Government warns of new responsibilities for those who employ immigrants

Presidential Minister Antonio Leitan Amaru warned on Tuesday that those who hire immigrants will have new responsibilities due to new migration rules in Portugal.

“We would have a simple solution so that there would be no illegal immigration: “It would have to end the rules,” said António Leitan Amaru during the International Organization for Migration (IOM) conference entitled “Labor migration: what is the future for Portugal?” “.

“We need to significantly improve our system of welcoming” immigrants, but “the incentives we create as a state must be linked to responsibilities” on the part of employers, namely supporting adequate housing and training for arrivals.

“I am confident that we will all work to overcome the very difficult challenge that Portugal faces today with regard to migration, and especially immigration,” said a government official who presented the Migration Action Plan on Monday.

New rules have come into force, which include the cessation of expressions of interest (a resource that allowed a foreigner who entered Portugal as a tourist to access a residence permit, provided that he had an employment contract and 12 months of social discounts), have come into force . strength at 00:00.

Currently, the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) has 400,000 immigrant cases awaiting regularization. “There are 400 thousand citizens, people, people whose lives are suspended pending a response from the state,” noted Leitan Amaru.

This is because “we have public institutions that cannot guarantee integration, humane and dignified treatment for those who choose Portugal as a country to live in, nor can they guarantee safe, regular and orderly immigration.”

Thus, these people “fall into the hands of abuse and exploitation by criminal networks,” he said.

However, the minister stressed that “Portugal needs immigrants” and should not be “a country with closed doors.”

But “to receive well and with dignity, we need rules” and “fast procedures” in a “working state, with channels and rules.”

From now on, a foreign national only has access to a residence visa if he has completed the procedure in his country of origin, in many cases with a pre-employment contract.

The only exception is citizens of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP), as Portugal has signed a mobility agreement.

Until now, the agreement only stipulated that these citizens could stay in Portugal and were prohibited from traveling within Europe, which prompted Brussels to initiate legal proceedings against Lisbon, since the rules should be common throughout the community.

According to Leitan Amaro, “there are problems with the implementation” of the plan, since these Portuguese-speaking citizens are in custody.

“Evaluating these mobility agreements involves eliminating the documented humiliation” that many CPLP citizens have endured, he added.

At the conference, the head of mission of the International Organization for Migration in Portugal, Vasco Malta, emphasized the importance of attracting immigrant personnel to Portugal.

“The skills acquired by immigrants contribute to the dynamism and sustainability of the Portuguese economy,” and “this policy allows migrants to contribute to the economy and society of the host country.”

In turn, Anabela Vaz Ribeiro, executive director of the UN Global Compact network in Portugal, emphasized that there are risks in the labor integration of immigrants in a “regulated and structured market.”

Hiring foreign staff is an issue that “still requires some mediation” to “build a bridge between people and companies,” especially because “language barriers are huge,” he explained.

The leader also defended the “ethical recruitment” of immigrants and then the investment needed “to keep people.”