29), and the Azores (21), and will continue to carry out duties at these airport border posts after the placement.

The new European border control system entered operation on 1 October 2025 on a phased basis in Portugal and the other Schengen Area countries, and since then, authorities have worked to improve waiting times at airport borders, particularly at Lisbon Airport, where passengers have at times had to wait several hours.

With the system becoming fully operational in April, the government reinforced Lisbon Airport with additional staff and technical resources for border control at the end of May, and has now deployed these 367 officers to meet the increase in passenger numbers at airports during the summer.