The ordinance that changes the requirements for admission to the training course for Federal Police agents was published in the Official Gazette of the Union.

"Not having completed 35 years of age, or, in the case of workers holding a legal public employment contract for an indefinite period, in the form of an employment contract in public functions or appointment, not having completed 40 years of age, in both cases until the end of the calendar year in which the competition opens" are the new requirements for admission to the PSP agent course.

According to the ordinance, signed by the Minister of Internal Administration, Margarida Blasco, Portuguese nationality and at least 18 years old remain requirements.

The Government justifies the changes to the ordinance after around three years with the "updating of the rules on publicising the competition procedure, on the deadlines and form of submission of applications and on carrying out selection methods", as well as by the "revision of admission requirements in order to allow selection based on a broader universe of candidates".

In 2022, when new requirements to enter the PSP came into force, the maximum and minimum ages were also changed, increasing admission from 19 to 18 years of age (the minimum age) and from 27 to 30 (the maximum age), in addition of having allowed young people who are in their 12th year of schooling to enter training.

With the new rules, there is also no longer a minimum height for entry into the PSP.

In recent years there have been fewer and fewer PSP candidates. In the 1990s there were more than 16,000 candidates and in 2012 there were more than 10,000, now less than 3,000.

Last year, the PSP held a competition for reserve registration for admission to the agent training course and 2,800 young people competed.

Data sent to Lusa at the time showed that 2,865 candidates had applied for the agent course, 178 fewer than in 2023, when 3,043 applied, 640 fewer than in 2022 (3,505), 2,709 fewer than in 2021 (5,574) and less 321 than in 2020 (3,186).

The ordinance also says that in the competition for admission to the PSP agent course, physical, knowledge and psychological assessment tests, professional selection interviews and medical examinations are used as selection methods.

According to the document, the results of the psychological evaluation are valid for 24 months, up until now 18.