Deportation from Portugal: What Law no. 62/2026 Changes

Since 11 September 2026 the rules on deportation from Portugal are different. Law no. 62/2026 of 10 September, known in Portuguese as the lei do retorno, amended thirty articles of Law no. 23/2007 and came into force the day after publication.

The change with the greatest practical effect is a quiet one and does not appear in the summaries in circulation: the notice to leave voluntarily no longer exists under that name, and no longer applies to a person who is simply staying irregularly.

Three things changed at the same time. The deadline to leave the country became longer, responsibility for ordering removal moved from AIMA to the PSP, and the maximum time a person can be held in a temporary installation centre tripled.

When a person can be deported from Portugal

The grounds were not altered by this law and remain in article 134.º of Law no. 23/2007. A foreign national is subject to coercive removal or judicial expulsion where that person:

• enters or stays irregularly in Portuguese territory;

• acts against national security or public order;

• whose presence or activities threaten the interests or the dignity of the Portuguese State or of its nationals;

• improperly interferes with political participation rights reserved to nationals;

• has carried out acts which, had the Portuguese authorities known of them, would have barred entry;

• in respect of whom there are serious grounds to believe that serious criminal acts were committed or are intended;

• holds a document granting the right to stay in another Member State and fails to go there immediately;

• has circumvented or attempted to circumvent the rules on entry and stay, in particular by using false or falsified documents.

In practice the first ground covers the vast majority of cases, that is irregular stay, because a visa expired, a residence application was refused or a permit was cancelled. The others require additional facts.

Refugees are covered by whichever regime is more favourable under law or under an international convention binding on the Portuguese State, under paragraph 3 of the same article.

What the notice for voluntary departure used to be

Until 10 September 2026, article 138.º of Law no. 23/2007 was headed «Voluntary departure from national territory» and covered two separate situations. Paragraph 1 applied to anyone entering or staying irregularly in Portugal. Paragraph 2 applied to anyone whose residence permit had been cancelled. In either case, AIMA served notice to leave on the person's own initiative, within a period of 10 to 20 days.

That stage worked as advance warning. A person staying irregularly was called upon to arrange departure before any coercive measure.

The article survives, under a different name and with narrower reach. It is now headed «Duty to leave national territory» and paragraph 2 has been repealed. The current wording of paragraph 1 covers only a person served with an administrative decision refusing an application to stay or to reside, or cancelling a visa or residence permit.

The difference is this: a prior administrative decision is now required. Someone staying irregularly, with no refused application and no cancelled permit, is no longer the addressee of this notice.

How long there is to leave Portugal

The period set in the notice went from 10 to 20 days up to 20 to 30 days, under paragraph 1 of article 138.º. This is the period granted to a person who received a refusal or a cancellation.

That period can be extended, and the criteria are unchanged: length of stay, children attending school, other family members present and social ties. What changed is who decides. Extensions are no longer granted by AIMA but by order of the national director of the PSP, with power of delegation, under paragraph 3 of the same article.

The period that follows a removal or judicial expulsion decision was not altered and remains 10 to 20 days, under paragraph 1 of article 160.º. These are two different moments and they are frequently confused.

During the period granted to leave, the rights set out in paragraph 5 of article 160.º remain: family unity with family members present in Portugal, urgent health care and basic treatment of illness, and access to public education for minors.

AIMA is no longer the authority that orders removal

This is the amendment with the greatest day to day consequence. The previous wording of article 145.º stated that coercive removal could only be ordered by an «administrative authority», which meant AIMA. The current wording gives that power to the PSP.

The shift goes beyond that article. Paragraph 1 of article 153.º now provides that any security force or administrative authority aware of a fact capable of grounding expulsion must report it to the PSP, which then opens the file. Article 154.º now requires the National Directorate of the PSP to be notified of the hearing. The heading of the section itself became «Coercive removal ordered by a police authority».

Anyone following such a file must now deal with an authority different from the one handling the residence application. The residence application stays with AIMA, removal moved to the PSP.

Detention in an installation centre went from 60 to 180 days

Three time limits were extended at once, all in the same direction.

The maximum stay in a temporary installation centre was 60 days and became 180 days, renewable for a further 180, where the person does not cooperate or there are delays in obtaining documents from the country of origin. In practice, from two months to close to a year, under paragraph 3 of article 146.º.

Where it is the judge who orders placement in a centre, the limit was 30 days and also became 180, under subparagraph a) of paragraph 3 of article 160.º.

Detention is also reviewed by the court less often. Law no. 34/94, which governs the centres, required judicial review every eight days and set a ceiling of two months. The current wording spaces that review out to every 30 days and the two month ceiling is gone, under paragraph 2 of article 3.º.

