British holidaymakers travelling to Portugal have been issued an important warning over the new regulations regarding entry to Portugal and its islands.
Earlier this month, the Foreign Office said people from the UK arriving in Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Funchal could use fast-track lanes at passport control despite Britain leaving the European Union. This meant Brits could use eGates to avoid passport control queues while visitors from many other non-EU countries would have to wait in line to have their passports manually checked and stamped.
According to ChronicleLive, it states: “On arrival or departure, check you are eligible to use the e-gates and that you are in the right queue. When using an e-gate, your entry/exit is recorded on the computer system.A border officer may also stamp your passport after you have passed through the e-gate, this is for airport operational reasons. The government is asking Brits to make sure that their passports are stamped by border officers – even if they use the eGate system.
This is so that policing and enforcing its 90-day visa-free limit for short stays is kept.
The Schengen Area, separate from the EU, is a group of 26 European countries, including Portugal, that agreed to abolish their internal borders to help with the free and unrestricted movement of people. The updated UK travel advice adds: If relevant entry or exit stamps are not in your passport or visible to a border officer on the computer system, a border officer will presume that you have overstayed your visa-free limit unless they can see an incoming boarding pass.
