Passport control in Portugal and the EES
There is no more stamp in your passport: since 10 April 2026, a digital record has been created instead at the EU's external borders — a photo of your face and your fingerprints. The system is called the EES, or SES in Portuguese. The main point first, because this is where most of the confusion lies: if you have a Portuguese residence permit or a long-stay D visa, the system does not apply to you — no fingerprints, no counting of days. All of this is about people coming for a short stay: your guests from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan. Since 6 September 2026, Lisbon airport has been taking biometrics from 100% of passengers from outside the EU. Below, in order: what now happens at the border, how 90 days in 180 are counted, what you need to show, how much time to allow for passport control and what to do if you are refused entry.
What has changed at the border, and from when
Before, the border officer put a stamp with the date in your passport, and both the visitor and the officer counted days by these stamps. Now, instead of a stamp, a record is created in a shared European Union database: it is called the Entry/Exit System (EES), in Portuguese Sistema de Entrada/Saída (SES). The record holds your passport details, a photo of your face, your fingerprints, all your entries and exits, and a refusal of entry, if there was one.
The system works in 29 countries: 25 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Portugal is one of them. In Cyprus and Ireland, passports are still stamped by hand.
It was launched in stages: from 12 October 2025 to 9 April 2026. Since 10 April 2026 the system has been fully running at all the external borders of these countries, stamps have been abolished completely, and along with that, automatic day counting and a list of those who stayed longer than allowed have been switched on.
A separate story is 6 September 2026, which everyone is talking about. While the queues were huge, countries were allowed not to take biometrics at peak times: Article 7(3) of Regulation (EU) 2025/1534 gives this right for 90 days after the end of the phased launch, for no more than six hours at a time, and paragraph 4 automatically extends this period by another 60 days. Count 90 and 60 days from 9 April 2026 and you get exactly 6 September. That is the date Prime Minister Luís Montenegro named on a visit to Lisbon airport: from then on, biometrics are taken from 100% of passengers from outside the EU. Portugal and seven other countries asked the European Commission for permission to hold off longer — even so, the Prime Minister confirmed the date. We wrote about this in our issue of 27 August.
“In Lisbon it's random with this system. It all depends on how many booths are working, the control system etc.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkPortugal 🇵🇹 TravelAsk chat21.08.2026
What exactly happens to a visitor at the border
The first time after the system's launch, a person has their face photographed and their fingerprints taken, and a personal file is created for them. What exactly is taken depends on whether they need a visa. If a visa is needed — only a photo of the face: the fingerprints were already taken at the consulate when they applied for the visa, and they are in the visa database. If the person comes without a visa — four fingerprints and a photo of the face. Children under 12 do not give fingerprints at all, even though a record is still created for the child.
The second time and every time after that, the fingerprints and photo are already in the system, and the border officer only checks them — this is quicker.
At some airports there are machines in front of the booths: the person scans their passport and gives their fingerprints themselves, and the border officer gets the result ready-made and asks any remaining questions. You can only use the machine with a biometric passport — one with a chip. With an ordinary passport you will be let across the border, but the machine will not read it, and you will have to join the general queue for a human officer.
Passports are not stamped at all — neither biometric nor ordinary ones. You cannot refuse the face photo and fingerprints: refusing means the person will not be let in.
“Info for everyone flying in: if you've got a tourist visa, giving biometrics is compulsory. Before you even get to the border officer's window, right after you get off the plane, staff may send you to a kiosk, you scan your passport, give your fingers, then manual control for non-EU passports - those same windows with the mile-long queue. If you've got a residence permit - straight to manual control with a border officer, you don't need to give fingers, and don't try the EU passport lanes etc - it won't work, our passport throws an error.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkPortugal 🇵🇹 TravelAsk chat14.06.2026
“Airport staff ask you to at least try the automatic system, it's all dead simple there, but if it doesn't work - you can just carry on to passport control”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkPortugal 🇵🇹 TravelAsk chat15.08.2026
Who the system does not apply to
This is the main question for people who live here, and the answer is straightforward: if you have a título de residência — a residence permit card — or a long-stay D visa, you are not entered into the Entry/Exit System. No fingerprints under this system, no records of entries, no day counting. This is not written in somebody's advice but in the law itself: Article 2(3) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226.
