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British residents in Portugal - nothing much will change post-Brexit

MinisterSatosForeignAt a meeting of the Socialist Party in Loulé on Wednesday 16th January, the audience was address by Dr Augusto Santos Silva, the Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs.

As the subject of the meeting was ‘Brexit’, Michael Reeve, the CEO of afpop, was invited by the Faro MP, Dra Ana Passos.

As the meeting was a Socialist Party meeting, much of the minister’s presentation was directed at party members to relay the government’s current thinking on the UK’s exit from the EU.

However the minister acknowledged that there were UK citizens in the audience and answered questions about the government’s intentions and desires for the British and Northern Irish community, both current and future.

The main points made by Augusto Santos Silva were:

The Portuguese government has given a firm commitment to UK citizens who are resident in Portugal that their rights as currently enjoyed are guaranteed to continue exactly as they are now.

Anyone who is properly registered as a resident in Portugal will continue to have that right of residency and to renew that residency without restriction.

Obviously the need to register when you are resident in any EU country has been the law for many years, but the need to legally be registered as resident in Portugal now is more important than ever.

Registration should be done before 29th March, which involves a visit to the local Council office.

Those already registered and who hold temporary residency certificates, will be able to exchange these for permanent residency cards when on the renewal date. This right has been confirmed by the Portuguese government and those who have permanent residency will be able to renew it when it is due without restriction.

The minister said that SEF has around 20,000 UK citizens registered as resident in Portugal. The British Embassy says that there are ‘at least’ 35,000 UK nationals in Portugal.

The Portuguese government will be passing a law to extend the period for registering as a resident to the 31st December 2020.

However this does not mean that people who are already here can do nothing until then as this extension is intended for those moving to Portugal over the next two years, allowing them to register as resident under exactly the same rules as currently are in force.

The issue of travel and visas was addressed. When the UK leaves the EU, UK passport holders will no longer be entitled to enter EU countries using the ‘EU Passports’ channel.

Portugal’s government has taken a decision to open a dedicated ‘UK Passports’ channel at airports in Portugal’s mainland, Madeira and the Açores to enable UK passport holders to pass through airports as quickly as possible.

The EU will add the UK to the list of countries that do not need to apply for visas to enter the EU for travel, which means that travellers will be free to come and go, to and from the UK without the ‘90 days in every 180 days’ restriction.

UK citizens resident in Portugal will still be allowed to travel throughout the EU using their Portuguese residency. They will be travelling as Portuguese residents and not as UK passport holders and therefore free movement within the EU will continue. It is not clear how this will work for residents who only have their initial residency certificate, as there is no photo, signature, fingerprint or passport details recorded on that document. afpop has asked SEF for clarification about this.

There are some areas that cannot be discussed until after the UK has formally left the EU. Taxation (including Capital Gains Tax rollover on property sales) and Social Security matters are two areas that need specific agreement between the UK and Portugal and the Minister stated that those will begin at the earliest opportunity after the UK has left the EU. The Minister did stress that those matters were dealt with in bilateral agreements prior to the formation of the EU and, with some updating, would continue.

The right for registered residents to vote in local elections and the right to be elected to local government bodies will be protected in Portuguese law.

Dr Santos Silva confirmed several times during the meeting that UK citizens will continue to enjoy all the current freedoms that they have in Portugal. UK issued driving licences will continue to be recognised, healthcare will continue to be available, pension credits will continue to be awarded and professional qualifications will continue to be accepted.

The minister quoted Winston Churchill, “Keep Calm and carry on,” adding, “continue to do as you have done until advised otherwise.”    

The link below is to the Portuguese government’s leaflet on the subject: https://www.portaldiplomatico.mne.gov.pt/images/pdf/Folheto_Brexit_EN.PDF

For information about afpop, click HERE

 

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Comments  

0 #10 Boris H 2019-01-24 23:42
Kron,
You are correct in saying that Britain will be able to do trade deal's with the European Union, but Britain will be charged tariffs on there imports. This means your average weekly shopping bill could rise by as much as 40% as Britain imports more than 50% of it's food from the EU.
British vegetables and dairy produce will also rise in price as there will not be enough British people to carry out this work and people from EU countries will no longer be available to work in this vital area of agriculture.
As far as trade deals with countries outside of the EU, the EU has established free trade deals with Canada, USA, Australia, Japan and many more, all of which Britain is free to trade with until March 2019.
0 #9 Kron 2019-01-24 17:37
Quoting Boris H:
Harrison:
Same old nonsense... tne song does not exist and the British are not the greatest.
Britain is an ordinary country with Citizens of average intelligence, if they were above average intelligence they would not be walking away from one of the world's wealthiest trading bloc's.

