A few of you have messaged me about this, and it seems the wait is finally over.
The Immigration and Border Service (SEF) is today starting to contact British nationals resident in Madeira or the Azores under the Withdrawal Agreement, for them to schedule appointments to provide their biometric data for the new residency card.
During this pilot project, British nationals resident on the Portuguese islands will be able, from 21st February, to go to SEF’s offices in:
– Azores: Angra do Heroísmo and Ponta Delgada;
– Madeira: Citizen’s Office in Funchal.
In addition to providing their data for the new card, residents will also be able to update their information with SEF.
British nationals already registered on the Brexit Portal will be notified by email, this will be done in chronological order by date of registration.
Those resident in mainland Portugal who have already registered on the Portal will be contacted by SEF once phase 2 of the process is officially launched there. They do not need to contact SEF at this time.
The certificate with the QR code, that can be downloaded from the Portal, continues to be an official residency document for those under the Withdrawal Agreement. It is valid until the new card is issued. Furthermore, valid EU residency documents continue to be accepted for travel purposes, until the new card is issued.