The same paragraph also covers: citizens of the countries where the system operates, as well as of Cyprus and Ireland; family members of an EU citizen who hold a residence card; those coming to study, do research, a traineeship, a school exchange, as a volunteer or as an au pair; citizens of Andorra, Monaco and San Marino; diplomats and those who, because of their status, do not go through border control at all.
An important caveat: ‘not entered into the system’ does not mean ‘not going through the border’. Your passport and card will be looked at, you may be asked questions, and nobody has done away with the general entry conditions. There will just be no digital record and no day counting — you live here, you are not visiting.
If your card has expired and the new one has not been issued yet, take the old card with you and proof that your renewal application has been submitted. How the renewal itself works is explained in the guide How to book an AIMA appointment and renew your residence permit.
“but our passport won't scan, it throws an error and then it's the general queue. The only plus of a residence permit - you don't have to give fingers, you go straight to the window, it's all instant there, the main thing is to make it to the window 😀”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatlisboa14.06.2026
“I'm on a renewal. Just flew into Porto from Istanbul. My residence permit expired on 07.02. I've got the appointment and proof the renewal was submitted with me. They let me through the EU window, no questions, no stamps and no EES records”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkleft4portugal15.06.2026
How 90 days in 180 are counted now
The rule itself has not changed: a short-stay visitor may spend no more than 90 days in any 180 in these countries. What has changed is how it is counted. Before, it was counted by stamps, and a smudged stamp or a missing exit stamp turned into an argument at the border. Now a machine does the counting, and there is a single count for all 29 countries: a week in Spain and three weeks in Portugal are 28 of your 90 days, not two separate allowances.
You can check what you have left yourself: the European Commission's ‘Check how long you can stay’ page has a calculator. You enter your passport type and number, the three-letter code of the issuing country and your planned dates — it answers ‘OK’ or ‘not OK’ and shows how many days you have left. It comes with two caveats, and both still apply as of September 2026: days spent in Schengen before 10 April 2026 are not counted in the balance at all, and up to and including 6 October 2026 an ‘OK’ answer is unreliable for people with a single- or double-entry visa who used an entry between 12 October 2025 and 9 April 2026.
Now, separately, the thing that trips people up most often. Visa days and days of stay are different things. The consulate usually issues a visa for the required number of days plus a ‘corridor’ — a margin on the dates so the person can move the trip. The corridor does not add permitted days: you can stay exactly as many days as are written in the ‘duração da estada’ field.
If you want to stay longer, you have to ask here, before your time runs out. The law allows it: Article 72(1)(d) of Lei n.º 23/2007 allows people with a short-stay visa, or who entered without a visa, to extend their stay — by up to 90 days and then once more by the same amount. Paragraph 4 of the same article warns that once the 90 days in the half-year are used up, the extension is valid only for Portugal — you cannot travel to other countries on it. Paragraph 5: an application made more than 30 days after the end of the permitted stay is not considered. In two years of conversations we have not found a single account of anyone actually getting such an extension — people ask about it often, but nobody answers.
“I was counting 180 days from the day I left Schengen.But you're meant to count 180 days from the day you entered.Oh well,it happens)Age)”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkPortugal 🇵🇹 TravelAsk chat24.08.2026
“UPDATE: The info on the BLS website updated today (17 August) mum went to the visa centre and got her passport. Single-entry visa, for the number of days in the invitation plus a 15-day corridor. Apart from the other documents at submission, the only thing attached was a ticket booking.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkPortugal 🇵🇹 TravelAsk chat17.08.2026
What a guest should show at the border
A visa does not yet mean entry. Article 10(2) of Lei n.º 23/2007 puts it plainly: a visa gives you the right to come to a border post and ask to be let in. The border officer decides, and checks several things at once.
