Rob_Brice

Hello All
I’m a UK citizen, my wife is an EU citizen and I currently hold a long term residence permit for another EU country. My wife recently obtained her for certificate of registration and residency certificate for Portugal so we can spend more time at our apartment in the Algarve.
I’m awaiting an appointment with SEF (which seems impossible these days) in order to submit my application and obtain my documents based on marriage to an EU citizen.
Given these circumstances, how long can I remain in Portugal? Does the 90 out of 180 days rule still apply, and if so is there any way to obtain an extension beyond 90 days due to my inability to get an appointment with SEF?
Thanks in anticipation.

Lou71

You definitely don't need to worry!

Firstly, you are not stuck with the 90 day travel rule because your wife is an EU national but importantly, she has Portuguese residency so you can tag onto that and you will be granted residency in Portugal. You just need to take proof ie marriage certificate and all the usual documents.

Do you need to go to SEF? I believe you can do it the good old EU way at the local town hall but I stand to be corrected. Obviously you must attend together.

It should be very straightforward.


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Rob_Brice

Thanks for your response. Unfortunately my application as a non-EU has to be submitted via SEF and not the local town hall, and the problem is that it’s currently impossible to get an appointment with them. That’s why I was wondering if there’s a way around the 90 day rule since I’ll soon be exceeding this.

Lou71

Oh sorry, I didn't know that.

However, you can stay in Portugal until your appointment with SEF comes through because your wife is an EU national and resident in Portugal. If you need to go through the Schengen border at any point before your appointment with SEF, you will need to explain your situation to border control and produce your marriage certificate and your wife's residency documents.

​​​​​​Check out the EU website. There is information about non EU spouses and partners of EU nationals and rights to freedom of movement.

It might also be worth your writing to the EU in Brussels to get confirmation (link below). I'm Irish with a British partner and I needed clarification on a FoM issue and they were extremely helpful.

https://european-union.europa.eu/contact-eu/write-us_en

Red Eric

There isn't a way around the 90 day rule that I'm aware of but you do have a small amount of leeway on it. What the law says, repeated here in an easier to read form is :
So that gives you another month to try to schedule an appointment before you're actually failing any obligation.

Just musing for this next bit but I don't suppose you'd be at all likely to come to the attention of the PT authorities over this if even you continue to be unsuccesful in securing an appointment. Might be worth you keeping a log of the times you do attempt to make contact, as obviously you're striving to do the right thing. If your country of residence is in the Schengen Area and you don't exit Schengen at any point in transit, I also don't see how you could fall foul of any border authority for an overstay on your return, either, since passport controls are not effected at internal borders under normal circumstances.

Rob_Brice

Thanks both for your advice, it is much appreciated. It seems that due to the Covid situation a grace period was established until the end of the year and hopefully this will be further extended. Either way, I don’t need to panic just yet!

Red Eric

That's great if it comes from an official source.

When skimming through the various special measures I could only find reference to people with processes pending or existing residence documents being granted an automatic extension but if there's a blanket concession for your circs without any formal record of a request, that would cover it.

EU.flag

https://imigrante.sef.pt/en/covid-19...-27980ea6-cacd

"I HAVE ENTERED IN PORTUGAL UNDER THE VISA EXEMPTION FOR A SHORT-TERM STAY. HOWEVER, DUE TO THE PANDEMIC, IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE TO RETURN TO MY COUNTRY OF ORIGIN. IS THE EXTENSION OF THE VALIDITY OF VISAS AND RESIDENCE DOCUMENTS UNTIL 31ST DECEMBER, 2021 APPLIED TO MY CASE?

Yes. According to Decree Law n.º 22-A/2021, of 17 March, visas and permits concerning the stay of foreign nationals in the national territory which have expired after 24th February, 2020, are accepted, under the same conditions, until 31st December, 2021."

Red Eric

Hmmm..... I'm wondering how this relates to the circumstances as described by the OP?

or this ...