Amendment to the law abolishing the regime for simplifying immigration procedures has entered into force

New immigration rules for Portugal, announced on Monday, came into force at 00:00 on Tuesday, after the legal changes were published in the Diário da República.

The published decree-law “amends Law No. 23/2007 of July 4, abolishing the procedure for obtaining a residence permit based on an expression of interest,” according to the published summary.

The 2017 amendment to the Aliens Act made it possible “by expressing an interest to regularize a stay on the national territory, through the exercise of a subordinate or independent professional activity, without a valid visa for this purpose” according to sections 88 and 89.

In the now published decree-law, the government considers that “the possibility of legalizing immigrants who did not have a consular residence visa” was an “irregular” measure that jeopardized “the principles adopted by Portugal and the European partners in Space Schengen.” .

After entry, it will be possible to enter into “the general regime of obtaining a residence permit, with the registration of an expression of interest and a simple promise of an employment contract sufficient.”

In 2019, a new amendment was made to Articles 88 and 89, which allowed the regularization of immigrants provided that their “social security situation has been regularized for at least twelve months.”

“Thanks to these changes, the possibility of any foreign citizen staying in the country, even if he entered the country illegally, was clearly recognized,” says the decree-law published now.

The government says there has been an “exponential increase in requests for regularization through this route, which unfortunately is largely a tool used by criminal networks associated with human trafficking and the facilitation of illegal immigration.”

According to the government, these changes “contributed significantly to the perverse effect of the recall, as they opened the way to certain migration routes with promises of entry and regularization in a European Union member state for migrants with an irregular status, often providing conditions for vulnerability to appear.”

“The abuse and systematic use of this mechanism, coupled with the enormous demand, the vicissitudes of the long process of abolishing the Aliens and Borders Service and the ineffective distribution of related resources and responsibilities between the few previously existing and those to be created, have contributed to the deterioration of the situation in the country,” it says in the now published decree-law.

Thus, the diploma instructs “to cancel residence permit documents based on a simple expression of interest, preserving, however, the position of foreign citizens who have already initiated procedures for obtaining a residence permit in accordance with these documents.”

The decree-law was announced by the Prime Minister on Monday afternoon at 4:45 pm, was promulgated by the President less than three days later and published before midnight and will come into force on Tuesday.

The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, justified the quick release “taking into account the extremely pressing situation related to the streamlining of many thousands of pending residence permit processes.”

The Migration Action Plan approved by the Council of Ministers calls for “an end to the exceptional regime that now allows entry without rules, eliminating the established procedure for expressions of interest” which is considered “an open door and the source of much of the backlog.”

The plan also includes “strengthening the response and processing capacity of consular posts identified as priority,” with the strengthening of 45 elements in 15 countries, a list that includes all countries of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP).

Among the 41 measures included in the plan, there is also the transformation of the current mobile visa for immigrants CPLP into a public visa (Schengen), which allows movement within the European Union, and the creation of the Office of Foreigners and Borders (UEF). in the PSP, monitor the presence of immigrants and establish emergency centers.