大咖福利影院

Hello Frank,

When will your travel be?

Hopefully, you will be able to find an answer to this question before then, so that your entry at the airport can go smoothly and quickly. 馃槈

Cheers,

Cheryl

大咖福利影院 team

Hello,Has anyone under the new rules enter with one person with a EU and one person with a US passport? I would like to know if we can both enter in the EU lines as we are married.Thanks,Frank - @fcdeltufo

You must use separate lines. One for EU citizens and one for non-EU citizens. But it is up to the border staff on the day.

@Cheryl

I鈥檓 traveling November 8.

From what I read and hear it is a complete disaster what is happening at the Lisbon airport when traveling from/to outside the EU. And how can Portugal be the only country where this happens to this extent? These days I prefer meeting my non-EU friends in Spain, where immigration processing is seemingly quite smooth. Even the EU lines are sometimes very very slow. The reason might - amongst others - be a "work-to-rule" attitude. Not long ago we arrived from Morocco and found that only two counters were open.

@TGCampo,

This is another of the problems left by 鈥測ou know who i am talking about鈥�...

The current government is taking care of that, while the damn airport isn't built...

Has anyone under the new rules enter with one person with a EU and one person with a US passport? I would like to know if we can both enter in the EU lines as we are married. - @fcdeltufo

It's best to go to separate queues, as you're not an EU citizen.聽 Don't create more problems than the ones that already exist...

New drama is in the making. I just read this and it doesn't sound good at all.

Sometimes I think that Portugal will collapse as a result of its success as tourist and immigration destination.

as a result of ... - @TGCampo

I would correct that: as a result of bad politicians and bad policies. Fortunately, all this is being put right. Can't you see that the number of complaints on this forum is being lowered?

as a result of ... - @TGCampo
I would correct that: as a result of bad politicians and bad policies. Fortunately, all this is being put right. Can't you see that the number of complaints on this forum is being lowered?
- @JohnnyPT

I admire your optimism. Maybe you are right! I don't see much improvement over the past 10 years, but I am also living in my "bubble". I can say that everything takes a lot of time in Portugal and I agree that decades of neglect and mismanagement cannot be overcome on short notice.

Isn鈥檛 the number of complaints on this forum being lowered because people just give up writing about them?

That's not my point of view. Although I've also noticed that some聽 people who turn up here don't deserve to be helped... Tiredness leads me away from this....

The US embassy in Portugal has issued a warning on its website to citizens and travellers to expect long waiting times at Lisbon鈥檚 Humberto Delgado International Airport over the holiday period from Thanksgiving Day and the Christmas and New Year period.

Details:

I guess this will apply to everybody leaving the Schengen Zone.

And here the latest news from the Lisbon Airport.

Considering that the general strike will be on Thursday 11/12 I would assume that this will be a long weekend of disruptions on all possible fronts.

This general strike 11/12 is organised by unions linked to political parties of the left and far left. These parties that don't win elections (with fewer and fewer votes) manage to paralyse the country, with all public transport paralysed, making it impossible for people to work... Revolutionary remains that still sprinkle in this country 50 years later...

@JohnnyPT

I am sure that you are correct with your assessment. What I observe for a long time is a slow collapse of (some/many/all) public systems in Portugal. This includes the airports, (border) police, railways, courts, SNS, IMTT, housing, and so on. Everybody I know tries as hard as possible to avoid any dealing with the public sector, but some dealings are unavoidable. And, from what聽 hear about other countries, in The West, Portugal isn't an exception. I just wonder why.

Happy Christmas travel to everyone ...

The reason is simple: disinvestment in the public sector began with the troika period (2010-2014), and was accentuated by the last socialist government, which lasted eight years. The reason was to reduce public debt. This was aggravated by the retirement (age limit) of the most experienced civil servants, together with the entry of 1 million immigrants due to the open door policy of the previous government. All this has collapsed public services.聽

I would also point out that the Troika entered Portugal (and other countries) not only because of the subprime crisis, but also because of the incompetence of another government leader, Socrates, a case study in how a government leader / prime minister should not be! Try to find out more about him... the story is so absurd, ridiculous, it makes you laugh, with the disgrace he left this country. He's been facing justice for a few years, and the show is on... who knows how it will end...

@JohnnyPT There is definitely a lot of truth in what you write. But to me (!) it also seems (!) to be something like "not caring or not being considerate for anybody except family. On Saturday afternoon I picked up friends from Lisbon airport coming from outside the EU. One of them waited with 100s of other people for 4 hours to get through passport control. I read/hear (but don't know) that this is not unusual. There were only 3 to 4 officers working very slowly taking up to 15 minutes for 1 person. There were more officers available, but they didn't step in to fill the ranks.

When I combine this with other things I read ( endless waiting times with AIMA) and notice (e.g. no announcement in the metro when exit for people with walking problems isn't possible) then this paints a dark picture of the everywhere so much praised Portugal. Most of the issues above don't have a direct impact on my life, but that might change any time.

As I only live here, I cannot say whether the situation is similar everywhere in the EU. It might be.

You're absolutely right.聽 It's a national embarrassment...

Over the past 5 months the situation at the Lisbon Airport seems to not have changed for the better. Unfortunately, I have a non-EU flight in the near future and am already worried after I continue reading about the immigration issues. I hear from other travellers that airports in other countries have much less problems with the new system. How come? Is it the well known indifference of the Portuguese for everyone outside family and close friends?

The problem with Lisbon Airport is that there isn鈥檛 enough physical space to add more boxes. That鈥檚 why they鈥檝e been carrying out construction work to expand capacity by 30%. That will be ready on May 29. In any case, I agree with you that solutions are coming slowly for a huge problem.

Humberto Delgado Airport (LIS) is boxed in by the city, meaning it lacks the floor space, electrical capacity, and queue room required to install and operate the necessary volume of e-gates and EES kiosks.

Portugal has struggled to replace this overloaded airport since the 1960s, with successive governments and environmental groups repeatedly clashing over new locations. Consequently, the current operator has generally patched, rather than overhauled, terminal infrastructure.

The dismantling of Portugal's border agency (SEF) and the dispersal of its responsibilities to multiple agencies caused a steep learning curve and initial staff shortages, which also hasn't helped.

While Lisbon is frequently cited as a delay hotspot, it is not the only place facing these issues. The rollout of EES systems has caused region-wide friction, with airlines and travel associations warning of similar massive wait times in other popular tourist hubs like Spain.

@JohnnyPT As I will return on the 16th (all returns are to Terminal 1) I should notice (or not) a difference.

We all know that the airport capacity is limited, but the Portuguese government is working very hard on further increasing the number of non-EU passengers arriving and departing e.g. through road shows all around the USA. Maybe (!) one could have moved all aircraft maintenance to Beja and made more space in Lisbon. A new airport will not be fully operational before 2040 and that is a very long time.