News from afpop

Good afternoon to you all and welcome to this Member Briefing. To those new Members who will be receiving this for the first time, welcome to afpop and you can expect to receive these Member Briefings every two weeks. They began in 2020 when the pandemic restrictions were overwhelming and we have continued them because Members have found them to be very useful and also because it helps us to pass information to you all in between UPDATE magazines. As there is nothing new to tell you regarding any government activity at the moment, I wanted to take this opportunity to speak to you all about a couple of more internal matters. 

For the last few weeks, I’ve been mentioning our new ‘AI’, Afpop Information, campaign. This was born out of frustration with the growing amount of poor, incomplete or basically wrong information that Members were referring to us after asking questions on the internet. Frankly some of the summary results that were being offered by AI bots were alarming and I’ll be showcasing one of those examples at the forthcoming Living in the Algarve event at the Conrad Hotel, more details on that below. 

The reason I mention it again here, particularly for those Members who have joined for insurance in the Group Member offer, is to urge you all to contact the office to ask your questions. You have paid for an annual Membership and whether you ask the office one question a year or one question a week, you don’t pay anything more for the service. It makes no sense to try searching for answers to your questions by using some random search engine, when you have a dedicated and supportive team here in the afpop office, whose only desire is to help you find the correct and relevant answer to your questions. Whatever the question, the answer is always ‘ASK AFPOP’.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to speak to those Members outside the Algarve. This of course also applies to those of you in the south, but particularly in other regions one of the comments we get is that afpop is an Algarve-centric organisation and there’s “nothing for those Members in other parts of the country”. With regard to the core services offered by afpop, those highlighted in the previous paragraph, of course that is simply not true. No matter where you are, the phone is answered, e-mails are replied to and answers are given. 

As far as social events are concerned, with the exception of Porto, where Jamie and his group are doing a fine job of organising excellent events for Members, it’s correct that there are no social activities outside the Algarve. That is purely down to the fact that no-one wants to organise them and not because we aren’t interested.

Finally, when looking at the ADvantage Directory in the CONNECT section of our website, it’s also correct that most of the offers are from companies based in the Algarve. Some of those offers are available across the country, but the smaller Benefits are not. However, this is only because no-one outside the Algarve is giving us details of services and companies that might want to be included in our Directory. 

If you know of a local business that is looking to publicise their services FREE OF CHARGE in our Directory, just tell us – or tell them to contact us. It costs them nothing to be included other than for them to make a discount or other offer available to our Members. That’s it – they’re in. 

That being said, here is this week’s information for you:

AIMA Renewals Portal: September 2025
The Renewals Portal is now also available for Residence Permit renewals expiring in September 2025. See further details on the renewal process in our previous briefing.

Airport strikes cancelled
Trade unions have called off the strike of Menzies Handling Services, following a ruling by the Arbitration Court.

CCTV cameras in Tavira
Tavira has become the sixth Algarve municipality to implement CCTV in public areas, joining Albufeira, Faro, Loulé, Olhão and Portimão. Other councils, for example Lagos and Lagoa, are also preparing to move forward with similar systems in the near future. The PSP are responsible for handling, monitoring and processing the data. 

Living in the Algarve event
We will once again be attending the Open Media’s ‘Living in the Algarve’, event, the next instalment of which will take place on 30^th of September in Almancil (Quinta do Lago) at the Conrad Hotel. To reserve a place at the event or for more information, visit their website https://www.livinginthealgarve.pt

Better Living in Portugal exhibition
Our BLiP Expo will take place next month, on the 11^th and 12^th of October in Portimão Arena. We are particularly excited this year as it’s the 25^th edition of the event, which brings local businesses together under one roof, all interested in showcasing their goods and services to the foreign resident community. There will be more information in the October edition of UPDATE magazine and also on the BLiP website https://betterlivinginportugal.com 

This is our major event of the year and each year we have a fantastic mix of previous exhibitors and new additions, as well as representatives from many charities. Without visitors though the exhibition fails and we invite all Members who are in the Algarve over that weekend, to take a couple of hours to visit the Arena and support the Association’s largest event. Please put the dates in your diary and see the article in the UPDATE magazine.

Satellite offices 
In September we will be back with the satellite offices. Please note the change of venue for Almancil (this one time).
If you need advice or assistance, wish to introduce a new Member to the Association, if you need to renew your subscription or just have a general query, please pass by and see us. We ask you to make an appointment and to inform us about your enquiry, so staff can come prepared to assist you. Please contact the afpop office to make an appointment on 282 458 509 or info@afpop.com.   

The next dates of the Satellites are: 

• Lagos - Wednesday 24^th of September between 10h00 and 12h30 (premises of MediLagos on R. José Ferreira Canelas, which is behind the Câmara building)
• Quinta do Lago - Tuesday 30^th of September between 10h00 and 12h30 (premises will be the Conrad Algarve Hotel in Quinta do Lago, where we will participate at the Living in the Algarve seminar)