The British expats stuck in Portuguese limbo

“There is nowhere to call for help, no helpline. Once you have fallen down a crack, you are basically stuck” says James Campbell
“There is nowhere to call for help, no helpline. Once you have fallen down a crack, you are basically stuck” says James Campbell

The English and Portuguese have officially been friends for longer than any other two peoples on Earth. Think ancient bonds between sea-faring nations, the support of Wellington’s soldiers in the fight against Napoleon, holidays in the Algarve and a shared love of Mateus Rosé - and port.

In fact, Portugal was once one of the easiest places for Brits to move to, with a very relaxed resident registry process and British expats happily driving around the country in cars with UK plates. But post-Brexit, relations have soured, particularly for the many expat Britons who are officially residents of Portugal, but have yet to be issued with the paperwork to prove it.

Samantha Lowe experienced such difficulties first hand as she rushed her six-month-old daughter Evie to an A&E unit in the Algarve to be treated for the dangerous RSV virus - all the while terrified that the hospital might not admit her baby girl.

“I still didn’t have a birth certificate for Evie or her twin brother Alvey,” Lowe explains as she recalls how her family’s new life in Portugal became a Kafkaesque nightmare as the country’s administrators failed to equip them and other British residents with workable paperwork after Brexit.

“In the end, we had to get a lawyer just so we could register the twins’ births. It took 10 months. On many levels the babies didn’t really exist,” she added. “RSV is an awful virus and. for five days last December, Evie needed to be put on oxygen and a feeding tube at a private hospital that had a good paediatric unit. Luckily, they let us in.”

Subsequently a nearby public hospital agreed to monitor the twins’ health, but there were always questions about the paperwork.

Samantha Lowe and her twins
Samantha Lowe and her twins

Lowe is among some 35,000 British people who were legally registered as residents in Portugal before Brexit took effect in January 2021 and who have since run into what they call “a bureaucratic brick wall”.

Under the Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and European Union, while British citizens wanting to visit an EU country were restricted to a maximum stay of 90 days within a 180-day period, those with residency status were to have a full range of rights. The Portuguese government promised that British expats already calling Portugal home would be provided with biometric ID residency cards confirming those rights.

But, according to Tig James, co-president of the British in Portugal association, Portugal is “wilfully, deliberately and systemically not adhering to the withdrawal agreement”.

The result is that many Britons - living in what is one of Europe’s most attractive boltholes - have found themselves unable to drive or change jobs, or denied basic services such as healthcare. This is further compounded by having to jump through various hoops to collect a package from the post office, for instance, or access a new bank card.

James believes it’s “embarrassing and ironic” that British residents of Portugal are being treated so badly when the two countries remain bound by the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373. This established “perpetual friendships, unions [and] alliances” between the two nations and is the world’s oldest continuous treaty in effect to this day.

Tig James
Tig James

This welcoming of Brits was just one of the reasons why Samantha Lowe moved from Nottinghamshire to the Algarve resort of Praia da Luz in February 2020 with her husband, who intended to work remotely, and their two school-age children. They were drawn to Portugal’s “more relaxed pace of life” and “sense of community values”.

Like other British citizens residing legally in Portugal prior to Brexit, she used her existing residency permit to apply for a post-Brexit ID card, and was given a document acknowledging the application with a QR code issued by SEF, Portugal’s immigration and borders service.

Then their twins were born. “When we went to register the twins we showed them the QR code document and they said this was not proof of anything - just an application for residency - and they sent us back to SEF,” Lowe explains. “SEF said the registry office had to accept the document. The different agencies didn’t seem to be listening to each other.”

Helped by a local solicitor, the twins were duly registered and issued with valid documentation - and earlier this summer the family felt able to leave Portugal and introduce the twins, now 15 months old, to their grandparents in Mansfield.

While SEF insists that the temporary QR code ID is a valid travel document, many other British residents of Portugal have found it closes doors rather than keeping them open.

“People are being stopped by border guards in every single country, their papers taken off them and being thrown to the floor, because they are simply not the Withdrawal Agreement biometric ID that was promised,” says Tig James.

The problem became very real for Alan (surname withheld) and his wife, a British-South African couple from near Lisbon, who are facing criminal prosecution in Germany for illegal entry into the country when transiting to the Seychelles, thinking the QR code would be sufficient.

“The border guard kept on saying ‘It doesn’t matter what the Portuguese government tells you. You’re documents have expired,’ and he was right,” Alan, who had to pay €4,000 euros to return to Portugal and rearrange the journey, told local media.

James Campbell, a 27-year-old computer programmer, has not risked travelling outside Portugal since he left London for Lisbon in 2020.

“I was attracted to Portugal because after 2016, there was a massive turnaround in the economy, and a lot of goodwill toward foreigners,”  says Campbell.“That goodwill is now being burned off because of things that would be easy to fix.”

Post-Brexit, relations have soured, particularly for the many expat Britons who are officially residents of Portugal, but have yet to be issued with the paperwork to prove it - PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA
Post-Brexit, relations have soured, particularly for the many expat Britons who are officially residents of Portugal, but have yet to be issued with the paperwork to prove it - PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA

Campbell lost his right to healthcare in Portugal after he changed address; the new health centre didn’t accept his interim residency ID, meaning treatment for a broken thumb cost him €4,000 at a private clinic. He has a car parked in the street but is unable to use it as he is being asked for an import tax, even though vehicles from Britain should be exempt.

“There is nowhere to call for help, no helpline. Once you have fallen down a crack, you are basically stuck,” he adds.

A spokesperson for SEF insisted that the QR code “allows [UK residents] to travel, serves as proof of their residence in Portugal and guarantees access to public health and social services”.

SEF also said it has started to contact British nationals living in Madeira and the Azores to schedule appointments to provide their biometric data and was preparing to roll out a “cooperation protocol” with the town halls of mainland municipalities Cascais and Loulé in order to provide the documentation of British nationals under the Withdrawal Agreement.

According to Tig James, this will benefit a few thousand British citizens, but leaves the majority stuck in a “catch 22” unless the UK or EU authorities can pressurise Portugal’s government to take immediate action.

She is planning to address the European Commission in September to present a dossier of the manifold issues, but insists she will be doing so via video link. “I daren’t go to Brussels in case I get detained. I’m not getting on a plane with an expired residency card and that QR code.”

A spokesperson for the UK Government said it had raised the issue with the Portuguese government and is pushing for a quick resolution of this issue. “Portugal must immediately and fully implement the Withdrawal Agreement commitments it signed up to in 2018 so UK nationals have the security they need,” the statement said.

Interestingly, next year will mark the 650th anniversary of the signing of the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty. Britons resident in Portugal will - no doubt - be hoping it happens by then.