If you've ever considered spending more than a fortnight in Portugal — whether as a long-stay visitor, remote worker or full-time transplant — there's an organisation you should know about, and it just threw its biggest party of the year.
The afpop expo ran over the weekend of October 3 and 4 at the arena in Portimão, pulling in more than 4,500 visitors and over 120 exhibitors. afpop is Portugal's largest not-for-profit association supporting foreigners of every nationality who are living in, working in or simply visiting the country, and this year's expo was built around three themes: practical information and advice, community-building, and deals from local businesses.
The advice side was the real draw. The afpop team answered members' questions about life in Portugal, and the weekend brought in some heavyweight help: representatives from the PSP and GNR police forces were on site, with the PSP offering guidance on the new European Entry/Exit System (EES) — genuinely useful for anyone travelling in and out of the Schengen area. Consular figures made appearances too. Saturday featured Italy's Honorary Consul in the Algarve Francesco Berrettini, Germany's Honorary Consul Dr. Alexander Rathenau, and Christina Connelly-Kanmaz from the US Embassy's Lisbon consular section. Sunday belonged to Jocelyn McCall Ferreira, Vice Consul of British Consular Services for Portugal and Cape Verde, and Andrea Viegas, Honorary Consul of Ireland.
It wasn't all paperwork. A new demonstration area debuted this year, with magician Alex Darcy drawing crowds and the Escola de Hotelaria e Turismo de Portimão serving up food made by its hospitality students. Charity stands reinforced the link between the expat community and local Portuguese residents — something afpop deliberately champions. Portimão's Mayor Álvaro Bila and Deputy Mayor Sandra Pereira attended, as did André Gomes, president of the Algarve tourism board, and visitors described a positive, lively atmosphere. The event was sponsored by Visit Algarve Portugal and MEDAL Seguros, with support from Open Media Group.
Why does this matter to travellers? Because moving abroad or wintering in the Algarve throws up questions no guidebook answers — residency rules, healthcare, driving licences, border changes like the EES. afpop exists precisely to answer them, and signing up (or just attending events like this) puts you in a room with consuls, police and hundreds of people who've already navigated the system. If you missed this one, the association runs events across Portugal year-round — details are on afpop.com.
