The new, more rigorous border control system came into operation in Portugal and the rest of the Schengen area on October 12 and, since then, difficulties have been experienced, with passengers from outside the EU sometimes having to wait more than an hour for departures and arrivals. On October 14, the waiting time reached 90 minutes, with the deputy national director of the PSP and responsible for the National Unit for Foreigners and Borders (UNEF), João Ribeiro, admitting that it had been a “critical day”.
Faced with these difficulties, the European Commission suggested using the old border control system, with verification and stamps in passports.
Earlier this month, the Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Hugo Espírito Santo, admitted that “the borders at the airport are an embarrassment for the Government”. “Right now it’s an embarrassment and I think the only thing that can be done is to apologize. No one can be happy with the experience as a passenger, nowadays, at national airports”, he assumed.
The Internal Security System (SSI) even admitted that the European border control system for non-EU citizens could be suspended during Christmas to avoid queues at airports, remembering that this measure was authorized at European level, by the European Commission, due to “the constraints that have occurred at some airports in Europe”.