I arrived back in Lisbon (from outside schengen) this evening, why?
Do you have a residency card? How were the EES gates?
Yes, I do have a residence card and uk passport.
Straight thru e-gates (theyâve been changed recently to a more modern type) they didnât stamp my passport afterwards, no questions. Seems to be a combined lane for Biometric passports (UK, USA, Canada etc) and EU now thru the e-gates.
I left Portugal on last Sunday thru manual gates, flashed up I had overstayed, but showed my card and the officer said it was fine.
I read about your concerns, be polite, tell the truth, youâre not the problem theyâre looking for.
1 Like
Did you explain that you are exempt from EES to bypass biometrics?
But ultimately itâs still up to the immigration officer, no? Like presumably if it flags you as overstaying and youâre going in or out of Lisbon/Porto, then you would end up talking to the agent and could then show the expired card or pending application or.. whatever, as before. Right? Or am I missing something?
Probably yes. Just now you have a much higher chance of being caught-out (computer knows everything about your days)⌠then you have to have that discussion with the border Agent and hope theyâre understanding.
I wouldnât be surprised if the Agent also has to document why they let you through, despite the computer saying youâve overstayed. Does the Agent feel like putting the effort into doing that, perhaps risking getting flagged by the system if they offer âtoo manyâ free passes?
No, the machine didnât ask for fingerprint, so there was no need.
Iâve been through the Lisbon schengen border 6 times this year, the wait is now longer, the officers log more information, there are displays outside each booth displaying the number of days you have been inside schengen, but Iâve not been asked to submit my fingerprints yet.
Crikey, they really are going all-out on this 
Apparently sometimes the computer is wrong?
Thanks for the tip.
I will give it a try.
Actually, now that you put it that way, it seems laughable that PT would try to adopt EES without getting their house in order re: AIMA. Itâs been five years now and thereâs still no sign of them improving at all, let alone approaching anything functional. How can they possibly expect to be compliant when a huge portion of their legal residents will have expired cards, etc..
4 Likes
Lisbon airport lines have been a shitshow since the rollout. Entry and Exit immigration lines of 2-4 hours.
Another perfect example of EUâs self sabotage tendencies.
That is how it starts.
I remember US Immigration when ESTA was introduced.
Be patient, manually stamping passports is obsolete.
Unfortunate timing because everyone and his brother wants to travel to Europe rather than the USA right now.
1 Like
Youâre viewing this as a problem, but Chega (maybe PSD too) views it as a solution: immigrants leave on a âtemporaryâ trip, but then canât get back in? Fewer immigrants!
I left the Schengen area (Paris CDG) a couple of months ago with an expired residence permit and came back today through Porto Airport using the same expired permit. Immigration officers didnât ask any questions on either occasion.
3 Likes
Does your passport carry an âautomaticâ visa or do you require a visa to enter schengen?
Yes, i do need one
1 Like
Just went through the self service at Lisbon to fly to the UK. No problems or questions.
Iâm well over my 90 days and havenât got my first residency card yet.
2 Likes
Fwiw, as a data point, my husband and I were able to enter the eu in Frankfurt, from a US flight, connecting to a flight to Portugal, as portuguese residents, using our expired golden visa residency cards, today, on April 5. We have US passports and are just trying to save our 90/180 tourist days. We printed a letter explaining though the card had expired, the permit validity had been extended by decree, but he didnât want to look at it. Our cards expired in March 2025.
2 Likes
So German immigration had no issue with PT residence cards that are over a year expired?
Not in the least, surprisingly. The immigration agent even told me to use the EU citizen line next time. I think my us passport helped. But Iâm sure I entered as a resident, no fingerprints or photos. As I mentioned, he didnât even want to look at my letter of explanation that I spent hours crafting and translated into German, or the aima application receipt, etc. so that part was actually a little bit of a let downâŚBut it was low stakes, just us trying to preserve our tourist days on our us passports (we travel a lot)
We departed the eu from Madrid a few months earlier, but still on an expired card, and had a similar letter in Spanish, that the agent glanced at, and I was able to depart as a resident, though the ees machines werenât working, so wasnât sure if that was the reason.
1 Like