147 Help line

One of the ways we decide on articles for UPDATE is after receiving calls from Members about things they have either read about in the press or heard about on the grapevine, asking if we can give more information. One such topic that has caused interest recently is the new '147" Help Line that is being launched in 2020 as the next phase of the governments 'iSimplex" project.

-- As nossas desculpas por este artigo não ter tradução --

‘iSimplex’ is the government’s platform for assisting citizens with obtaining information on a range of matters.  the most recent of which has been enquiries about the new Portuguese Citizen-s Card, which has resulted in 30,000 fewer visits required to ‘Espaços de Cidadão’, due to people using electronic means to deal with their enquiries.
The new 147 Help Line is expected to reduce the queues in the citizens shops even further once it is implemented in 2020. But what does this mean to foreign residents?
Well first of all of course it means less waiting time if you have to go to the Loja de Cidadão yourself. Sadly though the ‘iSimplex’ service and the new 147 line will only be available in Portuguese, so you will need to be able to speak at least reasonable Portuguese to use the on-line and telephone service. However, as part of the project one of the future phases will be to create an ‘Immigration Help Line’, to assist foreigners moving to Portugal to wade through the bureaucratic requirements of becoming a resident here.
The ‘iSimplex’ service will also handle Portuguese Driving Licence renewals as part of its next phase, but that will be a little way down the line as there are ‘legislative alterations’ that will have to be made before that can be implemented.  
We are keeping up to date with the ‘iSimplex’ system and the new 147 Help Line and as we have more information on it, specifically about developments to services that foreign residents will be able to access, we will inform Members via UPDATE and on our website.