How to Fill Out the Boletim de Alojamento (Step-by-Step Guide 2026)

CheckinSimple Team ·

What Is the Boletim de Alojamento?

The Boletim de Alojamento (BA) is the official document Portuguese law requires for every foreign guest staying in registered accommodation. It is submitted to AIMA (formerly SEF) via the SIBA system within 3 working days of arrival.

The 14 Fields Explained

Guest Identity Fields

1. Apelido (Surname) — Family name exactly as on the passport. Use uppercase. Example: SCHMIDT

2. Nome (First Name) — Given names as on the passport. Example: HANS WERNER

3. Documento (Document Type) — One of:

  • P = Passport
  • B = National ID card (EU citizens)
  • O = Other travel document

4. Número do Documento (Document Number) — Exactly as printed. No spaces, hyphens, or dots.

5. País Emissor (Issuing Country) — ICAO 3-letter code. Examples: DEU (Germany), USA (United States), BRA (Brazil), GBR (United Kingdom). Not the 2-letter code.

Personal Data

6. Data de Nascimento (Date of Birth) — Format: AAAA-MM-DD (e.g. 1985-03-22)

7. Nacionalidade (Nationality) — ICAO 3-letter code, often same as issuing country.

8. País de Residência (Country of Residence) — Where the guest actually lives, ICAO code.

9. Local de Residência (City of Residence) — Free text city name.

Stay Details

10. Data de Entrada (Arrival Date) — Actual check-in date. Format: AAAA-MM-DD.

11. Data de Saída (Departure Date) — Planned check-out date.

Establishment Fields

12. Estabelecimento — The 4-digit code your AL property received from AIMA when activated.

13. NIF do Estabelecimento — Your tax number (NIF) as the operator.

14. Local de Alojamento — Address of the property.

The 7 Most Common Rejection Mistakes

  1. Using 2-letter country codes — SIBA only accepts ICAO 3-letter codes (DE → DEU)
  2. Wrong date format — Must be YYYY-MM-DD, not DD/MM/YYYY
  3. Spaces in document number — "P12 345 678" gets rejected; use "P12345678"
  4. Submitting Portuguese citizens — Nationals do not need a BA, submitting causes errors
  5. Submitting EU residents living in Portugal — Same rule, often missed
  6. Identical passport numbers in same submission — AIMA rejects duplicates in one batch
  7. Missing Estabelecimento number — Property must be activated before any submission works

Manual vs. Automated

You can fill the BA manually on the SIBA portal — it takes about 8-10 minutes per guest including login, captcha, and field validation.

Or you can use an automated system that:

  • Extracts data from a passport scan with AI (3 seconds)
  • Validates all fields against AIMA rules before submission
  • Submits via the official SOAP API
  • Stores a PDF copy for your records

Save the Guide

Bookmark this page or share it with your cleaning team. Better yet — automate the whole thing and never look at the SIBA portal again.