Your return to Portugal just got easier

If you have a flight booked, the border may be simpler than you feared. It's Monday, 14 September. Thirty-two degrees. Air quality: 53 (Moderate). Here's what you need to know.

🗞️ THE EU HAS REPORTEDLY SHELVED BIOMETRIC BORDER CHECKS IN PORTUGAL

The saga of Portugal's biometric border checks has taken another turn, and this time in travellers' favour. According to reporting in the Sunday Times, picked up widely across the UK and European press, the EU has effectively shelved full enforcement of the EES, the Entry/Exit System, in at least nine countries including Portugal, with no firm deadline for when they must adopt it.

A quick recap, because this has been on and off all year. The EES replaces the old passport stamp with a digital record, requiring non-EU travellers to give fingerprints and a facial scan each time they enter or leave the Schengen area. It launched in October 2025 and was meant to be fully operational by April 2026. But the technology has struggled badly, causing queues of up to several hours at airports including Lisbon and Faro, and countries were given a temporary "safety valve" to switch off the biometric step when queues built up. That safety valve was due to expire on 6 September.

Rather than force full enforcement when the window closed, the reporting suggests Brussels has quietly let nine countries, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece, Malta and Switzerland, carry on without full biometric processing, following heavy lobbying from airlines, airports and the travel industry. Ryanair had pushed for the suspension option to run until at least April 2027.

Two important caveats. First, this is based on reporting, not a formal European Commission announcement, as of the weekend the Commission had not officially confirmed the extension or its exact scope. Second, "shelved" does not mean gone. Your entry and exit are still recorded, the check still happens, it is the slowest biometric step that gets skipped when authorities choose to. So the honest advice for anyone flying non-EU into or out of Lisbon is: expect a lighter, faster border than the worst of this summer, but do not assume the machines are switched off, and still budget time at peak hours.

Bottom line: the direction of travel is good news for anyone who dreaded the biometric queues. Portugal is, for now, running a lighter-touch border. Just treat it as a reprieve rather than a rule, because this system has been switched on and off more than once already.

⚡ QUICK HITS

Portugal is increasingly being used as a transit route by irregular migrants, according to the PSP. The public security police say the country is more and more a stepping stone for people trying to reach other parts of Europe, rather than a final destination, a shift that reflects both tighter enforcement elsewhere and Portugal's position on the Atlantic edge of the continent. The finding lands in the middle of a summer of steadily tightening immigration rules, and it will feed the political argument over borders and enforcement that has run through this government's year. As with any figures at this stage, the picture is a police assessment rather than a full statistical account.

Portugal has collected an extra €926 million in VAT. Value-added tax revenue between March and July ran €925.8 million ahead of the same period last year, driven by consumer spending, inflation and, inevitably, higher fuel prices, since VAT is charged as a percentage of the pump price. The number gives hard shape to the accusation, made by both fuel retailers and the opposition Socialists this month, that the state quietly benefits when prices rise. The government says the revenue funds health and education. Either way, nearly a billion euros in extra VAT is a striking figure in a year when the cost of living has dominated the conversation.

Portugal is on course for a record-hot year. After a scorching summer, forecasters say 2026 is tracking to be one of the hottest years on record for Portugal and Spain, with another burst of unseasonal heat pushing temperatures back into the low thirties this week. It caps a year of heatwaves, drought and a brutal wildfire season, and it is the backdrop to that firefighting-goats proposal the agriculture minister took to Brussels. Enjoy the late-summer warmth, but it is worth remembering what a record-hot year actually signals.

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🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

NEIGHBOURHOOD CAFÉ (SANTOS)

Neighbourhood is an Australian-style café that has built a devoted following across two Lisbon locations, and the Santos branch, on Largo Conde-Barão, is the one to know if you are near the river or the design district. It roasts its own coffee, which is the first clue that this is a place that takes the basics seriously, and the flat white is as good as any in the city.

The rhythm of the day is the appeal. It runs full brunch until mid-afternoon, the Turkish eggs, the breakfast burrito, avocado toast with kimchi, and a hot honey and brie toastie that regulars are loyal to, then shifts into coffee and something sweet through the afternoon, before turning to smash burgers, Dois Corvos craft beer and Portuguese natural wine in the evening. So it works whether you want a slow weekend breakfast, an afternoon coffee, or a burger and a beer after work. There are vegan and gluten-free options throughout, and a meal runs around €10 to €15.

It is open every day, 8:30am to 11pm, with the kitchen doing brunch until around 3pm and burgers from 5pm.

→ Find them here ←

Insider tip: grab a table outside if you can. The indoor seating is limited and they run a strict no-laptop policy inside, so the terrace is both the easier seat to get and the one where you can linger. And mind the kitchen gap: brunch stops around 3pm, burgers start at 5pm, so the mid-afternoon lull is coffee and cake only.

📅 WHAT'S ON

See you tomorrow morning.

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