The President of the Republic has approved "the bill approving the organization of the Borders and Foreigners Coordination Unit". Responsibilities will be transferred to seven entities, leading to a new configuration of the Portuguese border control system.
The President of the Republic has approved, this Friday, the bill for the organization of the Borders and Foreigners Coordination Unit, created in the context of SEF's discontinuation and which will operate within the Internal Security System.
A note published on the website of the Presidency of the Republic indicates that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has approved the bill to complete the SEF reform, whose discontinuation will take place at midnight on Sunday.
"Given the urgency of this bill, approved in yesterday's [Thursday's] Council of Ministers, and which is expected to take immediate effect, so that the SEF reform can be completed and come into effect from next week, being a unit for the exchange of information and coordination of actions of its components, the President of the Republic has approved the bill approving the organization of the Borders and Foreigners Coordination Unit," the note states.
This new unit will be responsible for "coordinating the actions of security forces and services among themselves and between them and the Institute of Registration and Notary and the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum, ensuring their cooperation and coordination in matters of people's movement, return, and control of people at the border."
In the context of the discontinuation of the Foreigners and Borders Service, responsibilities will be transferred to seven entities, resulting in a new configuration of the Portuguese border control system with the creation of the Borders and Foreigners Coordination Unit (UCFE), which will operate under the authority of the Secretary-General of the Internal Security System (SSI), Paulo Vizeu Pinheiro.
This new unit, already dubbed "mini-SEF," will be led by a general coordinator, whose name is not yet known, and will initially consist of elements from SEF, primarily inspectors. The SSI informed Lusa that in the future, the current members will gradually be replaced by others from the GNR and PSP.
This unit will also manage police databases and information systems related to borders, foreigners, and international police cooperation. SEF's police powers will be transferred to the PSP, GNR, and PJ, while administrative functions related to foreign citizens will go to the Institute of Registration and Notary (IRN) and the new Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), which will also begin operating on Sunday.
The restructuring of SEF was decided by the previous government and approved in the Assembly of the Republic in November 2021, having been postponed twice.