There are two changes in a favourable direction. Article 5.º-A of the same law allows centres to operate under an open regime, with people coming and going and without continuous supervision, where there is no risk of absconding and no danger to public order. And in any case of detention, contact with the outside world and legal, social and medical support are guaranteed.

Article 142.º also added three measures to the list available to the judge:

• a security deposit or other financial guarantee;

• handing travel documents over to the authorities;

• placement in an open regime in a temporary installation centre.

Who cannot be removed from Portugal

Article 135.º still protects certain people from coercive removal and expulsion, but the requirements became stricter in three respects.

A person born in Portugal is no longer protected by the mere fact of living here. Residence in Portugal for at least five years is now required. The same five year requirement was added for a person who has been in Portugal since before the age of 10.

Where a person has minor children who are third country nationals, those children must now be lawfully resident in Portugal, not merely resident.

The exceptions to protection also widened. Previously, protection gave way only in cases of well founded suspicion or conviction for terrorism, sabotage or offences against national security. The current wording adds conviction to a prison sentence of five years or more for an offence listed in paragraph 2 of article 2.º of Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA on the European arrest warrant.

In the opposite direction, a favourable subparagraph was added. Protection now extends to a person with adult children who are genuinely dependent on them by reason of disability, serious illness or incapacity.

Screening reaches people already inside Portugal

Law no. 62/2026 added a procedure that did not exist before, set out in articles 40.º-G to 40.º-N. Screening is defined in subparagraph zz) of paragraph 1 of article 3.º as a compulsory primary assessment covering identification, collection of biometric data, medical examination, preliminary vulnerability check, security risk assessment and referral to the appropriate procedure.

The point that deserves attention is in subparagraph c) of paragraph 1 of article 40.º-G. Screening does not apply only to people intercepted at the border. It also applies to anyone staying irregularly already inside Portugal, where that person crossed an external border without authorisation and has not yet been screened.

During the procedure the person remains at the disposal of the authorities in a suitable location, with accommodation, access to health care and legal support guaranteed, under paragraph 1 of article 40.º-M. Paragraph 2 of the same article makes clear that screening does not amount to authorised entry and confers no right to stay. Oversight of respect for fundamental rights during screening falls to the Ombudsman, under article 40.º-N.

After deportation, returning to Portugal can take three years

Paragraph 4 of article 144.º provides that a person who leaves the territory under paragraph 1 of article 139.º or paragraph 1 of article 160.º is barred from entering and staying in Portugal for a period of up to three years.

The entry ban is calibrated according to the length of the irregular stay and takes into account breaches of the rules on entry and stay, the commission of criminal offences or breach of the duties attached to coercive measures, and being subject to more than one removal decision.

It is also worth noting that the duty to leave is recorded in the SII UCFE and entered in the Schengen Information System as a return alert, for a period of one year, under paragraph 7 of article 138.º. The effect is not confined to Portugal.

Lei do retorno, deportation and removal: the name and what the law says

Neither «lei do retorno» nor «deportation» is a term used by the law. The first is the name by which the statute became known, the second is the everyday word. The Portuguese word for return, retorno, does not appear once in the text of Law no. 62/2026: the term used is regresso, in connection with the border return procedure and with support for voluntary return. As for deportation, what exists are three distinct figures, each with its own authority and procedure.

• the duty to leave under article 138.º, an administrative notice to depart within a set period, with no court involvement;

• coercive removal under articles 145.º and following, ordered by the PSP on the ground of irregular entry or stay;

• judicial expulsion under articles 151.º and following, decided by a court, which may take the form of an ancillary penalty.

The distinction is not academic. It determines who decides, which deadlines run and what the route of challenge is. A coercive removal decision is notified with a statement of its grounds, of the right to judicial challenge and of the applicable time limit, under paragraph 2 of article 149.º.

Challenging the decision does not stop the removal, unless an urgent measure is requested

This is the point most often misunderstood, and it can cost the case to someone who is in the right.

Filing a challenge in the administrative court does not suspend the removal. A person may be taken out of the country while the case runs. That follows from paragraph 1 of article 150.º.

To stop the departure, an urgent measure must be requested from the court alongside the challenge. Paragraph 2 of the same article expressly preserves that right. Once suspension has been requested and the authority served, the administration is barred from carrying out the removal, unless it shows the court that the delay would seriously harm the public interest, under article 128.º of the Code of Procedure in the Administrative Courts.

In practice the choice of remedy decides whether the person stays in Portugal while the case runs. This is not a technical detail, it is the difference between arguing the case from inside the country or from the country of origin.

