Geronimal

Hi, is the Atestado De Residência the same as the Cartao de residencia?
Thanks.
Ger..

Red Eric

No it's not.

You may be required to produce one before a residency registration certificate (which is the document issued to EU nationals residing in Portugal and will continue to be issued to UK nationals arriving before the end of the transition period) is issued.

The residency registration certificate is available from your Câmara Municipal (town hall), the atestado, which is issued by the Junta de Freguesia (parish council) is a statement from a more local dignitary to confirm that you're living at the address you give.

mfesharne

Red Eric is correct.

Attestado means attest & is signed by 2 people who live in the same parish as you & are on the electoral poll & it attests to you living at the address you say & it is supposed to be a supporting document to help you get the initial 5 year Residecia which is in fact a certificate of registration of residency & you get that from your local Camara.

You'll also need passport, NIF document & other proof of address & once you have the Residencia you can then go to a Centro De Saude & get a Utente number & register on the NHS system.

Geronimal

Many thanks, I guess I’ve chased myself around so much and viewed so many websites/pages that I’ve confused myself! Off to learn more Portuguese...
Ger..

Red Eric

We'll do our best here not to confuse matters any more, although experiences can vary a little from place to place.

In the case of a residency registration certificate, the immigration authority's page on the matter only actually specifies a passport as a required document but as above, the Câmara will generally ask to see more.

The fee for issuing the certificate is 15€, by the way.

And welcome to the forum!

mfesharne

I should add that every Camara seems to have it's own rules on when you can register residency & what proof of residence they require. At one end of the scale they insist you wait 3 months & then register before 4 months & at the other, some Camaras in Lisbon have been issuing Residencias to people within 1 or 2 days of arrival & to hotel & air BnB addresses.

Welcome to the worderfully confusing but less than wonderful world of bonkers Portuguese bureaucracy. lol!
1

Diddion

You have a rather wonderful phrase for this - remind me,

orangeblossom

You will be asked for a passport photo too so take one when you go to the Camera to avoid two trips.

mfesharne

AVBS = Acute Variable Bureaucracy Syndrome

mfesharne

Photo isn't usually required for the initial 5 year Residencia but the subsequent 10 year PR card that you get from SEF when the initial Residencia is expiring is a photo ID card & all but 2 SEF offices on the mainland have their own cameras there.

So if you were asked to provide a photo then you either went to one of the two offices that don't have cameras or were a victim of the aforementioned AVBS.

Lelandy

Passport photos are required at some but not all Camaras in The Algarve for five year residency. An Attestado wasn't for me, just our house deeds, and 90 days was a requirement. AVBS indeed.

dingg

The lady in caldas da rainha insisted on having a passport sized photo.
​​​​​​Avbs I guess

mfesharne

Did she attach it to the document?

Red Eric

Without wishing to branch off into a mass of irrelevancies or start any sort of heated discussion, I don't attach too much significance in this particular case to slightly different policies being adopted in different Câmaras, since the law is very much open to interpretation.

There are, in my lay opinion, equally valid arguments both for and against issuing registration certificates within 90 days. Beyond that you're into "must request" territory for the resident and "must issue or give a sound reason why not" for the local authority.

Equally, there are, as you say, a number of documents which might serve as proof of address and which some will perfectly happily accept as dispensing with any need for an atestado, while others, apparently, insist on the latter no matter what other documents are produced (didn't happen to me but I think from memory that that's what's been said on here). Again, presumably perfectly valid given that the atestado's a standard document which is requested for a number of purposes here. I'm quite surprised that most (all?) the official sources seem to stop at passport / id card in terms of documents required - I'd have thought it was pretty much a given that they'd want to know your address and it's certainly not unusual when giving that, in any country, to be asked for proof of it.

In any case, there's nothing for the OP to get too apprehensive about - whatever is asked for where he is will be pretty straightforward to obtain.

mfesharne

Thinking about it, a photo on the document would presumably mean no need to carry your passport as photo ID?