Your passport must be valid for longer than the trip will last (Article 9(2)). Money: Article 11 and Portaria n.º 1563/2007 — €75 per entry plus €40 for each day per person, in cash or on a card. The purpose and conditions of the trip: Article 13 allows the officer to demand proof — an accommodation booking or a letter from the people you are visiting, a return ticket, a travel plan. Medical insurance is required by the Visa Code at the visa stage, and people in the chats write that they are asked to show it at the border too; check not only the dates on the policy but also the number of days of stay it has been paid for.
It is the visitor who has to prove all this, not the border officer. This is not nit-picking but how the law works, and it is better to understand it in advance — there is nothing to argue about in the booth.
With a child: notarised consent from the other parent is needed to leave Russia, not to enter Portugal — these are different papers, and people mix them up all the time. Consent to leave is asked for at the Russian border; the Portuguese side looks at the visa and the documents proving the family relationship.
“I understand how you feel. But it's been discussed here more than once that when you cross the border you need to be ready to show you meet the conditions for staying in the Schengen countries. Accommodation, tickets, having the funds. Regardless of whether you're coming in with a visa or visa-free. It's not the official's job to prove to you that you don't have money, you have to prove to him that you do. A bank statement and(or) cash, proof of accommodation, return tickets - the person entering should have all of this on them, otherwise you get situations like this.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkPortugal 🇵🇹 TravelAsk chat11.05.2026
“usually it's the airline that doesn't let you on . Inside at entry they might ask - where will you be staying - plan - return ticket etc”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkru_Portugal_pt13.07.2026
“If the child is flying alone and is a Russian citizen, you get a power of attorney from one of the parents in Russian and have it certified by a notary. At the border you show the original. A Russian citizen only needs the power of attorney to cross the Russian border. Article 20 of the law on the procedure for leaving the Russian Federation. Details here [link] If the child is under 12, you book the ‘Unaccompanied minor’ service with the airline, they fill in the documents there with the details of the person sending and the person meeting, see the carrier's website in the section on carrying children for details.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal31.08.2026
Termo de responsabilidade: when you invite someone to stay
If a guest is coming to you and staying with you, they may not be asked about money at entry at all. For this there is the termo de responsabilidade — a written undertaking by the host. It can be signed by a Portuguese citizen or a foreigner legally living here; Article 12 of Lei n.º 23/2007.
The undertaking is more serious than it looks. By signing, you take on two things: to provide for your guest's stay and to reimburse the state for the cost of removing them if they stay on illegally. Paragraph 4 of the same article expressly calls this paper an enforceable document — money can be recovered on the strength of it. And one more thing: the person signing must themselves have means of subsistence by the general standard set in the portaria.
The template for the form is approved by AIMA, which also keeps a register of them. In practice the paper is filled in by hand, signed, scanned and sent to the guest — they attach it to their visa application and take it with them to the border. Forms and templates, including the declaration of accommodation, are on the AIMA website.
People in the chats also write this: at passport control in Lisbon there can be questions about the old form of invitation, even though the visa was issued on it without any difficulty. Showing the paper on a phone has worked, but it is better to bring a printout — your phone may die, and the queue will not wait.
“Nobody sent any originals. The termo de responsabilidade gets filled in by hand by the person inviting, sign it, scan it and send. The birth and marriage certificates we just sent as scans with a certified translation.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkpequenos_PT25.08.2026
“I flew from Moscow to Lisbon on 02 July on the old form of invitation. At customs in Lisbon it was all fine. And I showed it on my phone. Didn't have it printed out.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkPortugal 🇵🇹 TravelAsk chat21.07.2026
“With the old one (we got it around spring) there were questions at passport control in Lisbon and they barely let us through, even though the visa was issued on it in Moscow with no problems …”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkPortugal 🇵🇹 TravelAsk chat21.07.2026
How much time to allow for passport control
There is no official figure for ‘how long you will wait’, either from the airports or from the police — what gets published is not waiting times but the number of people and of police officers. In the first year of the UNEF border unit, from 21 August 2025 to 20 August 2026, 19,749,328 people passed through Portugal's air borders. There were 1,504 police officers at the border: 706 in Lisbon, 325 in Porto, 215 in Faro, 124 in the Azores, 115 in Madeira and 19 in Beja. In the same report, PSP admitted that the launch of the EES had been one of the main challenges of the year.
