Camara residency certificate 90 days or under?
 

I have just read Some councils/camara seem to have an arbitrary rule that you have to be in Portugal for 90 days before applying for residency. This means that if you had appointment on the 15th of December, you would need to have arrived in Portugal on the 15th of September.

Could anybody give me a little bit of clarity on this issue is getting there before the end of September may be difficult.

Kind regards,
Craig

Re: Camara residency certificate 90 days or under?
 

It is not just some councils, until you have been here 90 days you cannot apply for residence. There is another post recently which discusses this issue. If you scroll down through the forum you will see it has over 200 comments . Alternatively go to the Search function and type in "Moving to Portugal - Registering residency straight away ?

Re: Camara residency certificate 90 days or under?
 

Under the term of the Agreement, UK nationals and their family members who already are permanent residents in Portugal will be able to maintain that right. And all those who arrive before the end of the transition period (31 December 2020) will be able to acquire permanent residence status after completing a five-year residence period. The Portuguese Government wants to reassure UK nationals and their family members living in Portugal that they are welcome to stay.

https://www.portaldiplomatico.mne.go..._Brexit_EN.PDF

Re: Camara residency certificate 90 days or under?
 

Surely that thread does contain ample evidence that some camaras are registering people before the 90 days has expired?

Re: Camara residency certificate 90 days or under?
 

It isn't an arbitrary rule, it's a perfectly legitimate application of the applicable legislation, which is open to interpretation.

Here is what the SEF (Portugal's border agency) website says :
This is not consistently applied one way or the other across the board but the issuance of a certificate within the first 90 days is not prohibited, any more than is a refusal to do so until the 90 days have elapsed.

As it's not clear whether registration certificates would or could continue to be issued to UK citizens arriving prior to 31st December but requesting registration post 1st January, that leaves anybody arriving within 90 days of the end of the transition period in unknown territory, despite the apparent assurance of the document linked to above. I don't know whether an email to the SEF in advance of would elicit a definitive response on the matter but it might be worth a try. The British Embassy in Lisbon is also reputed to have been very helpful to people already arrived in Portugal on various contentious matters in the past.

Re: Camara residency certificate 90 days or under?
 

After reading the forum and other sources i'm told they have obtained residency before the 90 days so who's correct on this?

Re: Camara residency certificate 90 days or under?
 

There is no doubt it is possible - I did it but that was 5 years ago but I suspect that today there is a more precise control and so it is very difficult to do.

Re: Camara residency certificate 90 days or under?
 

Thank you i noticed that also, amongst other sites and expats too. It seem Loafing Along doesn't agree.

Re: Camara residency certificate 90 days or under?
 

What about the folks who say they have obtained residency very recently before the 90 days?

Re: Camara residency certificate 90 days or under?
 

At the end of the day the law is clear. At the moment you're still an EU citizen, so wouldn't need to but because of Brexit it makes sense. As long as you can prove you intended to become a resident before the deadline all fine.

• EU citizens can live in another EU country for up to three months without any requirements other than holding a valid identity card or passport
• In order to stay in another EU country for more than three months, EU citizens have to meet certain conditions depending on their status (e.g. worker, student, etc.) and they may also be asked to comply with administrative formalities
• EU citizens have the right to permanent residence in another EU country after legally residing there continuously for five years. They may be temporarily absent (e.g. for illness, study or posting)

Re: Camara residency certificate 90 days or under?
 

Without wishing to appear too much of an argumentative so-and-so (and with apologies to the OP, who probably just wants a straightforward answer to what is obviously seen by some of us as a can of worms), assurances given by anybody on here about the impossibility of a Câmara refusing to issue a certificate of residence within 90 days, or at all after 31st Dec (when they might well refer you to the SEF, who will apply an entirely different process by then), are worthless. Given the varied experiences on here, both scenarios are entirely possible, regardless of interpretations of what normally applies to EU citizens.

It is best that those who intend to arrive within that period are aware of the possibility and, if it's of concern to them, contact someone who can speak with a little more authority on the matter than commenters on this forum, some of whom do not live in Portugal or have experience of dealing with awkward situations such as those hypothetical scenarios above and, as is very likely for a newcomer, with a language barrier to contend with to boot.

Re: Camara residency certificate 90 days or under?
 

Hi thanks for your reply, who would you suggest i contact to give me a bit more clarity on the matter?

Many thanks

Re: Camara residency certificate 90 days or under?
 

Suggest you start here with the SEF Brexit FAQs https://imigrante.sef.pt/en/brexit/d...os-residencia/

The nationals from the United Kingdom arriving to Portugal until the end of the transitional period, and wish to continue, shall register within the City Hall of their area of residence.

Re: Camara residency certificate 90 days or under?
 

Re: Camara residency certificate 90 days or under?
 

UK citizens in the EU https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49973387

The number of UK-born people living in the EU - workers and their dependants, pensioners, students and others - is estimated at 1.3 million.

For UK citizens who are currently living in one of the EU's other 27 countries, nothing will change during the transition - that is, until the end of 2020.

But they may need to apply for a residence status to confirm that they were already resident in the EU country before 31 December 2020. They will, like EU citizens in the UK, have until at least 30 June 2021 to do so.