Portuguese Residency: Part 2 – SEF and Cards

The final step in securing temporary residency in Portugal – the SEF interview.

In Part 1 I discussed the notable parts of our D7 Visa application process. Here I’ll discuss our experience at the Lisbon SEF office.

The Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras (SEF) was the agency handling our residence-permit appointments in 2022. After receiving our D7 visas, I thought we were pretty much done. Nope.

Once we arrived in Portugal, we waited four months for our SEF appointments in September 2022. Originally, our four appointments were all on different days in different cities across Portugal. Thankfully, our consultant at Relocate To Portugal rescheduled our appointments to be in Lisbon, three on one day and the tiniest human on the following day.

What To Bring.

There are specific forms you need to fill out and bring along with recent bank statements from your Portuguese bank showing your income. The rest are things we used for our D7 Visa. Again, our friends at RTP walked me through each of our applications line by line and page by page to ensure we had everything the clerk would possibly ask for.

At the time, we were advised to get our número de utente, or SNS number, before the SEF appointment so it could be included on the card. Don’t assume today’s card or appointment works the same way. For current health registration and coverage, start with the official ACSS guidance and confirm what your local health center needs. These independent guides offer additional background:

• How To Register for Portuguese Healthcare & Get a Número de Utente
• How to Get an SNS Number in Portugal [2023 Guide]

Our Experience.

It was frustrating.

Day One – Tiny Human 1, Mr. Scribbles, and I had back-to-back 30-minute appointments starting at 10:00 AM. We were told that it might be possible for Tiny Human 2 to also be processed at the same time because he was a baby, even though his appointment was the next morning.

So, we brought the whole family down to one of the Lisbon SEF offices, 30 minutes early and waited. We would continue to wait for almost two hours before being seen. And when we were seen, they absolutely would not process Tiny Human 2’s application with the rest of ours. So, we took Tiny Human 2 out of daycare for no reason and we were all quite peeved.

This SEF office had a chaotic playroom for kids with loads of craft supplies and “well loved” toys. If you’re OCD, don’t look. It had two or three vending machines selling coffee, drinks, and snacks. Bring small change because the machine didn’t take large bills.

Day Two – Tiny Human 2 and I returned to the same office. This time we arrived when the office opens because apparently it didn’t matter what time your appointment was scheduled for. We were seen about 30 minutes after opening and it went smoothly.

In the end, the SEF part of the process was the least stressful.

Temporary Resident Cards.

Less than one month after our SEF appointments, our temporary resident cards arrived in the mail. WHOOHOOO! We’re official and we could stop carrying around our passports.

What happened after the first cards?

Read our later renewal story and what we paid for healthcare. If you’re still at the planning stage, my free checklist covers the questions to organize before you leave.

If you’d like to talk through the practical side of your own move, I offer one-on-one Portugal calls: €95 for 60 minutes. I share what we’ve learned from living here; legal, tax and investment decisions belong with qualified professionals.