At the end of August 2026 the Prime Minister said that waiting times were ‘much shorter than what they were a few months ago’ and warned that the pressure would rise again from 6 September. He spoke about Porto separately: investment in the airport there is still only at the planning stage, and the pressure will rise there too.
What people say. In summer 2026 the range in the chats is huge and depends not on the airport but on the time of day and the number of booths open: a night flight from Istanbul — five to ten minutes; a daytime departure — two windows open and a queue that does not move. The queue on arrival is usually longer than on departure.
Hence the practical advice: get to the airport three hours before your flight, and for a connection at a European airport where you have to go through passport control, an hour and a half is not enough. And bear in mind an unpleasant rule: if you miss your flight because of the queue at passport control, the airline is not responsible.
“chat members! I want to share my impressions of Lisbon airport. Flew in yesterday with Turkish Airlines around 11 pm. Passport control took only 10 minutes. We waited longer for the baggage. Turned out there were lots of Russian-speaking passengers on the plane. This isn't the London flight.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkPortugal 🇵🇹 TravelAsk chat01.07.2026
“Just now there was nobody, passport control empty, all the booths open with police officers in them On arrivals - the other way round, an hour's queue”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkschoolinportugal06.07.2026
“Flew out of Lisbon . Got there 3 hours early. Good Lord, the organisation is just disgusting . At passport control it's hell , everyone's on edge, 2 windows working, the queue doesn't move 20 min before departure I ran to the staff - no priority they say . A kind woman from Australia let me through🙏, then we waited more than an hour on the plane for the others . The plane took off 1-15 late because of waiting for passengers, and it could have left on time.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkPortugal 🇵🇹 TravelAsk chat23.06.2026
If you have a residence permit: which queue to join
At Lisbon airport there are usually three queues at passport control: automatic gates, ‘EU citizens’ and ‘all passports’. A holder of a Portuguese residence card does not need the last one.
According to stories in the chats from the summer and early autumn of 2026, the sign for the EU citizens' lane in Lisbon has a note about residence cards, and in September 2026 the same note was added to the e-gate queue for biometric passports. The gate does not read a Russian passport — the scanner throws an error, and the person goes to a live border officer; on the other hand, they do not have to give fingerprints, and at the booth it all takes a minute.
These are people's stories, not a rule: the officer at the entrance to the lane may send you to the general queue, and there is no point arguing with them. You can ask to try, and sometimes it saves an hour.
What to bring apart from your passport: the residence permit card itself. If the card has expired and you do not have the new one yet — the old card and proof of the submitted renewal with a QR code; people in the chats write that you are let through with these. Documents are also checked before you reach the border: at the boarding gate the airline checks whether you have the right to enter, and this is its legal duty — it is cheaper not to let you board than to fly you back at its own expense.
“Suffered for 2 years going through the border in Lisbon - endless queues of 1-2 hours and constant fear of missing my flight, even getting there 3 hours early Today I saw that the e-gate queue for biometric passports now has an extra sign, ‘Portuguese residence’. The staff member insisted I go to ‘all passports’ with my Russian one, but I asked him to let me try and it was so worth it!”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatlisboa03.09.2026
“yes, you just go through the lane like EU passport holders, at least at Lisbon airport. The sign for that lane usually has a note saying residence cards are fine too.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkru_Portugal_pt28.08.2026
“just witnessed a miracle and want to tell the world about it 😂 at the airport, departures to non-Schengen 0 queues, and at security 2 people apart from me and nobody at passport control with my residence permit I went through the queue with the Europeans, but all passports had no queue at all either apparently Thursday evening is some kind of lucky time to fly 😁”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatlisboa18.06.2026
Entered not through an airport: declaring your entry
A rule that almost nobody knows about, although it affects many people: those who flew into Madrid or Paris and then travelled on to Portugal by train, coach or car.