Two rights set out in the same article 150.º are often unknown and should be requested:

• legal aid, which covers the appointment of a lawyer for anyone without the means to pay one;

• translation and interpreting for the purposes of the judicial challenge.

People notified before 11 September

The new law says nothing about people already notified. Article 10.º provides a transitional regime only for asylum cases, which run under a different statute, and says nothing about removal cases. The general rules therefore apply, and they give two answers.

The period in an earlier notice does not change. Anyone served with a 10 to 20 day notice before 11 September keeps that period, because a law looks to the future and effects already produced are preserved, under article 12.º of the Civil Code.

The file itself does not lapse and does not start again, it transfers from AIMA to the PSP. When a body ceases to be competent, the file is passed of its own motion to the one that has become competent, under article 37.º of the Code of Administrative Procedure.

In practice, anyone with a pending file should confirm which authority now handles it, because that is where the next notifications will come from.

Frequently asked questions

What changed in Portugal's immigration law in 2026?

Law no. 62/2026, in force since 11 September, amended thirty articles of Law no. 23/2007. The three changes with the greatest practical effect concern removal: the notice for voluntary departure narrowed its scope, the PSP replaced AIMA as the authority that orders removal, and detention in an installation centre went from a maximum of 60 days to 180 days renewable.

On what grounds can someone be deported from Portugal?

The grounds are in article 134.º and the most common by far is entering or staying irregularly. The others are acting against national security or public order, threatening the interests or dignity of the State, having carried out acts that would have barred entry, serious grounds to believe serious criminal acts were committed, and circumventing the rules on entry and stay, in particular with false documents.

I was deported from Portugal, can I come back?

It depends on the ban imposed. A person who left under paragraph 1 of article 139.º or paragraph 1 of article 160.º is barred from entering for up to three years, under paragraph 4 of article 144.º. The duty to leave is also recorded in the Schengen Information System as a return alert for one year, so the effect is not confined to Portugal.

Is the lei do retorno this law?

Yes. That is the name by which Law no. 62/2026 of 10 September became known, although the word retorno does not appear in the statute. The law speaks of regresso, in connection with the border return procedure in articles 40.º-C to 40.º-F and with support for voluntary return in article 139.º.

Has the notice for voluntary departure been abolished?

The name has gone and the reach has narrowed. Article 138.º is now headed «duty to leave national territory» and no longer covers a person who is simply staying irregularly. It still applies to anyone served with a decision refusing an application to stay or reside, or cancelling a visa or permit.

Does someone staying irregularly stop being notified?

Such a person is no longer the addressee of the notice under paragraph 1 of article 138.º, which presupposes a prior administrative decision. A coercive removal procedure may still be opened by the PSP on the ground of irregular stay, under article 145.º, and screening may apply in the cases in subparagraph c) of paragraph 1 of article 40.º-G.

Did the deadline to leave get longer or shorter?

Longer. It went from 10 to 20 days up to 20 to 30 days in the notice under article 138.º. The period following a removal or expulsion decision stayed at 10 to 20 days, under article 160.º.

Can a removal decision be challenged?

Yes. The decision is notified with a statement of its grounds, of the right to judicial challenge and of the applicable time limit, under paragraph 2 of article 149.º. The challenge is brought before the administrative courts.

Does an appeal suspend the deportation?

Not on its own. The challenge under paragraph 1 of article 150.º has devolutive effect, which means enforcement does not stop while the case runs. Suspension depends on using the urgent procedures or those with suspensive effect provided for in administrative procedural law, preserved by paragraph 2 of the same article.

Are people notified before 11 September subject to the new rules?

The period in an earlier notice stands, because effects already produced are preserved. The file itself transfers from AIMA to the PSP, which has become the competent authority.

Did the law change family reunification?

No. Articles 98.º to 108.º of Law no. 23/2007, which govern family reunification, are not among the articles amended by Law no. 62/2026.

What to do on receiving a notice

Each of the procedures described runs on short deadlines counted in days, and time starts from service of the notice, not from the moment the document is read or understood. Documents from AIMA and from the PSP are issued in Portuguese, which means the days often start running before the content is clear to the person concerned. Missing the deadline to react closes the judicial route and turns a contestable decision into a final one.

If you have received a notice from AIMA or from the PSP, have the complete document to hand, with every page, together with the envelope or proof of delivery, which is what fixes the date, and the documents that show your ties to Portugal: length of stay, employment contract, social security contributions, school enrolment of children and the composition of your household. Get in touch with the firm before the deadline runs.

For situations still at the application stage rather than the removal stage, the articles on the Portugal work visa and on the D7 visa may be useful, as well as the page on legalisation of foreign nationals. On the residence period required for citizenship, changed in 2026 by a separate statute, there is the comparative summary of the new nationality law.