The National Foreigners and Borders Unit (UNEF) of the Public Safety Police (PSP) has been reinforced with 367 officers to increase passenger screening capacity at Portuguese airports and reduce waiting times for travellers arriving from outside the European Union’s Schengen area.

Of the 367 officers, 170 have been assigned to Lisbon Airport, 78 to Porto, 69 to Faro, 29 to Funchal, and 21 to the Azores. Following the completion of their training period, they will remain stationed at these airport border posts.

The officers completed the theoretical component of the Air Border Control Course on 3 July and begin today a two-week operational placement at airport border posts, where they will carry out border control duties under the supervision of seasoned officers.

The closing ceremony of the course was presided over by the Minister of Home Affairs Luís Neves, who stressed that reinforcing police resources alone will not fully address the challenges of processing the growing number of passengers.

"Our airports were built many years ago and their infrastructure was not designed to accommodate the current volume of passengers," the Minister said, adding that the Government is working with airport operator ANA to address space constraints at a number of airports.

According to the Minister, Portugal's airport border posts are processing around 20,000 more passengers per day this year than they did in 2025.

Security remains the priority

Luís Neves said that the reinforcement of both human and technological resources will ensure that current security standards are maintained, while also improving the flow of passenger processing. He noted, however, that occasional delays may still occur on particularly busy days.

Addressing the new officers, the Minister said they would be carrying out a mission that is "vital to the security of both Portugal and Europe".

"From today, you are the first line of defence for the security of Portugal and Europe. Never forget that," he said, calling on the new officers to carry out their duties with responsibility, professionalism and pride.

The European Entry/Exit System (EES) began to be rolled out progressively across Portugal and the other Schengen countries in October 2025. Since then, waiting times at air border checks have increased across most of the 29 participating countries — the 25 European Union Member States applying the system, together with Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.