If you have lived or done business in Spain, you know the drill: when a communication has to be provable, you send a burofax. Then you need to notify someone in Portugal, you search for "burofax Portugal", and nothing quite matches. That is because the burofax does not exist in Portugal. This guide explains what replaces it, what the Portuguese instrument does and does not prove, and how to send it online from Spain or anywhere else. ¿Buscas enviar un burofax a Portugal? El equivalente portugués es la carta registada com aviso de receção.
What the burofax is in Spain
The Spanish burofax, offered by Correos, is a premium certified communication service. Its distinguishing feature is that it certifies three things at once: the content of the document sent (Correos keeps a certified copy of the text), the delivery to the recipient, and the date of both. That triple certification is why Spanish lawyers reach for it in disputes: nobody can later argue about what the letter said.
Why there is no burofax in Portugal
CTT, the Portuguese post office, simply does not offer a service that certifies the content of a letter. There is no Portuguese product where the postal operator reads, copies or certifies what you wrote. Searching for a burofax in Portugal leads nowhere because the legal culture solved the same problem with a different instrument.
The Portuguese standard: registered letter with AR
The instrument Portuguese law, courts and institutions actually expect is the carta registada com aviso de receção: a registered letter with AR, the signed proof-of-delivery slip. It gives you official, dated proof of two things:
- that a letter was sent to that recipient on that date (the CTT registration and receipt), and
- that the recipient received it and signed for it (the AR slip, returned to the sender).
What it does not certify is the content: CTT never sees what is inside the envelope. In practice this rarely matters, because Portuguese statutes are written around this instrument. Tenancy law, for example, expressly requires landlord and tenant communications to travel by registered letter with AR, and courts treat the registration and the signed AR as the relevant proof. Keeping a copy of the letter alongside the registration receipt and the signed AR is the standard way Portuguese practice documents what was sent.
| Feature | Burofax (Spain) | Registered letter with AR (Portugal) |
|---|---|---|
| Proof of sending and date | Yes | Yes (CTT registration) |
| Proof of delivery | Yes | Yes (signed AR slip) |
| Certification of content | Yes | No (postal operator does not see the content) |
| What local law and courts expect | The burofax | The registered letter with AR |
If you really need to certify content in Portugal
For the minority of cases where proving the exact content is essential, Portugal offers other routes: the notificação judicial avulsa (a notification formally served through the court), notification made through a lawyer or solicitador, and qualified electronic registered delivery or timestamp services under the EU eIDAS regulation, which certify the content and time of an electronic communication. These are heavier, costlier tools for contentious situations; for everyday formal notices (tenancy communications, contract cancellations, formal demands), the registered letter with AR is the standard and sufficient instrument.
How to send a registered letter with AR online, from any country
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1
Upload your letter
PDF, Word or a photo. Up to 10 pages included. For legal effect in Portugal, the letter should normally be written in Portuguese.
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2
Enter the recipient and your address
The Portuguese recipient's address, and your own address in Spain or any other country as the sender on the envelope.
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3
Pay €14.99, all included
Printing, envelope, CTT postage and the AR. Same price from any country.
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4
Posted in Portugal within 2 business days
You receive the proof of sending and the CTT tracking number by email and can follow the delivery online.
Because the letter is printed and posted inside Portugal, the recipient gets a normal domestic CTT registered letter, exactly the format every Portuguese institution recognises. You can order from abroad, as long as the return address on the envelope is a Portuguese one.
In practice, the simplest route from Spain or anywhere else is to send a letter online in Portugal: upload your document and it is printed and posted through CTT for you.
Need the Portuguese equivalent of a burofax?
Upload your letter and we print and post it in Portugal through CTT as a registered letter with AR. €14.99 all included, from any country.
Send my letter →Frequently asked questions
Can I send a Spanish burofax to a Portuguese address?
Correos offers international burofax sending, but its evidentiary weight in Portugal is not the same as in Spain: Portuguese recipients, institutions and statutes are built around the CTT registered letter with AR. If the communication has legal effects under Portuguese law, the registered letter with AR is the safer instrument.
Is the registered letter with AR enough for a legal notice in Portugal?
For the situations Portuguese law regulates through written communications (tenancy notices, contract terminations, formal demands, complaints), yes: it is precisely the instrument the statutes name. Content certification is only needed in specific contentious scenarios, for which court or lawyer notification exists.
What does AR mean exactly?
AR stands for aviso de receção, the physical slip attached to the letter that the recipient signs on delivery. CTT returns the signed slip to the sender, and that signature plus date is the proof of receipt.
Does the letter need to be in Portuguese?
For legal communications to recipients in Portugal, normally yes: the letter should be in Portuguese to produce its intended effect and avoid disputes about comprehension. The sending process itself accepts your document in any language.