Portugal’s official gazette, the Diário da República, has published the law that everyone here has been calling the Lei do Retorno, the “return law.” Technically it amends three existing laws: on foreigners, on asylum, and on detention centers. The headlines of the past few weeks have been alarming: “fast-track deportations,” “children expelled,” “a year in detention.” Here is what the law actually says, who it affects, and what to do if that includes you.
First things first: if you have a residence permit, this barely touches you
The word “deportation” in the headlines does not mean every foreigner in Portugal is now at risk. The law is written for people who have no legal basis to stay. A valid residence permit, whether for work, study, family reunification or anything else, is not by itself grounds for removal. EU citizens and their families live under separate rules, and the law leaves them alone too. A tourist within the permitted stay has even less to worry about.
People waiting on a renewal are a separate case. What matters is whether you filed on time and whether you can prove it. While your application is pending, you are in the country legally. Keep every receipt and every letter from AIMA (the immigration agency).
One caveat: the law does more than rewrite the removal rules. It also amends some of the conditions for getting a residence permit or a visa. So if you are about to apply for the first time, renew, or switch to a different type of permit, check what has changed for your specific situation.
Whose lives the law actually changes
People turned away at the border. Until now this was simply a refusal: you were put on the next flight back. Now there is a formal return procedure for these cases, with checks and deadlines.
People living in Portugal with no legal basis to stay. For example, someone whose permit was definitively refused, not renewed or revoked, and who stayed anyway. Be careful here: an expired card or paperwork still in progress does not make you “illegal.” What counts is how you entered, what you applied for, and what decisions have been made on your case. But if there genuinely is no basis to stay, the new procedure applies: screening and, as a last resort, detention, and the time limits there have changed.
Asylum seekers. The rules change for how applications are handled at the border, how long people can be held, how a refusal is appealed, and which EU country is responsible for a claim.
Foreign parents of Portuguese-citizen children. Until now these parents were close to untouchable. The law now carves out exceptions to that protection for people who have committed certain crimes or pose a threat to security or public order. Not having a residence permit is not one of those exceptions: the mere absence of documents cannot be the reason a parent is removed.
Foreign children born in Portugal. Being born here used to protect a child from removal. Now that protection kicks in after five years of living in Portugal. A child under five does not fall under this particular guarantee. That does not mean automatic removal: the authorities must weigh the child’s interests, the family’s circumstances, health, and what awaits the child in the destination country.
What exactly changes
Screening on arrival
Anyone who arrives without grounds to enter, or is found in the country illegally, is now formally screened (triagem in Portuguese). Authorities establish identity and nationality, find out where the person came from and how, check whether they may need international protection, and look for vulnerabilities: age, health, children, pregnancy.
During screening the person must remain at the authorities’ disposal. The standard limit is seven days at the border and three days if the person is found inside the country. Extensions are possible only in exceptional cases, with written justification and under court supervision.
The Constitutional Court made a point of saying this is not arrest. The person is not locked in a cell but kept within reach while the authorities work out who they are and what happens next.
Detention: from 60 days to up to a year
This is the harshest change. While a removal is being processed, a person can be placed in a detention center (Portugal has them, for example, at Lisbon airport and in Porto). The limit used to be 60 days. Now the base period is 180 days, and if the person does not cooperate or their home country drags its feet on travel documents, it can be extended by another 180. That adds up to 360 days.
What this does not mean: that anyone without papers will automatically spend a year in detention. The Constitutional Court listed the conditions without which it cannot happen:
- the decision is made by a judge, not the police or AIMA;
- only in situations explicitly described in the law;
- only if milder measures, such as regular check-ins or surrendering a passport, do not work;
- for exactly as long as necessary, not “to the maximum”;
- the court must regularly review whether detention is still needed.
The court called detention a last resort, not the rule.
Asylum seekers face a separate ground for extension: another 180 days if they appeal a refusal in court. The Constitutional Court reviewed this provision too and did not find a violation.
Children and parents
Children are the reason President António José Seguro did not sign the law right away but sent it to the Constitutional Court with eleven questions. He was concerned about the provisions on:
- foreign children under five born in Portugal;
- children seeking asylum;
- accompanied and unaccompanied minors;
- foreign parents of Portuguese-citizen children.
The court found no violations. But in a ruling of more than 160 pages it spelled out how these provisions must work, and that explanation is effectively an instruction manual for the authorities.
Neither a child nor a parent is removed automatically. A refusal of entry or a refusal of asylum does not in itself mean removal; those are two separate decisions. Before taking the second one, the authorities must weigh the circumstances of the specific family and the child’s interests. Any such decision can be challenged in court, and the court must review it. Detaining children is an exceptional measure that must take account of the child’s age and vulnerability.
Even where the law in principle allows a parent to be removed, the authorities must explain why an exception applies to them and assess what will happen to the child and the family. “They don’t have a residence permit” is not a substitute for that assessment.
Why now
Since June 12, 2026, the EU’s new Pact on Migration and Asylum has been in force across the bloc: common rules for external borders, screening of arrivals, and processing asylum claims. Every member state has to bring its laws into line. Portugal did it in a single document, which is why borders, detention centers and asylum all ended up in the same text: that is how the pact itself is structured. Screening, returns from the border, long detention periods: these are European rules, not a Portuguese invention.
How the law was passed
Parliament voted on July 17: in favor were the governing PSD–CDS coalition plus the liberals of IL; Chega abstained; every left-wing party voted against. On August 7, President Seguro sent the text to the Constitutional Court, questioning whether the measures were proportionate and children adequately protected. On August 28 the court ruled unanimously, thirteen votes to none, that there were no violations, and noted separately that this text differs substantially from the 2025 version the court had rejected. On August 31 the president signed the law.
What to do if this affects you
If you or someone close to you is living here without a legal basis to stay. The first step is to find out whether there is a path to legal status for you and what it requires. Do not assume that filing any application will make your stay legal; that is not how it works. Go to a lawyer or an organization that helps migrants, for example CPR (the Portuguese Refugee Council) if the issue is asylum. If you have a child who is a Portuguese citizen, gather everything that shows you live with the child, support them and raise them. That is what will be examined when the family’s situation is assessed.
If you have a valid residence permit or are waiting on a renewal. There is nothing urgent to do. Keep to the conditions of your permit and hold on to proof of every document you have filed. The new return rules do not cancel your status. The changes to how permits are granted and renewed are a different matter, though, and worth reading up on before your next application.
