Ordinance regulates the issuance of diplomatic identity cards in Portugal

The Government published in the Diário da República, 1st series, no. 168, of August 31, 2026, Ordinance no. 396/2026/1, which regulates the diplomatic identity card (CID). The regulation defines the procedures, the rules of coordination between public entities, and the duties of the beneficiaries regarding the issuance, management, and destruction of the document.

The ordinance implements Decree-Law no. 81/2019, of June 17, amended by Decree-Law no. 41/2023, of June 2, which created the CID. The diploma was signed by the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Paulo Artur dos Santos de Castro de Campos Rangel, by the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, and by the Deputy Minister and for State Reform, Gonçalo Nuno da Cruz Saraiva Matias, after consulting the National Data Protection Commission.

Entities and procedures

Under the terms of Article 87 of Law no. 23/2007, of July 4, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MNE) is responsible for issuing identification documents for diplomatic and consular agents accredited in Portugal, as well as other members, employees, and their respective family members, who are exempt from residence permits.

• The MNE is responsible for receiving requests, assigning the blue, green, brown, or gray color band depending on the status, and issuing, renewing, replacing, and canceling the CID.
• The Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum, I. P. (AIMA, I. P.) is responsible for communicating the new model to the UCFE and managing the CID database.
• The Border and Foreigners Coordination Unit (UCFE) is responsible for responding to the MNE’s inquiry and disseminating the model among border authorities.
• The National Printing House-Mint, S. A. (INCM, S. A.) is responsible for producing, personalizing, sending, and destroying the CID, with free replacement in case of manufacturing defects.

Duties of the beneficiaries

Holders and the entities representing them must accurately provide personal data, appear in person for facial image and signature collection, validate the data, and report inaccuracies, loss, or destruction. They must also ensure the proper preservation of the document and mandatorily return it to the State Protocol of the MNE upon completion of their mission in Portugal.

The CID has now taken the form of an optically readable document, respecting the technical requirements set by the European Union and the International Civil Aviation Organization, within the framework of strengthening the security of identity and travel documents.

Costs and data protection

The MNE bears the financial costs of production, personalization, shipment, and destruction, with the CID being granted free of charge to the holder. INCM, S. A. sends the prices annually and the itemized invoice for the cards provided monthly.

Within the scope of the General Data Protection Regulation, issuance must ensure encrypted transmission and storage, restricted access to authorized personnel, access logs for auditing, and backups on certified servers.

The regulation clarifies the administrative circuit of a document essential for the mobility and identification of the diplomatic and consular corps accredited in Portugal, while simultaneously reinforcing documentary security and the protection of the holders’ personal data.

Source: Diário da República, 1st series, no. 168, August 31, 2026 (official reference: Portaria n.º 396/2026/1).