This hospitable of the British were just one of reasons why Samantha Lowe moved from Nottinghamshire to the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz in February 2020 with her husband, who Created for work remotely, and their two schoolchildren children. They were drawn to Portugal”more relaxed pace of life” and “feeling of community values”.
Like other UK citizens legally residing in Portugal before Brexit, she used her existing residence permit to apply for a post- Brexit card ID and received a document confirming the application with QR code issued by SEF, the Portuguese Immigration and Border Guard.
Then they had twins. “When we went to register the twins, we showed them a document with a QR code and they said it was not proof. of anything – just Appendix for residence permit – and sent us back in the SEF,” Lowe explains. “SEF said the registry office should have received the document. The various agencies didn’t seem to listen to each other.”
With the help of a local lawyer, the twins were duly registered and released. with current documentation – and earlier this summer family felt the opportunity to leave Portugal and introduce the twins, now 15 months old, to their grandparents. in Mansfield.
While the SEF insists that the temporary QR Code ID is a valid travel document, many other UK residents of Portugal is found he closes doors instead of keeping them open.
“People are stopped by border guards in every country, their papers are taken off them and be thrown to floor because they simply aren’t the promised exit agreement biometric identifier.” says Teague James.
problem became very real for Alan (last name withheld) and his wife, a British-South African couple from near Lisbon, who are facing criminal prosecution in Germany for illegally entering the country while transiting the Seychelles, thinking that a QR code would be enough.
“The border guard kept on saying: “It doesn’t matter that the Portuguese government tells you. Your documents are overdue,” and he was right,” Alan said. who had to pay 4,000 euros to return to Portugal and reschedule the trip, said a local resident. media.
James Campbell, 27year-old computer programmer, did not dare to travel outside Portugal, since left London for Lisbon in 2020.
“I was attracted to Portugal because after 2016 there was a massive turnaround in in the economy and a lot of friendliness towards foreigners, says Campbell. “This reputation is now incinerated off because of things that would be easy fix”.
