Notice to leave Portugal and voluntary return

Getting a letter that says you must leave Portugal is frightening, and that is a normal reaction. This guide explains calmly what the document means, which deadlines the law sets and which routes exist. It does not replace a lawyer: what to do depends on reading your own notice together with someone who knows your case.

What the notice is

AIMA uses the name Notificação de Abandono Voluntário (NAV), or voluntary departure notice, for the official warning that your stay is irregular and that you must leave the country on your own initiative within a set period. It can come from AIMA, the GNR or the PSP. According to AIMA, typical situations are entering without meeting the requirements, staying without a valid authorisation, having your residence application finally refused or having your authorisation cancelled.

Two things are worth keeping apart:

• The notice is the paper you receive, with the deadline and the instructions for your case.
• The duty to leave the national territory is the obligation set out in article 138 of Law 23/2007 (the Foreigners Act).

According to AIMA, the notice is not a deportation or a coercive removal, which is a separate procedure, and it does not require you to leave immediately. It is a formal request to leave within a period, without coercive action by the authorities.

When the duty to leave arises

In the wording of article 138 given by Law 62/2026 of 10 September, the duty arises when you are notified of an administrative decision that:

• refuses your application for stay or residence;
• cancels your visa; or
• cancels your residence permit.

AIMA’s page on the NAV describes the earlier regime and warns that, since 11 September 2026, the new wording of the article applies. So read your notice carefully: the text you received is what counts.

The deadlines

The law says the period to leave is set in the notice, between 20 and 30 days. The earlier regime, described on AIMA’s NAV page, spoke of 10 to 20 days (a range the law keeps for removal or expulsion decisions, see below). In your letter, look for:

1. the number of days granted;
2. the date the count starts from;
3. the body you must tell and prove your departure to.

The period can be extended by order of the national director of the PSP, who may delegate the decision. The law says to take into account, for example, how long you have been in Portugal, whether you have children in school, whether you have other relatives here and whether you have social ties. An extension is not automatic. According to AIMA, it is not AIMA that extends the period: the request goes to the body named in the notice.

Periods change with the procedure. Someone who receives a removal or expulsion decision must leave within the period set in it, between 10 and 20 days (article 160), extendable on the same terms; the NAV under article 138 is the one with 20 to 30 days. So a 10 to 20 day period in your letter is not an error: it depends on the type of decision. If, for example, you are detained and tell the judge that you want to be escorted to the border, the law provides for an entry ban of one year. Your notice says which rules apply to your case.

How to comply

Leaving must cover Portugal and the other Schengen countries. You can return to the country of your nationality or go to another third country where your admission is guaranteed. Keep the proof: ticket, boarding pass and, where applicable, proof of entry into the destination country. Follow the notice’s instructions to report your departure.

The duty is recorded in the border and foreigners information system (SII UCFE) and in the Schengen Information System, as a return alert, for one year. The alert is deleted as soon as the irregular stay ends, for example when you confirm your departure or the authorities confirm it.

If you do not leave in time

According to AIMA, if you do not comply and no decision suspends or changes the effects of the notice:

• your stay remains irregular;
• the records remain;
• a coercive removal procedure can be opened.

Under the law, coercive removal is decided by the PSP on the basis of illegal entry or stay. Anyone detained must be brought before a judge within 48 hours. A removal decision usually carries an entry and stay ban in Portugal, for a period the law caps at five years, unless there is a serious threat to public order or security. According to AIMA, complying with the duty to leave in time avoids harsher measures like this one.

The law also provides safeguards. Removal cannot be to a country where you could be persecuted or subjected to torture or inhuman treatment, but you must state the fear and provide proof within the period you are given. There are also cases where removal cannot take place, such as for someone who has dependent minor children of Portuguese nationality living in Portugal. If this applies to you, tell a lawyer straight away.

