Immigrants with secondary education in Portugal are forced to pay fees as foreign students

Several immigrants who completed their secondary education in Portugal are prevented from entering the Portuguese higher education system as national students because they are forced to pay fees for studying abroad for bureaucratic reasons.

In some cases there are delays in family reunification (where students are already attending compulsory education in Portugal but the process has not been completed), in others there is a delay in document certification, and there are still situations such as problem solving or documentation that needs to be provided. completed.

Hermen Aguiar is one such case. The young Angolan had completed all of his secondary education in Portugal and, because he lived in student accommodation, the university did not consider his address permanent and he had to enroll as an international student.

“I passed the national exams, but I was admitted under the foreign student quota and I pay full tuition,” said a social communications student from Lisbon, who is getting help from his parents in Angola to pay his tuition. fees.

“It is very difficult, but my family is making every effort to have a child with a European education,” he told Lusa.

The cost of international education ranges from three to seven thousand euros per year, and this amount was beyond the means of Pamela Stoffel, a 19-year-old Brazilian girl who had lived in Portugal since the eighth grade.

“I had four old residence permits” and “did not have continuous legal time” to be considered a national student, two years.

“The values ​​were impossible for me” and “I waited another year” to qualify and apply for a legal services course at the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria.

“None of this makes sense. I’ve been studying here since the eighth grade, I’m of Portuguese descent, I have Portuguese friends, I live in Portugal. Am I considered an international student? — he asked.

Geraldo Oliveira, director of the Global Diaspora Association, is dedicated to supporting immigrants, with a particular focus on international student exchange.

The director points to the discretion of educational institutions, which often decide to condition the access of students in accordance with the decree-law of March 10, 2014, which regulates the status of foreign students and which is “outdated.”

“To access higher education today, the biggest access limitation is the need to have two years of legal residence in the year the student enrolls in higher education,” he explained.

There are now cases where the process of residing the parents took four years and “it has not yet been possible to reunite the children” who are studying in Portuguese schools.

“I accompany the children of legal immigrants who did not have time to regroup” and “I have cases of students who have been studying in Portugal for several years” but were not integrated into the family, so they never managed to legalize.

Even in cases where students only have a student visa – for secondary education – this does not guarantee access to higher education as a national candidate – and “subject to a tuition fee of 697 euros”.

“It could be a reunion or making a good family. But often this does not happen,” he explained.

Additionally, the cost of tuition keeps many of these young people from pursuing higher education: “even if they score well in national exams, these students are left behind.”

These young people know that they can only compete as international students at the time of registration, when they have a deadline to provide an address and documents confirming their regularization.

“Almost everyone knows only when they will apply. They already have grades, they have already entered, and it is during registration that they are faced with a situation that they did not foresee,” he said.

This situation is typical at other levels of education, where there are many young immigrant students who have not fully completed their studies.

“There must be information and special attention from society,” the leader warned.

“If we don’t warn these students and those responsible for their education, we risk creating an underqualified workforce,” because then they won’t be able to continue their studies due to the cost of tuition, Geraldo Oliveira added.

To this end, the Global Diaspora held meetings with parties with seats in parliament so that the competition for access to higher education would “take into account the difficulties” of this process for those who are not legal but have completed secondary education in Portugal.

“There are universities that promote meeting deadlines and others that do not. There must be a single rule for these cases,” he stressed, arguing that the conditions of access take into account “not the legal period of stay, but the time spent in the Portuguese school.” “.

Thais Oliveira, 18, is a first-year Social Security student who learned she had an unusual address. Despite living in the country for six years, “the certificate issued by the Aliens and Border Services did not meet the requirements,” and it took several days to streamline the process.

Otherwise, I would have to apply as an international student,” explains Thais Oliveira, praising the behavior of his school.

“In my case, they gave me a little more time, they understood the delays, and I managed to complete it. Today I’m fine, thank God,” said the Brazilian.