A liberal initiative presented on Tuesday a bill to create a “humanitarian visa” that would allow people persecuted in their country of origin or fleeing conflicts to come temporarily to Portugal to seek political asylum.
Currently, the law provides that a foreign national or stateless person can request political asylum in Portugal, he must do so on national territory by submitting a request to the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) or other police authorities.
With this bill, the Liberal Initiative (LI) intends to ensure that, through the creation of a “humanitarian visa”, asylum seekers will not have to “travel to the national territory with all the risks that such a journey entails, and before submitting their application, they can seek asylum at the Portuguese embassy in their country of origin or in a neighbouring country”.