News from afpop

Good afternoon to you all and Happy New Year and welcome to my penultimate News from afpop introduction. From February our new CEO, Daisy Sampson, will take over the duties, and I must say the pleasure, of writing to you all every other week. Of course the bulk of these Member Briefings are a team effort, with the excellent band in the office collaborating to research and provide information that will keep you up to date, but I also enjoy these bi-weekly opportunities to chat with you all.     

I wanted to take this opportunity to warn of increased sophistication in the efforts of the parasites that try to steal money or data from the unsuspecting. Regular readers will know that we have warnings of new scams seemingly every month, many of them purporting to be from the authorities, but we received one in the afpop office this week which is particularly alarming. I’ll cover it in more detail in the February edition of UPDATE where I will be able to include images of the scam, but essentially this is a warning to those of us who use our names in our e-mail addresses as I have always done with my afpop e-mails. This week we received an apparent e-mail exchange between me and some fictitious company, which purported to be a conversation that I had with them and agreeing to making payment for an invoice. This was not just one e-mail, but a short exchange of e-mails, where I was apparently in conversation with them. 

Of course it was rubbish and there was no such exchange, but they have clearly taken my name from my e-mail address and created this ‘exchange’, then sent to it to our ‘accounts department’ for payment. Unfortunately (for them) they just guessed at an accounts department e-mail address and got it wrong and also unfortunately our Head of IT, Harry, is on the ball and spots these things. However, if you DO use your name, even part of it, in your e-mail address, you might want to think about creating a new one. We all know that the parasites are clever and they obviously now use AI, so I start the year with the first of what I’m sure will be many pleas over the coming year to make sure that you treat all unexpected communication with a very healthy degree of scepticism and double check everything before you act and, as always, NEVER click on links in e-mails or text messages unless you are expecting or have requested the information.

A reminder that we include the AIMA information at the bottom of these Member Briefings, for those Members who join every week and who might have questions about the situation at AIMA and who will not have seen the earlier Briefings.

That said here is this week’s information for you:

IUC tax clarification – reminder
There will be no changes to the IUC in 2026. We are waiting for the law to be published, but it appears that changes will take place only in 2028, when everyone will have to pay their IUC in the same month, which will apparently be in April and not in February as originally announced. Before that, in 2027, there will be a transitional period and we will inform Members when we have the final information.

So, to clarify, IUC payments in 2026 remain in the month of the vehicle’s registration. For more detailed information please see our Bulletin M03.

European Border Control System suspended in Lisbon
Portugal has suspended the EU’s new Entry/Exit System (EES) at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport for three months due to severe chaos at border control. This suspension applies specifically to non‑EU citizens arriving in Lisbon. The government has approved extra funding for the PSP to buy new e‑gates, software and maintenance services between 2026 and 2028. This is part of the Schengen “Smart Borders” project to improve security and manage passenger flows at Lisbon Airport. 

Nationality law update
The Constitutional Court has ruled on Portugal’s Nationality Law changes. Because several provisions were ruled unconstitutional the law cannot enter into force as written. The new law cannot take effect in its current form and until the Parliament has revised it, the pre‑reform Nationality Law remains in force. For now, the 5-year Residency rule still applies.

Season’s greetings come with surprises - reminder
Better Living in Portugal exhibitors are still spreading cheer with special promotions. As you will remember, we invited them to craft exclusive festive offers just for afpop Members. These joyful deals are unwrapped on the Better Living in Portugal website throughout January - a perfect way to celebrate the season of giving.

See page https://betterlivinginportugal.com for all the details!

Bank Transfer problems - reminder
We have recently received several enquiries from Members reporting that our IBAN is "incorrect" or "missing digits" when attempting to make a bank transfer. If your banking app/website is rejecting the IBAN, it is likely due to the specific formatting requirements of your bank’s software. Here are a few suggestions you that might help you to make a successful transfer:

• First of all, don’t cut and paste the IBAN from our information. Instead type it into the space provided and check for any extra spaces: 

• Input the number as one Long String: We present the IBAN with spaces included just to make it simpler to read, for example a string of zeros is broken into groups, but this is for your convenience only and most online banking systems require you to enter it as one continuous string of characters without spaces.

• The "PT50" Prefix: Ensure you include the PT50 at the start. In Portugal, the IBAN always consists of 25 characters in total.

• Check the Country Selection: Some apps ask you to select the country (Portugal) before entering the number. If you select Portugal, the app might automatically "fill in" the PT prefix, so you only need to enter the numbers that follow.

Modern banking apps use automated validation algorithms. If even one extra space is included or the "Country" setting doesn't match the "PT" prefix, the app will flag the IBAN as "invalid" or "too long."

The banking details that we include in our renewals advice is correct, so please follow the guidelines here to save frustration.

AIMA Renewals Portal (non-EU): January and February 2026
The Renewals Portal is now also available for Residency Permit renewals expiring in January and February 2026. See further details on the renewal process in our previous briefings.

Residency renewal for EU citizens and family members - reminder
AIMA has added an option on their contact form for Residency renewal applications for EU citizens and their family members’ Residency cards and Certificates (CRUE). This option is for cards and certificates that have already expired or are due to expire in the very near future. 

You can find the contact form here: https://contactenos.aima.gov.pt/contact-form 

Choose: “Topic Type” Community Residence Card and then the “Subtopic Type” that suits your specific request. If the English version gives you issues, please try the Portuguese version.

Choose: “Tipo de Assunto” Cartão de Residência UE and then the “Subtipo de Assunto” that suits your specific request.

IMPORTANT NOTE about permanent Residency CARDS: People who have the 10-year-old (or older) Residency cards (cardboard/plasticised), that has expired or is due for renewal, are now also able to start their renewal on the contact form using the above choices.

Annual General Meeting (AGM)
A reminder the 38^th Annual General Meeting will take place on Saturday 21^st of March 2026. Members will be able to download the AGM paperwork and voting forms at the afpop website www.afpop.com or request them from the afpop office from the first week of February. Postal votes and proxy nominations are to be received in the afpop office by the last postal delivery on Thursday 19^th of March 2026. There will be more information in the February edition of UPDATE magazine.

Satellite offices
Please remember that there will be no Satellite Offices in the month of January. We will return in February 2026 and will publish the dates in the next Member Briefing.