A joint statement from all the bodies that make up the SSI announced that the “operation has taken place and was considered successful” and that “all the planned tasks were successfully carried out, both from a technical and operational point of view”.

The note clarifies that “monitoring of the operation will continue in the coming days, always with full coordination between the national entities responsible for border control and migration”.

In a balance that it considers positive, the SSI guarantees that the new systems “are 100% operational”, with no record of any interruption or service breakdown during the day, having carried out an “effective validation of the biometric components and interoperability between the different platforms involved”.

It also highlights that there has been a “continuous optimization of the average document validation time, without compromising security standards, nor with a significant impact on waiting times compared to usual”.

The SSI explains that, as “next steps”, the results “will be analyzed and considered with the competent national and European bodies”.

“This milestone is part of Portugal’s preparation strategy for the new European border control framework, ensuring greater innovation, greater interoperability in the Schengen area and greater security,” the note highlights.

According to the SSI, “the coordinated involvement of all entities allowed the robustness, efficiency and scalability of the implemented solutions to be successfully tested, placing Portugal in a prominent position at European level in the fulfilment of this operation”.

The SSI highlights that these systems “bring more automated, rigorous and efficient management of the entry and exit of national and foreign citizens in the Schengen area, with a direct impact on visa control, biometric registration and movement history of citizens from third countries”.