If you are questioned, detained or accused of a crime in Portugal, the decisive moment is being made an arguido — the formal status of a person the authorities are proceeding against. From that moment you have the right to stay silent, to a defence lawyer and to a free interpreter, and if you have been detained a judge must see you within 48 hours. Most foreigners lose ground not at trial but in those first hours, and in one piece of paperwork almost nobody reads: the identity and residence statement.
Portuguese criminal procedure will feel unfamiliar to anyone used to a common-law system. The public prosecutor (Ministério Público) runs the investigation phase, called the inquérito. A separate investigating judge (juiz de instrução criminal) does not investigate but guards your fundamental rights during it — approving searches, wiretaps and detention. Only afterwards does a trial court hear the case. Juries exist but only for a narrow band of serious offences and only if someone asks for one; your case will almost certainly be decided by one or three professional judges.
What does being made an "arguido" actually mean?
It does not mean you have been charged. Arguido status is protective as much as accusatory: it exists so that a person whose own conduct is under scrutiny stops being treated as a mere witness. It is triggered when a complaint names you, when you are detained, or when you are about to be questioned about your own conduct.
As an arguido you have the right to be present at procedural steps concerning you, to be told what you are accused of in a language you understand, to remain silent about the facts with no adverse inference drawn, to appoint a lawyer or have one appointed, to ask the prosecutor to take investigative steps, and to appeal decisions against you. You also take on duties: to appear when summoned, to submit to certain evidence-gathering, and to keep the authorities informed of your address.
The practical trap is the difference between a witness and an arguido. A witness must answer truthfully and can be penalised for refusing. An arguido need not answer at all. If you are invited to a police station "just to explain" and the questions start turning towards what you did, that is the point to say clearly that you want to be constituted as an arguido and to have a lawyer present.
What happens in the first 48 hours after a detention?
If you simply cannot be identified, police may take you to a station to establish who you are for a maximum of six hours. That is an identification measure, not an arrest.
A true detention is different. A detained person must be brought before a judge for a first judicial interrogation within a maximum of 48 hours. That hearing is where the judge decides which restrictions apply while the case proceeds, and it is the single hearing where having a lawyer matters most — defence counsel is mandatory there, and the appointed lawyer often meets you minutes beforehand. You are entitled to have a family member and your consulate notified. A consulate can pass on lists of lawyers, contact your family and check on detention conditions; it cannot pay your fees, intervene in the case or get you released.
Two things foreigners get wrong repeatedly. First, interpretation is provided at no cost to you when you do not speak Portuguese — if you only half-understand, say so on the record rather than nodding along. Second, do not sign any statement you cannot read. What you sign at a police station in Portuguese becomes part of the file.
Will I be held in custody while the case is investigated?
Pre-trial detention (prisão preventiva) is legally the last resort. The judge must choose the least restrictive measure that answers a concrete risk — flight, interference with evidence, or continued offending. In ascending order the measures are:
- The identity and residence statement (termo de identidade e residência, or TIR), applied to every arguido;
- Bail in money or another guarantee (caução);
- Periodic reporting to a police station;
- Suspension of a profession or licence;
- Bans and obligations — including surrender of your passport and a ban on leaving the country;
- House arrest, usually with electronic monitoring;
- Pre-trial detention.
Pre-trial detention is generally reserved for intentional crimes carrying a maximum sentence above five years, with additional specific grounds — including, relevant here, situations involving irregular entry or stay, or a pending extradition or expulsion. It is also capped in time, and the caps reset the case if breached:
| Stage reached | Ordinary cases | Serious or catalogue crimes |
|---|---|---|
| No formal charge yet | 4 months | 6 months |
| No decision closing the optional judicial review phase | 8 months | 10 months |
| No first-instance conviction | 1 year 2 months | 1 year 6 months |
| No final, unappealable conviction | 1 year 6 months | 2 years |
Cases declared exceptionally complex can extend these further. Ask your lawyer which tier the prosecutor says applies to you — the classification, not the offence label, is what sets your clock.
Can I leave Portugal while the case is open?
Usually yes. The TIR by itself is not a travel ban; stopping you leaving requires a separate, specific measure. But the TIR obliges you to give an address in Portugal, to notify any change of it, and to appear when summoned — and it stays alive until the case and any sentence are finished.
Court notifications go to the address on your TIR. Foreigners routinely give a hotel, a short-term rental or a friend's flat, then leave the country. When letters go unanswered the court can declare you contumaz: the proceedings are suspended against you, an arrest warrant is issued to bring you before the court, property transactions you make can be challenged, and your assets in Portugal can be frozen. Inside the EU a European Arrest Warrant makes distance irrelevant. Updating your address in writing costs nothing; unwinding contumacy costs a great deal.
