# Informing SEF of absence



## ViaVinho (Jul 29, 2016)

Hi All,
according to the SEF website ( https:// imigrante.sef.pt /en/ direitos-deveres/), residence permit holders are obliged to inform them as follows: "The holder of a temporary Residence Permit who intends to be absent from Portugal, during the validity period, for a time frame exceeding six consecutive months or eight unsequential months has a duty to inform SEF before leaving national territory

The holder of a permanent Residence Permit who intends to be absent from Portugal, for a period exceeding twenty four consecutive months or, in a time frame of three years, be absent thirty unsequential months, has a duty to inform SEF before leaving national territory"

Has anyone needed to be absent from Portugal for such periods requiring SEF to be informed - more specifically, what was their response? Is it simply an issue of informing them or must one actually receive permission? If so, on what basis might permission be granted?

Thanks,
VV


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## dancebert (Jun 4, 2015)

> Is it simply an issue of informing them or must one actually receive permission?

I don't yet speak Portuguese, so google translate will have to do. Seems to me you have to both justify your absence and receive permission. From Article 85 of Lei de Estrangeiros (Law of Foreigners), with my added bolding:

_2 - Without prejudice to the application of special provisions, the residence permit may also be canceled when the person concerned, *without reasonable grounds*, is absent from the Country:

...

3 - Absence beyond the limits provided for in the preceding paragraph *must be justified upon application* filed with the SEF prior to the departure of the resident from the national territory or, in exceptional cases, after his departure.

4 - The residence permit is not canceled for citizens who are absent for periods superior to those provided for in paragraph 2, when they prove that during their absence from national territory they have developed professional or business activities or cultural or social
_

https://sites.google.com/site/leximigratoria/artigo-85-o-cancelamento-da-autorizacao-de-residencia


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## ViaVinho (Jul 29, 2016)

Muito bom, obrigado!
VV


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