Frontex
Published 8 November 2026, 22:53
Frontex — Agência Europeia da Guarda de Fronteiras e Costeira (European Border and Coast Guard Agency)
The European Union's border agency. It does not guard the Portuguese border instead of the PSP and GNR; it helps with money, staff and equipment and runs joint European programmes. One of them, the European Union Reintegration Programme (EURP), has been running in Portugal too since February 2025: it helps people who are returning home voluntarily. In 2025, 106 people left this way, compared with 236 helped by the International Organization for Migration.
Where you come across it. Discussions of voluntary return and of European border rules.
You do not apply to Frontex directly: an application for help with returning is made through AIMA or the organisation that runs the programme. The agency itself makes no decisions on residence permits or removal; those are matters for the PSP and AIMA.
Official website: frontex.europa.eu