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PORTUGAL
The 1994 Law on Provisional Accommodation Centres further stipulates that Provisional
Accommodation Centres may lodge foreign nationals for humanitarian or security reasons, pending
the enforcement of a deportation order or to ensure that the individual appears in Court.
However, such centres have as yet not been established and when it is necessary to detain a
person in order to effect a deportation, persons are detained in normal prisons. A centre within
the international area of the Lisbon airport has however been established, and not all foreign
citizens served a deportation order are put in prison.
The decision to imprison a deportee is a discretionary act by the SEF on the recommendations of
a judge. The period of detention in jail must be restricted to the time necessary to enforce the
expulsion. Detention cannot exceed 60 days, and is subject to be examined by a judge every
eight days.
Individuals who attempt to enter Portugal through illegal means may also be liable to be
detained by SEF for a maximum of five days, while a decision is being made to examine the
claim of asylum or expel the individual for failing to satisfy the necessary entry requirements.
Not all foreign citizens who enter the country illegally are asylum seekers, and hence they will
be eligible for deportation or the voluntary return programme implemented by IOM and funded
by the government of Portugal.
Framework Agreements with Countries of Origin or Transit
An estimated 60 per cent of all expulsions are conducted within the framework of readmission
agreements. Such agreements exist between Portugal and Spain, France, Bulgaria and Poland.
The agreements with Bulgaria and Poland are part of a multilateral agreement concluded as part
of the Schengen Implementation Convention, and is however not as effective as those with
Spain and France.
In 2002, the Portuguese government began negotiations on similar agreements with Estonia,
Moldova, Ukraine and Romania.
In general, these agreements cover both voluntary and involuntary return, although they may
also specify whether it is applicable to a particular type of return only.
1.4 STATISTICS ON INVOLUNTARY RETURN
TABLE 1
STATISTICS ON INVOLUNTARY RETURN
Year Number of Deportations
1999 464
2000 414
2001 259
2002 459