The Minister of Internal Affairs, Eduardo Cabrita, said that from April onwards there will be a reinforcement of the number of inspectors of the Foreigners and Borders Service at the airports of Lisbon, Faro and Funchal as part of the contingency plan for leaving the Union of the United Kingdom European Union.

In the European Affairs Committee at the Parliament, the Minister stressed that Lisbon will have 22 more inspectors, while the reinforcement in Faro will be ten new elements. This trend has continued to increase, after two groups of 45 inspectors took office in 2018 and 70 more elements are expected to enter 2019 through an internal competition.

By June another 100 inspectors will also have to enter, as the external competition opened in 2017 is already in the selection phase. The Minister also added that 116 technical assistants were being recruited and 16 were in the IT area.

Eduardo Cabrita also said that the embassy of Portugal and the consulates in the United Kingdom will be reinforced by the placement of four officials: “The SEF will put a liaison officer at the embassy in London and three officials in the documentary area.”

British tourists will continue to be able to enter Portuguese airports through the Automatic Identification of Identified Passengers system.