abandono voluntário
Published 30 October 2026, 20:39
abandono voluntário (voluntary departure), since 11 September 2026 — dever de abandono (obligation to leave the country)
An order to leave Portugal on your own by a set deadline. Since 11 September 2026 article 138 of the foreigners law has been called dever de abandono and reads differently: the deadline is 20 to 30 days from notification of the administrative decision that refused an application for stay or for a residence permit, or cancelled a visa or a card. Before that the article was called abandono voluntário, and the deadline was 10 to 20 days.
Where you come across it. A letter from AIMA or the police after a residence permit or a renewal has been refused, or after a card or visa has been cancelled.
The deadline can be extended, but the decision now lies with the national director of the PSP, who takes into account how long the person has lived here, whether their children go to school here, and whether they have family or other ties here. The notification is entered in the Schengen database SIS for a year, but the entry is removed once it is confirmed that the person has left. The old provision requiring immediate departure on pain of a charge of criminal disobedience is no longer in the law.
Official website: aima.gov.pt