Article 14 of Lei n.º 23/2007: a foreigner who has entered the country across an uncontrolled border from another EU country must declare it within three working days. The declaration is made to the police — GNR or PSP. Article 197 names the price: the fine for not making the declaration is €60 to €160.
There are three exceptions, and most people fall under them. The declaration is not needed by those who live here or have permission to stay for longer than six months; by those who check into a hotel or other paid accommodation straight after entering — the owner files it for them, using the very boletim de alojamento that is filled in at the reception desk; and by those covered by the European free movement regime.
So a guest who flew into Spain and came to stay at your home does not fall under the exceptions: their accommodation is not paid for, and they must declare their entry themselves. In two years of conversations in the chats we have not found a single case of anyone being fined for this — but the rule is in the law, and keeping quiet about it would be dishonest.
If you are refused entry
A refusal of entry is not the whim of a border officer in a booth. Article 32 of Lei n.º 23/2007 lists the grounds: not all the entry conditions are met; the person is listed in the Schengen Information System as someone who must not be allowed in; they pose a danger to public order, national security or public health. The decision is made not by the border officer but by the national director of PSP or the commander of GNR (Article 37).
The procedure is as follows (Article 38). First the person is heard — under the law, this is their chance to explain. Then the decision is handed to them in writing, in a language they can reasonably be expected to understand, with the grounds, a note of the right to appeal and the deadline. The consulate of their country and the airline are informed of the decision immediately. If it has not been possible to put the person on a return flight within 48 hours, the case goes to a judge, who decides whether the person stays in a temporary holding centre. There are such facilities at the airports in Lisbon, Porto and Faro; in UNEF's first year more than 700 people passed through them and through the centre in Porto.
A person refused entry does have rights, and they are set out in Article 40: to contact their country's consulate or any person of their choice, an interpreter, medical help and a doctor if needed, everything necessary for day-to-day needs, a lawyer at their own expense or free legal aid on request.
Appeals go to the administrative court (Article 39), but the main thing to remember is that an appeal does not suspend the decision. While the court is looking into it, the person is already back home. The airline takes them back at its own expense — this is its obligation under Article 41, and it also pays for the passenger's stay in the temporary holding centre.
Two groups of people cannot be refused entry at all, except in cases involving a criminal record or a threat to security (Article 36): those born in Portugal who normally live here, and those who have minor children in their care — Portuguese or foreigners legally living here — if the person really does support and bring them up.
“my sister's a Moldovan citizen , they've been holding her at the airport for 2 days not letting her into the country , because she has no invitation,”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkPortugal 🇵🇹 TravelAsk chat11.05.2026
“We flew together, they didn't let us all go to the window together, I went through with the child, and dad separately to a different border officer. They questioned me at the window for quite a while, looked at when I'd left and where I'd flown to, and asked about my husband too. And my husband was taken for extra checks, he waited there about 30 minutes (meanwhile I went grey), but in the end they didn't ask anything, looked at the passport once more and that was it.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkpequenos_PT16.12.2025
What happens if you overstay
Before the system was launched, people often never found out about extra days at all: days were counted by stamps, stamps were often smudged, and inside Schengen passports are usually not checked. Now a machine sees the extra days, and the person ends up on the overstayers' list, which is open to border officers and to those who issue visas.
What follows from that. Someone living in the country illegally is returned home under the European Directive 2008/115: as a rule, they are first offered the chance to leave on their own. In certain cases a return decision comes with an entry ban, and this ban — together with the decision itself — is entered in the Schengen Information System. Its length is set according to the circumstances of the case but, as a rule, does not exceed five years. Someone who has already used up their 90 days in 180 will simply be refused entry on their next attempt, and the refusal itself will also go into the system.
