RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Portugal will start accepting the Brazilian National Driver’s License (CNH) as a valid document to drive in the country. The decision was promulgated this week by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and will become effective after being published in the Diário da República, the Portuguese official gazette.
Until then, to drive legally, it was necessary to exchange the Brazilian driver’s license for the Portuguese one. The authorities granted 90 days, counting from the date of the residence permit in Portugal, for foreigners to make the request. During this period, the CNH could be used.
After this initial period, and for a limit of up to two years, Brazilians could still request the exchange but no longer had the right to drive using the original document. At the end of the two years, always counting from the date of the residence permit, the right to the automatic exchange was lost, and it was also necessary to pass a practical driving test.
Although the countries have an agreement that allows for a simplified driver’s license exchange, the process usually takes months to be completed. The change was also hindered by the need for foreigners to have their immigration status to issue a Portuguese driver’s license.
With the overload on the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF), it is common for regularization processes by work activity – the most common way of Brazilian immigration to Portugal – to drag on for two or three years. Even those with a valid CNH were forbidden to drive during this period.
Even though it is forbidden, many immigrants risk their lives behind the wheel, especially outside urban centers where public transportation is poor. Driving a car without a proper license generates a series of punishments, including fines and possible confiscation of the vehicle.
When the measure that has now been sanctioned goes into effect, the Brazilian CNH can be used in Portugal until the end of its validity period, when it must be changed to the Portuguese document.
Vivian Andreozzi, who lives in Lisbon, celebrated the change. When the SEF finally issued her residence permit, the validity of her driver’s license had already expired. So she had to travel to Brazil since the renewal of her CNH cannot be done by proxy.
“I was worried because my residence permit is about to expire, and I also couldn’t make the automatic renewal request [the system to issue documents for regularized foreigners also faces delays]. It was great to wake up today and know that I will be able to drive in Portugal,” she says.
The change was approved by the Council of Ministers on June 15, when the government also announced the launch of a large package of new visas for the country.
The right to drive with the document of the country of origin, which was already valid for the European Union and the United Kingdom, among others, was also conquered by the other members of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP): Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, São Tome and Principe, and East Timor.
The nations that are part of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) will also have this right. Brazilians who visit Portugal for tourism can drive normally with their CNH for up to 185 days without additional documentation.
With information from Folha de S.Paulo