What to do when you receive the notice

1. Read all of it and note the deadline, the start date and the remedies it lists. Keep the envelope or proof of receipt.
2. Find a lawyer or the legal support described below. The earlier, the more options you have.
3. Talk to AIMA through the Contact Centre, (+351) 217 115 000, Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 20:00 (cost according to the tariff), or to a CLAIM (Centros Locais de Apoio à Integração de Migrantes, local migrant integration support centres), whose services, according to AIMA, are completely free and cover areas such as regularisation and voluntary return. The directory by district is at aima.gov.pt/pt/claim.
4. Decide with the facts whether to challenge, ask for an extension or prepare to leave. Each of these routes has its own deadlines.

If you have an international protection application, read the guide to international protection: the law says that application does not prevent a removal procedure from being opened, but its execution depends on the decision on the application. If you have another residence application or a renewal in progress, take the receipt and ask AIMA and your lawyer how the notice affects it.

Challenging the decision

According to AIMA, the notice states the remedies and deadlines that apply to your case. Depending on the situation, there may be:

• a complaint or hierarchical appeal to the administration;
• a judicial challenge (impugnação judicial) in the courts.

These remedies do not necessarily suspend the effects of the decision: it depends on the remedy chosen and the applicable law. For a coercive removal decision, the judicial challenge has a merely devolutive effect: filing it does not on its own stop the removal; asking the court to suspend it is a separate urgent request that a lawyer can make. For a coercive removal decision by the PSP, the law provides for a judicial challenge in the administrative courts, without prejudice to the urgent or suspensive procedures in administrative procedural law. That decision must state the right to challenge and the deadline, and the law allows you to ask for translation and interpretation for the challenge. The right deadline is the one written in your notice: confirm it with a lawyer at once.

Legal aid

If you cannot afford a lawyer, you can apply to Social Security for legal aid (apoio judiciário). Under the coercive removal law, a foreigner is also entitled to legal protection on request. According to the Justice portal:

• among others, foreigners with a valid residence authorisation in an EU Member State, and foreigners without a valid permit whose country of origin grants the same right to Portuguese citizens, can apply;
• the application is made online on Segurança Social Direta (a NISS is needed) or, in person or by post, at any Instituto da Segurança Social counter, with form MOD PJ 1 and documents proving your financial situation;
• the aid can include appointing a lawyer with payment of the fees and full or partial exemption from court costs;
• the application is free.

Social Security has a simulator to check eligibility. Ask Social Security how to proceed if your deadline to challenge is short.

Voluntary return

Anyone who decides to go back can use a voluntary return programme. According to AIMA, these programmes can include information, counselling, help preparing the journey, obtaining documents, arranging travel and, in some cases, reintegration support. Access depends on the conditions of each programme. The return can be to your country of origin or to another third country where you are legally admitted.

• ARVoRe, run by the IOM. AIMA’s social intervention unit gives information and helps with applications, and you can also contact the IOM directly: arvore-portugal@iom.int or via the ARVoRe programme page, by mobile or WhatsApp: +351 915 030 860, +351 913 590 368 or +351 912 123 200. For in-person service, call first.
• The EU Reintegration Programme (EURP, Frontex) and the Central Return and Readmission Unit of the UNEF/PSP (retornovoluntario.unef@psp.pt) are also on AIMA’s list.

The law sets conditions worth knowing before you join (articles 139 and 144):

• if you hold a residence permit, you hand it in at the border post when boarding;
• for three years after leaving, you can only be admitted again to Portugal or other Schengen states if you repay what you received, with interest at the legal rate, with some exceptions, such as the exceptional issue of a short-stay visa on humanitarian grounds;
• someone who leaves under voluntary return support is barred from entering and staying in Portugal for up to three years.

Ask the programme and AIMA how these rules apply to you before you decide.

Keep reading

• AIMA and the residence permit, for the general process and how to deal with AIMA.
• International protection, if you have or want to make an asylum application.
• Path, to put the steps of your case in order.
• Where to be served, to find counters and shops.