Declaration of Entry Form for SEF in Portugal

Where will you be staying? If at a hotel or private let, they should ask for your passport, which the purpose of that is to file the form.

Note the third bullet in the first paragraph: https://internacional.ipcb.pt/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/01/SEF-Est-Int-EN.pdf

The only time you really would need to worry about it is if you entered by car and were staying with family or with somebody as a guest.

Last September we just drove across border. There were no stops or checks and we never submitted any form. No hotel even mentioned a form; all wanted to see our passports.

I presume you will be driving a Spain registered vehicle so become familiar with the Portugal toll system since most major roads are toll roads. Many tolls are collected electronically only, so you’ll need to register the rental online. You credit card will be billed automatically. It may take a day or two for the charges to show up. The registration is good for 30 days, but once you leave the country for the last time, go online and cancel it in case the next renter decides to drive across the border too. For other roads you still pick up the paper ticket and pay when you exit the road.

I’ve lived here almost nine years and have never heard of this. I just looked and the information I found was from 2007. SEF is the agency that handled immigration and border control. It was broken up a year ago and has been in huge disarray since then. Being able to actually reach someone from SEF is very likely not a remote possibility.
As the previous poster indicated, there are no border checks driving from one county to the other. It’s just like driving from one state to another in the U.S.

I’ve driven from Portugal into Spain with a rental car and never had an issue. You might try contacting the U.S. Embassy if you’re really concerned. I, personally, would disregard wherever you read this very old information.

Thank you All! This is exactly the information I needed. And I feel so much better.

I drove from Seville to Lisbon with a friend back in 2008 or so, and have no memory of doing anything. But that was so long ago! I had not planned anything, then saw on our rental’s fine print it mentioned this declaration of entry form and started thinking I had missed something.

But it sounds like we are covered by the hotel. We are staying at the Vila Gale Douro Vineyards.

And I’ll be sure to register the car to pay the tolls. Thank you so much for letting me know it’s good 30 days so I need to cancel after I turn in to avoid paying someone else’s helpful.

I really appreciate all your responses they were all helpful. Thank you!!