Tell us the city and the stage you are at.
Which everyday things are crimes in Portugal that may not be at home?
Portugal's reputation for liberal drug policy misleads visitors constantly. Decriminalised is not legalised, and driving thresholds are stricter than in several neighbouring countries.
| Situation | How Portugal treats it |
|---|---|
| Blood alcohol 0.5 g/l or above while driving | Administrative offence: fine and driving ban |
| Blood alcohol 0.2 g/l or above, novice and professional drivers | Administrative offence at the lower threshold |
| Blood alcohol 1.2 g/l or above | Criminal offence, with a court-imposed driving ban |
| Refusing a breath or blood test | Criminal offence of disobedience, independent of the result |
| Drugs for personal use, up to a 10-day average supply | Administrative offence: referred to a dissuasion commission, not a court |
| Drugs above that quantity | Criminal case; consumption or trafficking is then argued in court |
Also note that many offences against individuals — simple theft, ordinary assault, insults, most damage to property — are "semi-public": prosecution requires a complaint from the victim, generally within six months of them learning of the facts and the perpetrator. If you are the victim rather than the accused, missing that window can end the matter permanently.
Do I get a lawyer and an interpreter if I cannot pay?
Two distinct things get confused here. A defensor oficioso is a duty lawyer appointed when defence is mandatory — at the first judicial interrogation of a detained person, at trial in most cases, and where the arguido is under 21. Appointment is automatic; it is not automatically free, and costs can be charged back to you later.
Legal aid proper (apoio judiciário) is means-tested and applied for through Social Security, not through the court. If no decision issues within the legal period — 30 days — the application counts as granted. EU citizens and non-EU nationals holding a valid residence permit are treated on the same footing as Portuguese nationals; access for people without residence status depends on reciprocity with their own country and is far less predictable. You can always replace an appointed lawyer with one you choose, at any stage.
Can the case end without a trial?
Frequently, and this is where a defence lawyer earns their fee. The prosecutor can close the file outright. For offences punishable by up to five years, the case can be provisionally suspended: with the agreement of the prosecutor, the judge and you, conditions are imposed — compensation to a victim, a donation, treatment, rules of conduct — and if you comply the case is dismissed without a conviction. There is also a summary written procedure in which the prosecutor proposes a non-custodial sanction that you must actively accept; that one does produce a conviction, so it is a genuine decision, not a formality.
If you are charged and want the charge tested before trial, you have 20 days from notification to request the optional judicial review phase (instrução). Portugal has no American-style plea bargaining — you cannot trade a guilty plea for a negotiated sentence, and any lawyer promising that is describing a different legal system.
What does a conviction do to my residence permit?
A criminal conviction can carry an accessory expulsion order for foreign nationals, with an entry ban recorded in the Schengen system; the thresholds depend heavily on whether you are resident, how long you have lived in Portugal and whether you have family here. Since the immigration service SEF was wound up in 2023, residence matters sit with AIMA while policing functions moved to the police forces, so a criminal case and an immigration file now travel on separate tracks that do not automatically inform each other — you have to manage both.
Practically, a criminal record certificate is required at renewal for most residence routes, including the D7 visa for retirees and passive-income earners, the digital nomad D8 and the golden visa. An open case is not a conviction, but a pending file can still complicate timing. If the accusation arose at work, dismissal and the criminal case are separate proceedings with separate deadlines — see employment rights for foreign workers. Where the allegation is domestic, criminal and family proceedings run in parallel and decisions in one feed the other, which is covered in the guide on divorce, jurisdiction and custody.
How do I choose and pay a defence lawyer?
Only lawyers registered with the Ordem dos Advogados may represent you; you can ask for the registration number and check it. Beyond that, ask three concrete questions: who will physically attend the interrogation or hearing — the person you are speaking to, or a colleague; what language the written file updates will be in; and how fees are structured. There is no official fee tariff in Portugal, so fees are freely agreed. Get the agreement in writing and phase by phase — investigation, charge stage, trial, appeal — rather than as one open-ended figure.
Brisamo is a directory, not a law firm, and nothing here is legal advice. We list 117 verified firms across 13 countries and 24 cities, and contacting one through Brisamo costs nothing. If you also own property here, the practical checklists for buying property in Portugal explain why a frozen asset is a problem that outlives the criminal case.
Figures last verified August 2026 against the sources listed at the end of this guide. Detention limits, blood-alcohol thresholds and legal-aid rules change; confirm anything you intend to rely on with a lawyer before acting.
Официальные источники
Правила, сборы и пороги меняются. Перед тем как действовать, сверьтесь с официальным источником.
- Portal das Finançasналоговый орган
- AIMAмиграционная служба
- Ordem dos Advogadosколлегия адвокатов — проверить юриста