Are you got real? We will still do trade with Europe, ask the Germans if they would want to lose our business. Plus wr will be able to make our own trade deals with any country outside the EU, something you can't do while being governed by the non-elected bureaucrats of the EU.
0 #8 Boris H 2019-01-21 17:42
Harrison:
Same old nonsense... tne song does not exist and the British are not the greatest.
Britain is an ordinary country with Citizens of average intelligence, if they were above average intelligence they would not be walking away from one of the world's wealthiest trading bloc's.
0 #7 Mike Williams 2019-01-21 13:56
Bodger being Portuguese not pointing out that Portugal is officially 'race blind' - only Portuguese citizens and foreigners are noted. As we often see on ADN, the UK having anti-racism regulations since the 1960's. But any attempt by a foreigner in Portugal to claim racist mistreatment triggering the Portuguese State - in a penal not civil crime - to defend the Portuguese citizen. Who is obliged to follow through to an automatically won prosecution regardless of being in the wrong.
So on Global Anti-Racism Day there is no interest in Portugal - far less than Ingrown Toenail Day. Sad that there will be no improvement.
-2 #6 Harrison 2019-01-21 13:43
Did any of the British in the audience lament Portugal's abysmal treatment of so many British in Portugal so far? Linking it to the 'Attack the British' anthem chorus and requesting added value treatment - not more of the same? Or did the Portuguese Government censors delete their comments?
Reading through the endless Brexit related froth and bubble above and that over the years by the more neurotic north African Portuguese on the expat sites does not reassure in the slightest that 'Attack the British' is so long ago ('officially' written out 1957) no living Portuguese has any memory of it. Only dead ones.
0 #5 Bodger 2019-01-20 15:16
Quoting Zorba:
Portugals's warm words are at least a contrast with the UK Govt's project fear approach: EU citizens used as bargaining chips, immigrants threatened with in fear with Theresa May's infamous "go home" vans and deliberately playing the whole exercise out til the last minute "no deal" apocalypse.

Racist, Xenophobic, adjectives often leveled at Portugal but these traits are endemic in the UK especially in the current Uk government!
+1 #4 Sue F 2019-01-20 14:50
Harrison: The Portuguese in the UK are still EU citizens through nationality whereas Brits will become third country nationals after Brexit, so no different to someone from America or Botswana. Also a residency card/document is not a travel document, so for Brits a passport is always required. The cards used by EU nationals for travelling within Schengen/EU are Citizens ID cards, issued by their country of nationality, whereas a residency card only has validity in the host country that issues it. To retain all EU citizens rights after Brexit requires getting nationality of an EU country.
-1 #3 Nero 2019-01-19 22:58
"However this does not mean that people who are already here can do nothing until then as this extension is intended for those moving to Portugal over the next two years, allowing them to register as resident under exactly the same rules as currently are in force."

The leaflet wording suggests this only applies if the (doomed) Withrawal Agreement were implemented. In the (equally?) unlikely event of no deal, people already here by 29 March will still have until the end of 2020 to apply.

IN CASE OF A NO-DEAL SCENARIO
As there would be no agreed implementation
period, the guarantee to acquire the right of
permanent residence would only apply to UK
nationals who are resident in Portugal by 29
March 2019; all those UK nationals and their
family members who are already in Portugal by that date would have until 31 December 2020 to apply for a registration certificate.
+7 #2 Zorba 2019-01-19 22:33
Portugals's warm words are at least a contrast with the UK Govt's project fear approach: EU citizens used as bargaining chips, immigrants threatened with in fear with Theresa May's infamous "go home" vans and deliberately playing the whole exercise out til the last minute "no deal" apocalypse.
-5 #1 Harrison 2019-01-19 15:12
Ho Ho. Pela patria lutar! Contra os Bretões marchar!
More front than Harrod's to be saying "(British to keep) their rights as currently enjoyed ... guaranteed to continue exactly as they are now." We have seen some of this nonsense on Euronews. Totally devoid of any substance.
No attempt to say what we need to hear "that us British in Portugal will from now on have all the EU rights that Portuguese already have in the UK" - a major difference. Too much to expect, even now, any light being shone on the reason for this difference.

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