I have just had a lovely couple of hours at Casa Velha do Palheiro for tea with his Majesty´s Ambassador Christopher Sainty, the UK ambassador for Portugal.
One of the topics was the residence card situation, which is far worse in mainland Portugal than in Madeira. Madeira, and the Azores were the first to roll out the trail for this, so we were a little ahead of Portugal, where there are still about 4000 waiting to sort this out.
However there are still about 250 UK nationals in Madeira who have not applied for the residency card, some of these may well have left and returned to the UK, but if you are one of those still here, or in Portugal and reading this, you need to do this ASAP, there is still time, but don’t put it off.
You need to register on the SEF PORTAL
Once the process is done you need to apply for residence, and will be sent an appointment to do your biometric card, it should all be pretty straight forward now.
Irenaeus met with the ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Representative of the Republic for the Region, Counselor Judge Ireneu Cabral Barreto, received in audience today, at Palácio de São Lourenço, the ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Portugal, Christopher Sainty.
In particular, “both entities expressed the wish that the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union does not jeopardize the exemplary integration, either of the British community residing in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, or of the numerous Portuguese citizens of Madeiran origin who work and study in that country, which, fortunately, has not happened until today”.
The Representative of the Republic thanked the ambassador for the “effort” to continue to strengthen the historic and deep relations that have united the United Kingdom and the Autonomous Region of Madeira for many years.