Over 113,000 CPLP immigrants get residence permits via SEF portal
The platform for obtaining residence permits in Portugal for CPLP's citizens began operating on March 13 and is aimed at Portuguese-speaking immigrants with processes pending at SEF and consulates.
More than 113,000 Portuguese-speaking immigrants, mostly Brazilians, have obtained residence permits in Portugal in about two months of the functioning of the SEF portal for citizens of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP).
In an assessment made to Lusa news agency, the immigration and borders service (SEF) said that the portal available for granting residence permits to citizens from the CPLP has granted more than 113,000 of these permits in around two months, with Brazilians representing almost 83% of new immigrants legalised in Portugal.
The platform for obtaining residence permits in Portugal for citizens of the CPLP began operating on March 13 and is aimed at Portuguese-speaking immigrants with processes pending at SEF until December 31, 2022 and for those who have a CPLP visa issued by Portuguese consulates after October 31, 2022.
SEF reports that since March 13 it has received more than 131,000 requests for residence permit certificates from CPLP citizens.
Of the 131,000 requests made on the ‘CPLP portal’, accessible via websites www.SEF.pt and www.ePortugal.gov.pt, the SEF issued over 119,000 documents with a reference for payment, of which almost 116,000 were settled and resulted in the granting of over 113,000 residence permits, according to the security service.
According to the SEF nationals from Brazil have so far accounted for 86.8% of CPLP residence permit requests, followed by citizens from Angola, with 5.5%, and Sao Tome and Principe, with 4.3%.
SEF points out that as part of this process, security checks are carried out on databases, “with more than seven thousand situations having already been detected, which have led to new and more detailed security checks being carried out”.
SEF also stresses that this new model, which is exclusively digital, is aimed at CPLP citizens with expressions of interest delivered by 31 December 2022, and to holders of new CPLP consular visas issued after 31 October 2022, providing access to education, health, social security, professional activity, vocational training and justice in Portugal.
According to SEF, these residence permit concessions are automatic and “exclusively ‘online’, with no need for any other type of interaction with the service or physical visit to a SEF office”.
However, in the case of minors involved in the legalisation process, it is necessary to go “at a later stage to a SEF office”.
The residence permit for immigrants from the CPLP costs €15 and the availability of this document in electronic form generally takes 72 hours.
This residence permit in Portugal for citizens of the CPLP is granted under the mobility agreement between the member states of the organisation.
Besides Portugal, Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe and Timor-Leste are members of the CPLP.
The residence permit under the CPLP mobility agreement is initially valid for one year, renewable for two successive periods of two years.
