# Please help! Does anyone know what a "Número do Título de Residência (9 caracteres)" is?



## Bob1961

Hello Expats!

I am trying to renew my Portuguese residency card, on the SEF website (I am a U.S. citizen).

To enter the renewal area of the site, requires a user name and password, which I have, plus this 
"Número do Título de Residência (9 caracteres)".

I would assume, in the context of renewing a card, that this is the number of the previous residence card. But mine (which was issued in 2015) only has a 6 digit number. 

Maybe after 2015 the residency card was changed to 9 digits, and the SEF site is not set up to handle an older (6 digit) card?

I tired adding three zeros at the front...and tried three zeros at the end...no joy either way.

Of course, calling or emailing SEF is an exercise in futility...I have been doing both (almost daily) for 3 months...they do not respond.

So, if anyone can help clarify this, it would be a very big help!

Thank you very much, in advance, for any help that you can offer!

Best Regards,

Bob


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## proud.to.be.EUROPEAN

Correct, this is number on card, top right corner. There is also 6 digit number on bottom of card, not sure what is for.
9 digit number is mix of numbers and letters. Do you have any previous correspondence from SEF, email or post, it might have this number listed in reference. Is your card saying on top "Titulo de Residencia"?


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## Bob1961

Hello, proud.to.be.EUROPEAN,

Thank you for your reply!

My card is from 2015, and it is a small paper tri-fold, not the newer plastic ID card that SEF is issuing. 

But, your information is helpful, so that I now at least know what number they are asking for! 

To answer your question, My "card" is titled "Cartao de Residencia".

Thank you for your help in understanding what the number is, proud.to.be.EUROPEAN! 

Have a good evening!

Bob


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## Marga2020

Bob1961 said:


> Hello Expats!
> 
> I am trying to renew my Portuguese residency card, on the SEF website (I am a U.S. citizen).
> 
> To enter the renewal area of the site, requires a user name and password, which I have, plus this
> "Número do Título de Residência (9 caracteres)".
> 
> I would assume, in the context of renewing a card, that this is the number of the previous residence card. But mine (which was issued in 2015) only has a 6 digit number.
> 
> Maybe after 2015 the residency card was changed to 9 digits, and the SEF site is not set up to handle an older (6 digit) card?
> 
> I tired adding three zeros at the front...and tried three zeros at the end...no joy either way.
> 
> Of course, calling or emailing SEF is an exercise in futility...I have been doing both (almost daily) for 3 months...they do not respond.
> 
> So, if anyone can help clarify this, it would be a very big help!
> 
> Thank you very much, in advance, for any help that you can offer!
> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> Bob





Bob1961 said:


> Hello, proud.to.be.EUROPEAN,
> 
> Thank you for your reply!
> 
> My card is from 2015, and it is a small paper tri-fold, not the newer plastic ID card that SEF is issuing.
> 
> But, your information is helpful, so that I now at least know what number they are asking for!
> 
> To answer your question, My "card" is titled "Cartao de Residencia".
> 
> Thank you for your help in understanding what the number is, proud.to.be.EUROPEAN!
> 
> Have a good evening!
> 
> Bob


Hi Bob! How are you!! 
Did you fine the solution!??! I have the exact same problem! I got mum Cartão de Residência in 2015 and expired in March 2020! 🙁 (and is the old format, carton! And not plastic!) I hope you can help me!!!


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## Bob1961

Hello Marga,

I am well, and I hope that you are also!

I have learned some things that may be helpful:

When SEF changed from the old tri-fold cards to the new plastic ones, they made other changes as well, including to the numbering system of the cards. The new cards are 9 digits, versus our old 6 digit cards. 

However, when the SEF online renewal website was created, The team involved in that only referred to the new cards, and did not consider the old ones and so the site is developed in a way that does not make it accessible for us.

There is a 200 euro fine for renewing your card more than 120 days after expiration (I would hope that this is being waived, due to the backlog at SEF, COVID delays, etc.). 

If you are claiming residency in Portugal by marriage to a Portuguese citizen, your marriage license stands as a proxy for your residency card. 

This was explained to me by a high level person in SEF, who wrote:

*You are not covered by law 23/07, which is the general aliens law in Portugal, but by law 37/06, and this law states that:
“The possession of the registration certificate referred to in Article 14, the permanent residence certificate, a certificate stating that a family member holds a residence card, is in no case a prerequisite for the exercise of a right or the fulfillment of an administrative formality, since the status of beneficiary of the rights of residence under the present Law may be attested by any other means of proof.” (Law 37/2006, article 21).
This means that in the day your marriage was recognized by an EU authority, you gained all the rights and privileges that a Residence Card would grant you (under the EU Directive nr. 2004/38/CE – April 29th, by the European Parliament and the European Council).*

Even so, the residency card is needed for many things (for one thing, with it you can avoid having your passport stamped each time you enter/exit the EU).

To renew our cards, I am resolved to continue calling and emailing SEF, until I can talk to a real person to help with this. So far I have been unsuccessful, and currently I am outside of Portugal, so I can not give it full effort. When I get back to Portugal, I will probably stand outside of the local SEF office, till someone comes, out and see if I can be successful that way. 

I hope that some of this was helpful, Marga!

If you have luck getting in contact with SEF about this, please let me know how you did it, and I will try the same!

Best Wishes,

Bob


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## Marga2020

Dear Bob! Thank you very much for your help and fast answer! 😊
I’m married to a português citizen...
I try to reach SEF by phone and by email but no answer yet!!! This things drive me crazy!!!!! I want to do certain things online and a can’t do ANYTHING!!! 😡
Yes! If I finally can resolve this problem I’ll write to you!
Hope you are well!!!
Have a nice day!
Marga


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