Traveler registration at SIBA-SEF / AIMA-SEF Portugal

Compliance with the law is essential for any business. One of the most important legal obligations in the tourist accommodation sector is the registration of guests by the establishment and its subsequent reporting to the relevant authorities. With the police and administrative changes implemented in Portugal following the transition from SEF to AIMA , guest registration must now be submitted through the SIBA-SEF platform , or the Accommodation Bulletin Information System

Traveler registration law in SIBA – SEF / AIMA – SEF

Article 16, paragraph 1
of Law 23/2007, of July 4, on the “Companies operating hotels, complementary tourist accommodation facilities or tourist complexes, as well as all those that provide accommodation to foreign nationals in exchange for a fee, are obliged to notify the GNR or the PSP within the following three working days, by means of an accommodation form.”
Therefore, regardless of the type of rental or lease agreement , if the person staying in a property is a foreign national (not a Portuguese citizen), the property owner must submit the accommodation form to SIBA-SEF / AIMA-SEF.
Furthermore, Article 15, paragraph 4 states:
“In order to simplify the submission of accommodation forms, hotels and similar establishments must register with the Border and Immigration Coordination Unit (UCFE) as users of the Accommodation Form Information System, so that they can carry out the respective electronic communication under secure conditions.”
Therefore, it is no longer mandatory to register the guest on paper and hand it over to the police , although it is mandatory to register the guest's accommodation form in the Accommodation Form Information System (SIBA) .

Who is responsible for guest communication at SIBA-SEF / AIMA-SEF?

According to Portuguese law, any property owner or company managing a property for tourist rental where guests from other countries are staying must register their guests with SIBA-SEF / AIMA-SEF.
Furthermore, owners who draw up a rental agreement with a foreign national must also submit the accommodation registration form to SIBA-SEF / AIMA-SEF.
The same procedure applies if the property is sublet to foreign nationals. Therefore, if the property owner has a rental agreement with a Portuguese tenant who, in turn, sublets the property to a foreign national, the tenant is responsible for submitting the accommodation registration form to SIBA-SEF / AIMA-SEF .
Below, you will find a guide outlining the process for registering a property with SIBA and subsequently submitting the guest registration form.

How to register guests at SIBA-SEF / AIMA-SEF Portugal?

First, go to the SIBA-SEF to begin registering your accommodation in the system. Then, fill out the form with the required information:

1. NIF
2. Business activity code specific to the Local Accommodation registration.
3. Choose the typology or classification that you think best suits the type of accommodation you offer.
4. The name of the unit must be the same as the one used in the local accommodation registration on the Portugal tourism portal.
5. To register the accommodation address, please provide the postal code, then the floor, door number, and any other important information.
6. The FAX field appears as mandatory , although it is not necessary to fill it in , as the registration will be completed successfully even if there is no information in this field.
7. In the "Newsletter Sending" field, you can select the sending method that seems easiest to you for sending guest registrations ( we at check-in Scan recommend the Web Service method ). You can integrate with Check-in Scan to automatically send guest registration information to SIBA-SEF, regardless of the sending method you choose .
8. Once you have filled in all the fields correctly, click submit to complete the registration. After submitting, you will receive an email from SEF Portugal within 1 to 3 business days confirming your registration and providing your login credentials to access the platform and communicate with them.

How to change the traveler registration submission method in SIBA – SEF?

If you are already registered in SIBA and are currently submitting traveler registration information using a specific submission method (Portal, file upload, or Web service) and you want to change the submission method to another one of the aforementioned methods, you must do the following:

• Send an email to siba@sef.pt requesting a change to the guest registration submission method using the following message:

From: (Contact email used to register with SIBA)
To: siba@sef.pt
Subject: Change Guest Registration Submission Method
Dear Sir/Madam,
My name is (Contact name as it appears in the Hotel Unit registration on the SIBA form).
I would like to request a change in the communication method for guest registration with SEF to the submission type (Enter submission type to make the change).
I am responsible for the Hotel Unit: (Tax ID number),
Establishment: (Establishment number to which the change refers).
Thank you for your attention.

Register travelers automatically in SIBA – SEF

With Check-in Scan you can check in your guests online without needing to be physically present, and the generated traveler registration will be automatically sent to the authorities . This way, you can forget about having to upload guest registrations to the SIBA – SEF Portugal portal.