As a safeguard against the constraints caused to the development of the administrative activity as a result of the pandemic situation decreed in 2020, it was necessary and urgent to promote regulatory norms and measures to deal with the difficulties that affected most sectors of activity in the country, as well as all public and private services that immediately found themselves unable to promote them with the usual diligence.

In response to these difficulties, in March 2020 the Presidency of the Council of Ministers published several Decree-Laws and Orders in an attempt to adapt the previously binding legal regimes to the situation. Among these legal regimes was the one relating to the Entry, Stay, Exit and Removal of Foreigners from National Territory, more specifically with regard to the defined legal deadlines that attest to the validity of documents related to the stay in national territory, being at the time determined that the validity of such documents was maintained, regardless of whether their deadline had expired.

This measure has been maintained since then with successive revalidations, and Decree-Law no. 109/2023 of 24 November came now into force on 1 January 2024, establishing the Extension of the Validity of Visas and Residence Permits.

Article 4 of this Decree-Law decrees that documents and visas relating to residence in national territory that expire from the 17th of December 2023 will be accepted under the same terms until 30 June 2024. On the other hand, even after that date and provided that the holder proves to have already made an appointment for their renewal, these documents will remain valid before any Public Authority.