The extinction of SEF

Well, on the 2nd of June, the Decree-Law 41/2023 which the Portuguese Government determined the extinction of the SEF and created the AIMA (Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum) was published. AIMA will be the agency responsible for immigration and asylum matters.

These changes meet the Government's objective of changing relationship between the Public Administration relates and the foreign citizens, through a restructuring of the Portuguese border control system.

But how the extinction of SEF will affect your process?

If you have applied or intend to apply for a visa, know that, currently, ''s SEF that issues the opinions to authorize the granting of the visas. With the extinction of SEF, these opinions will be issued by AIMA, which absorbed the SEF agents who were already involved in this analysis. That is, there should be no change in the visa procedure, with only a change regarding the government agency which will issued the final opinion, thal will be AIMA.

If the extinction of SEF will mean any reduction in the period for analyzing visa applications, it's not yet possible to know. But as every change for the better is welcome and the Government's intention is to improve the quality of public services, that's what we hope so!

If you have applied for Portuguese nationality (or intend to do so) be aware that the extinction of SEF will not affect your process, as nationality processes are, and will continue to be, analyzed by the IRN (Instituto de Registos e Notariado), which has not suffered any change in its operational structure. The only change that will affect the IRN it will be the new activities which they will perform, as the Residence Cards renewal.

When the extinction of SEF and AIMA will come into effect?

In principle, the changes will come into effect on October 29, 2023, the same date on which the Decree comes into force.

However, we cannot rule out the possibility of a delay if the Government decides to change this date.

Should I speed up the start of my process?

Well, when we talk about the restructuring of public agencies, it's never possible to predict how will be the workflow after the changes are implemented. We always believe that everything will go well, but if you already have plans to apply for a visa, we recommend that you do so as soon as possible. In this way, your process will be started within an already known deadline.

If you want to know more information about visa processes, contact us!