Illegal Immigrant

Last Friday, I failed miserably to renew my residence permit and driving license to show the address where I have been living for 2 1/2 years. I got together all the papers that I had needed the last time, in 2003, and went off to the Loja do Cidadão in Setúbal.

I quickly (only 1 hour) found out that the driving license application requires updating the residence permit first. Much later, I discovered that the numbered queuing tickets at the SEF counter are completely irrelevant - you can only deal with the staff by appointment, made online or by phone.

So off I went to www.sef.pt, only to find that my residence permit apparently has an invalid number, so I can't book online. And the phone number is a call centre in Lisbon, where it was a municipal holiday last Friday - hence my availability to go to Setúbal! So nothing doing...

Of course, I don't actually need to update these documents. The driving license expires in 2024 and the residence permit in 2013. So why bother trying to update them? After all, if I get a traffic fine, it will be sent to the wrong address. Fine by me!

I don't know how easy, or difficult, such formalities are in other countries, but my advice in Portugal is, if you can get away with it, don't bother!