There is also a trap the other way round, which is worth knowing about. Article 40-A of Lei n.º 23/2007, following Article 20 of the regulation, introduces a presumption: if there is no record of your entry in the system, you are presumed not to meet the conditions on length of stay. The presumption can be rebutted — Article 40-B — but it is you who will have to rebut it, with boarding passes, hotel bills, tickets. Hence a simple rule for the transition period: do not throw away your boarding passes and bookings until you are back home.
“I left and came back after filing my manifestação and before my Schengen entry ran out. At entry, at customs they spent a long time looking at my three remaining Schengen days. Without the manifestação and a pile of contracts they wouldn't have let me back in, I reckon.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkPortugal 🇵🇹 TravelAsk chat13.05.2024
“They didn't cancel our residence permits all three years we were outside Portugal, nobody at the border counted how long we had or hadn't been here, we travelled around the EU and to Portugal in particular without any trouble. But no clue what happens with the renewal in that case (we applied for a new type of visa/residence after coming back). If you haven't left the EU then all the more nobody will count it at all.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatlisboa04.08.2026
ETIAS: what it is and when to expect it
ETIAS often gets mentioned alongside the EES, and they are different things. The EES is a record made at the border, and it applies to all short-stay visitors. ETIAS is a travel authorisation obtained in advance, and it is only for those who do not need a visa.
For our readers this means the following. A citizen of Russia or Kazakhstan will not need ETIAS as long as they need a Schengen visa: ETIAS does not replace the visa and is not required on top of it. But a guest from Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia or Serbia who currently flies visa-free on a biometric passport will need the authorisation: it is linked to the passport, is valid for up to three years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first, and does not in itself guarantee entry — you will still be asked for documents at the border.
As of 6 September 2026, ETIAS is not operating and is not accepting applications. The European Commission promises to announce the launch date several months in advance. Until then, all the ‘ETIAS application services’ that offer to apply for you for a fee cannot arrange anything: there is nowhere to apply.
What to bring
- A passport valid for longer than the trip will last
- A visa — if the guest's nationality requires one
- A residence permit card or long-stay D visa — for those who live here; if the card has expired, also proof that a renewal application has been submitted
- A return or onward ticket with a date
- Proof of accommodation: a hotel booking, a rental contract or a letter from the people the guest is visiting
- Termo de responsabilidade from the host — if they are covering accommodation and meals
- Money: €75 per entry plus €40 per day per person, in cash or as a bank statement
- Medical insurance for every day of the trip — check not only the dates but also the number of days of stay it has been paid for
- Notarised consent from the other parent for the child to leave — for the Russian border, not the Portuguese one
- Boarding passes and bookings from previous trips — in case you need to prove that you left on time
Where people most often trip up
- If you have a residence permit or a D visa, no biometrics are taken from you under this system and your days are not counted — Article 2(3) of the regulation
- Since 6 September 2026, Lisbon airport has been taking biometrics from 100% of passengers from outside the EU
- Passports are no longer stamped anywhere except Cyprus and Ireland
- 90 days in 180 are counted as one joint total across all 29 countries, not separately for each
- Visa days and days of stay are different things: a ‘corridor’ of dates does not add permitted days
- The European Commission's calculator does not take into account days spent in Schengen before 10 April 2026
- You can use the machine at the border only with a biometric passport; with an ordinary one you will be let in, but through the booth
- Children under 12 do not give fingerprints
- You cannot refuse the face photo and fingerprints — that amounts to refusing entry
- Money, accommodation and the purpose of the trip are for the visitor to prove, not the border officer
- The termo de responsabilidade is an enforceable document: by signing it, you are also liable for the cost of removing your guest
- Entered from another EU country and not staying in a hotel — declare your entry to GNR or PSP within three working days; the fine is €60–€160
- An appeal against a refusal of entry goes to the administrative court, but it does not suspend the decision
- Overstayed days go onto a shared list, and an entry ban into the Schengen Information System, usually for up to five years
- If there is no record of your entry in the system, you are presumed to have overstayed until you prove otherwise
- As of September 2026, ETIAS is not operating: you cannot get it anywhere, and paid ‘application services’ cannot arrange anything