The powers of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) have been transferred to seven bodies, with police officers passing to the PSP, GNR and PJ, while administrative functions related to foreign citizens will go to the new agency and Institute of Registration and Notary Office (IRN), with the Borders and Foreigners Coordination Unit also being created, which will operate under the authority of the secretary general of the Internal Security System, in addition to some inspectors also being transferred to the Tax Authority.

Here are some questions and answers about the end of SEF and the transition of skills.

- When was it decided to close SEF?

The separation between police functions and the functions of authorising immigrant documentation was foreseen in the program of the previous PS Government, but it was after the death of a Ukrainian citizen in the SEF facilities at Lisbon airport that the former Minister of Internal Administration, Eduardo Cabrita, announced the restructuring of this service.

The end of SEF was approved by the Assembly of the Republic on October 22, 2021.

On November 25 of this year, parliament voted to postpone the extinction of SEF until May 2022 as a result of a bill presented by the PS due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the end of April 2022, the current Government postponed, for the second time, the extinction of the Foreigners and Borders Service until the creation of the Portuguese Agency for Migration and Asylum (APMA), the name that was given at the time to what later came to be known as the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA).

- When did the Government approve the current reform?

On April 6th of this year, the Government approved the creation of the Portuguese Agency for Minorities, Migrations and Asylum and the transition regime for workers in the Foreigners and Borders Service.

On May 24, the President of the Republic promulgated the Government's diplomas, foreseeing difficulties in the initial phase of the new agency, taking into account the pending residence permit processes.

- Where do SEF employees go?

Non-police employees go to the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum and the Institute of Registration and Notary.

The inspectors will be transferred to the Judiciary Police, with some temporarily staying at the PSP and GNR. There are also inspectors who can go to the Tax Authority, AIMA and the Borders and Foreigners Coordination Unit.

- How many inspectors go to the PJ?

The Judiciary Police will immediately have 390 inspectors. According to the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI), 789 officers from the inspection and supervision career and five from the surveillance and security career are transferred to the PJ.

Of the 789 inspectors placed in the PJ, 404 will be “temporarily assigned to the security forces”, 324 of which in the PSP and 80 in the GNR, a regime that can last up to two years.

- How many inspectors go to the Borders and Foreigners Coordination Unit, AIMA and Tax Authority (AT)?

To date, it is unknown how many there are, with MAI claiming that the number of elements to be placed in these institutions will be defined "at a later stage”.

- What will the PSP do?

The Public Security Police are responsible for monitoring, inspecting and controlling airport borders, as well as managing temporary installation centres at airports.

At PSP, the Organic Airport Security and Border Control Unit was created, which will be responsible for controlling the entry and exit of people into the country by air and for security at airports.

Currently, the PSP has 400 police trained in border control and 62 air escorts.

- What will the GNR do?

The Republican National Guard will be responsible for monitoring, inspecting and controlling maritime and land borders, including cruise terminals. For this purpose, the current GNR Coastal Control Unit will be renamed the GNR Coastal and Border Control Unit.

The GNR currently has 235 trained officers.

- What skills are transferred to the PJ?

The PJ has reserved competence in investigating illegal immigration and human trafficking.

- What is the organisation of the Borders and Foreigners Coordination Unit?

This unit, already nicknamed “mini-SEF”, will operate under the authority of the secretary general of the Internal Security System, Paulo Vizeu Pinheiro, and will be responsible for coordinating the actions of the police among themselves and between these forces and the IRN and AIMA, ensuring respective cooperation and coordination in matters of movement of people, return and control of people at the border.

The unit, which will be headed by a general coordinator, whose name is not yet known, will also manage police databases and information systems in matters of borders and foreigners and international police cooperation.

- What is AIMA?

The Agency for Integration, Migrations and Asylum will succeed SEF and the High Commission for Migrations, which is also abolished.

AIMA is responsible for administrative functions related to foreign citizens in Portugal, namely residence permits and refugees.

The High Commission for Migration will be responsible for the reception and integration of immigrants in Portugal.

AIMA will inherit from SEF around 300,000 pending immigrant legalization processes.

590 workers from SEF's general and IT careers will be transferred to AIMA. The ACM has approximately 190 employees.

This transfer of competence takes place at a time when more than a million immigrants live in Portugal.

- What will the IRN do?

The IRN now ensures the competencies in granting and issuing the Portuguese electronic passport and handling renewals of residence permits.

75 non-police workers from the SEF go to the IRN.

- What will happen to the SEF facilities?

The SEF facilities that exist in the country will be transferred to the services that assume their responsibilities, but so far the fate of the building where the SEF headquarters is located, in Porto Salvo (municipality of Oeiras, district of Lisbon) is still unknown.