Portugal Now Applies Same Border Rules to UK Travellers as to EU Citizens to Reduce Airport Queues
The Portuguese authorities announced last week that the Foreigners and Borders Service started operating four new generation e-gates at Lisbon Airport in order to ensure faster border controls on arrivals for nationals of the United Kingdom and several other third countries.
Under the new rules, travellers from the UK will no longer be treated as third-country nationals as required under Brexit.
This means that all Britons entering Portugal will now be able to avoid long queues for manual checks by using the e-gate channel, AtoZSerwisPlus.pt reports.
The decision of the Portuguese authorities to establish frictionless travel as if the UK was still in the borderless Schengen zone is an attempt to attract UK travellers who might consider visiting other southern European destinations this summer, according to Telegraph.
The news on the updated border control rules for Britons was welcomed by the chief executive of the PC Agency, Paul Charles. He said that Portugal is leading the way in recognising that they need to process large numbers of visitors from the UK as seamlessly as possible in order to avoid long queues this summer.
He called the new rules a clever way for Portugal to differentiate itself from the other countries that are currently not processing in the same way. According to Charles, other popular European destinations such as Greece, France, and Italy, among others, might also decide to follow such an approach.
Even though Portugal has facilitated border control rules, travellers from the UK are still required to follow COVID-19 entry rules.
The Portuguese authorities explain that all travellers who are permitted entry to the country, including here those from the UK, must present a valid vaccination, recovery, or test certificate upon their arrival.
Just like the other EU countries, Portugal also applies a validity period in all of these passes. Portugal accepts a vaccination certificate only if the document proves that the holder has completed primary vaccination with one of the approved vaccine doses in the last nine months or if the holder has received an additional vaccine dose.
On the other hand, a recovery certificate is only accepted if it indicates that the holder recovered from the virus in the last six months.
As for the negative tests, Portugal accepts both PCR and rapid antigen tests. The PCR test must be taken within 72 hours before boarding, and the rapid antigen test must be taken within 24 hours before boarding.
