The renewal of passports and residence permits in Portugal now will be handled by the Institute of Registries and Notaries (IRN) following the termination of the Immigration and Border Service (SEF), Portuguese authorities have announced.
IRN will now handle Portuguese Electronic Passport (PEP), temporary passports, special passports, and passports for foreign nationals.
According to a statement published on the official Portuguese website, applicants should use the SIGA platform, Information System for Service Management, in order to apply for a residence permit.
Applications for residence permits can be made on the SIGA platform or on the SigaApp mobile application for Android, iOS or Huawei. You have to choose the “Registration” option, the “Citizen” theme and the “Residence Permit” sub-theme, choosing “Renewal of Residence Permit” as the reason.
Applicants can lodge their request for residence permit or passport renewal at one of the IRN service counters, for which an appointment is mandatory. There are 34 branches available:
- Civil Identification Department of the Lisbon Justice Campus
- Boa Hora Civil Identification Department (Chiado) – Lisbon
- Amora/Seixal Citizen’s Bureau
- Aveiro Citizen’s Bureau
- Braga Citizens’ Bureau
- Castelo Branco Citizens’ Bureau
- Coimbra Citizens’ Bureau
- Faro Citizens’ Bureau
- Guarda Citizens’ Bureau
- Laranjeiras Citizens’ Bureau – Lisbon
- Leiria Citizens’ Bureau
- Marvila Citizens’ Bureau – Lisbon
- Odivelas Citizens’ Bureau
- Oporto Citizens’ Bureau
- Saldanha Citizens’ Bureau – Lisbon
- Tavira Citizens’ Bureau
- Vila Real Citizens’ Bureau
- Viseu Citizens’ Bureau
- Beja Registration Centres
- Bragança Registration Centre
- Évora Registration Centre
- Loulé Registration Centre
- Marinha Grande Registration Centre
- Pombal Registration Centre
- Portalegre Registration Centre
- Póvoa de Varzim Registration Area
- Santarém Registration Centre
- Setúbal Registration Centre
- Cascais Civil Registry
- Espinho Civil Registry
- Civil, Land and Commercial Registry of Horta
- Civil Registry of Ponta Delgada
- Portimão Civil Registry
- Civil Registry of Viana do Castelo
The Portuguese Institute of Registries and Notary (IRN) is a public institution under indirect State administration that registers citizens’ data since their birth and during the critical events in their lives. Thus, IRN is responsible for releasing certificates that offer proof of relevant legal facts related to a life event.
The Institute is now replacing the Immigration and Border Service (SEF), which was extinguished on October 29. Instead, a new agency was created, and its workers were integrated into three institutions: the Agency for Minorities, Migrations, and Asylum, Judiciary Police (PJ), and the Institute of Registries and Notary (IRN).
The creation of the new agency came as a response to the challenges of integrating migrants in Portugal, according to Ana Catarina Mendes, Minister in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister and for Parliamentary Affairs. During that time, Portuguese authorities also ended the Golden Visa Program.
Recently, Portugal’s Minister of Internal Administration, Jose Luis Carneiro, announced that with the extinction of SEF, the number of personnel controlling the country’s border will triple.
According to the Eurostat data, in 2022, there were 108,684 first residence permit holders in Portugal, marking an increase compared to the past years. Official data show that there are about half a million residence permit holders living in Portugal.
