In short
- Anyone who provides paid accommodation to a foreign citizen must report the stay through a boletim de alojamento on SIBA.
- Every guest who is not a Portuguese citizen counts — EU citizens and children of any age included.
- The deadline is three working days, both after arrival and after departure.
- SEF no longer exists, but the obligation did not change: the forms still go through SIBA.
What the law requires
Articles 15 and 16 of Lei n.º 23/2007, Portugal’s law on the entry and stay of foreigners, require everyone who provides accommodation for a fee to foreign citizens to communicate their stay to the authorities. The communication is the boletim de alojamento (guest registration form), and it is submitted electronically on SIBA — the Sistema de Informação de Boletins de Alojamento.
It applies to hotels and to Alojamento Local alike: an apartment, a house, a room or a hostel bed rented to a tourist is covered.
Which guests must be reported
- Every guest who is not a Portuguese citizen — including citizens of other EU countries.
- Children and babies too: there is no minimum age. A parent or guardian signs for a minor.
- Each guest individually — not only the person who made the booking.
The deadline: three working days
The stay must be communicated within three working days of the guest’s arrival, and the departure within three working days of check-out. Waiting until the end of the month, or until “the next quiet day”, is how most hosts fall behind.
What the form asks for
The boletim identifies the guest from their identity document — name, nationality, date of birth, the document’s type, number and issuing country, country of residence — together with the dates of the stay. Valid documents include passports and national identity cards; for children, a birth certificate can be used.
The data has to come from the guest. That is why the moment you collect it matters more than the moment you send it.
What changed when SEF was dissolved
SEF (Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras) was dissolved in October 2023 and its duties were split, with the administrative ones passing to AIMA (Agência para a Integração, Migrações e Asilo). Many hosts still call it “the SEF communication”.
For accommodation providers nothing changed in practice: the same obligation, the same deadline, and the forms still go through SIBA. Fax is no longer accepted — submission is electronic only.
Three ways to submit
- By hand on the SIBA portal, one form per guest — workable for a single apartment with few foreign guests.
- By file upload on SIBA, after preparing the guests’ data in the required format.
- Automatically from your software, which sends the forms to SIBA’s web service for you.
Mistakes we see most often
- Reporting only the person who booked, and not the other guests.
- Forgetting the children.
- Collecting documents at the door, in a hurry, and typing them later.
- Letting the forms pile up past the three working days.
- Not keeping a record of what was sent, and when.
Not complying is an offence punishable by a fine under the same law.
How GuestAgent does it for you
- Every guest enters their details and document on a secure online check-in link before arrival, in six languages — or at the self check-in kiosk.
- The guest registrations are submitted to SIBA automatically every night at 21:00, from that data.
- The result is recorded on each reservation, and a missing check-in is flagged so your team can follow up.
- You can still submit a registration by hand whenever you need to.
Sources
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules change and individual situations differ — confirm with the competent authority or a lawyer before acting.