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The frontage of the Sete Rios coach terminal in Lisbon on a clear day, with a Rede Expressos ticket office and a coach waiting at the kerb

More Irregular Migrants Are Reaching Lisbon and Porto by Coach and Train, and the PSP Is Watching the Terminals

Secondary movement inside Schengen is now the borders unit's main worry, ahead of the external frontier. For many of those arriving, Portugal is a staging post rather than a destination.

The Portugal Brief 13 Sep 2026

The departures concourse at Lisbon Humberto Delgado airport, with overhead signs reading partidas, departures and terminal 2

Portugal Has 130 Places to Hold the People It Plans to Remove, and the PSP Wants 306 by Late 2027

The head of the national foreigners and borders unit told Lusa the estate meets Portugal's obligations today. The return law that came into force on Friday lets people be held in it for up to 360 days.

The Portugal Brief 13 Sep 2026

Whitewashed gable walls and terracotta tiled roofs of houses in a Portuguese village against a deep blue sky, with overhead cables and a television aerial.

Building Work on Your Own House in Portugal in 2026: A Practical Guide to the 10 Square Metre Shed, the 1.8 Metre Wall, and What Needs No Council Permission

Portuguese law exempts more domestic building work from council control than its reputation suggests, and the 2024 Simplex reform widened it further. The measurements that decide it, the heritage rule that cancels the whole list, and the fines if you get it wrong.

The Portugal Brief 13 Sep 2026

Rows of pear trees heavy with fruit in an orchard at Bombarral in the Oeste, with a trellised orchard covering the hillside behind under a blue sky.

Portugal Moved the Deadline for Fruit and Vegetable Funding Programmes to 30 September, Four Days Before the Old One Fell

The seventh amendment to a 2023 ordinance concedes in its own preamble that a 15 September deadline landed in the middle of the harvest and had repeatedly needed extending. It took effect the day after publication.

The Portugal Brief 13 Sep 2026

An aerial view of Lisbon showing the runways of Humberto Delgado Airport running through the city, the Tagus estuary, the Vasco da Gama bridge and the Montijo airfield on the far bank.

Portugal Ratified the EU's Open-Skies Agreements With Ukraine and Armenia, and the Ukrainian Sky They Cover Has Been Shut to Civil Aircraft Since 2022

Two one-page decrees in Friday's gazette carry 103 pages of treaty text between them. The Ukraine deal opens in three stages and ends with EU carriers flying inside Ukraine, but EASA still advises operators to stay out of the airspace until 2027.

The Portugal Brief 13 Sep 2026

Traffic in motion blur on both carriageways of the A20 motorway in Porto, under gantry signs for Matosinhos, Leixões and Viana do Castelo.

After a Car Accident in Portugal in 2026: A Practical Guide to the Declaração Amigável, the Eight Days to Tell Your Insurer, and the Fundo de Garantia Automóvel

Signing a declaração amigável at the roadside halves every deadline your insurer is working to. What the law guarantees: two working days to first contact, thirty to a decision, eight to payment, double-rate interest when they are late, and 200 euros a day for a missing reasoned reply.

The Portugal Brief 12 Sep 2026

A red Mercedes fire appliance lettered BOMBEIROS NAZARÉ on a Portuguese street, ladders on the roof and two more Nazaré appliances parked behind it.

Portugal Budgeted 1.01 Million Euros for Three Months of Volunteer Fire Brigade Fuel, and Two District Federations Say None of It Has Landed

A March decree-law promised 10 cents a litre, converted into 360 euros a heavy appliance. The IMT rules took until 17 July and applications closed on 28 August. On Saturday Setúbal and Vila Real said the money still has not arrived, and diesel goes up again on Monday.

The Portugal Brief 12 Sep 2026

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