Four Guinean Students Still Held at Humberto Delgado in Second Documentation Standoff This Month — Five Already Sent Back to Bissau, One Admitted, PSP Files Under Review

A group of four Guinea-Bissau students remains held in the international zone of Lisbon's Aeroporto Humberto Delgado, in what is the second case in April 2026 of young people from the West African country being denied entry to Portugal on alleged documentation grounds.

According to reporting by Lusa and Público, the four are part of a wider group of ten Guinean nationals who arrived on Thursday and Friday last week on flights operated by TAP Air Portugal and EuroAtlantic Airways. Of the ten, five have already returned to Bissau after being denied entry, one was authorised to enter Portuguese territory, and four remain in the airport's holding facility while their cases are reviewed.

Why the PSP is refusing entry

The reason, in each case, is the alleged absence of complete documentation. In one of the files reviewed, the missing element is the proof of payment of tuition fees at the Portuguese institution where the student had been admitted. Other cases involve documentation gaps related to means of subsistence and accommodation, which under the Schengen Borders Code can be grounds for refusal of entry.

Border control at the Humberto Delgado airport is operated by the Polícia de Segurança Pública (PSP), which took over the function from the now-extinct SEF.

The earlier April case

Earlier this month, a separate cohort of eight Guinean students was held in the same airport zone for similar reasons. Most were eventually allowed to proceed after producing additional paperwork or having their cases re-evaluated by the authorities.

That case prompted a public statement from the Government of Guinea-Bissau, which described the detentions as “retention” and called on Lisbon to ensure that students with documented places at Portuguese universities are processed in a timely manner. Solidarity demonstrations were held in Lisbon to demand the students' release.

A wider pattern

The Lisbon airport border is one of the busiest air gateways into the Schengen area for travellers from Portuguese-speaking Africa (PALOP), and Guinea-Bissau in particular sends thousands of students to Portuguese-language higher-education institutions each year. The two April cases come on top of repeated reports over recent months of CPLP-origin passengers being held for hours or days while documents are checked.

The pattern coincides with the European Council's recent finding of “grave deficiencies” at the Lisbon and Porto airport borders during the Schengen evaluation cycle, which has put pressure on Portuguese authorities to tighten checks at first entry — a tightening that, in practice, has fallen most heavily on travellers from the African Lusophone countries.

What happens next

Each of the four students still held has the right to file an internal review with the PSP and, in parallel, to seek judicial protection through a habeas corpus request before the Lisbon courts. The Guinean authorities have already requested clarifications from the Portuguese Government on the criteria being applied at the border, and have signalled that they intend to raise the matter through diplomatic channels and within the CPLP framework.

Civil-society organisations supporting Guinean students in Portugal say they will continue to monitor each individual case and to provide legal aid where requested.