The Portuguese Assembly approved, this Friday (20), a modification to the Foreigners Law that will make life easier for those who want to migrate to Portugal from member states of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), a group of which Brazil is a part.
When the change in the law comes into force, after being sanctioned by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, citizens of Brazil and East Timor will be able to enter Portugal as tourists and apply for a residence permit from Aima (Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum).
Citizens of other countries in the community will need entry visas for Portuguese territory in order to apply for residency. The CPLP channel is similar to the Expression of Interest, a regularization process that was discontinued in June.
The new version of article 75 of the Foreigners' Law changes the validity period of CPLP residence permits from one to two years. What's more, the permits will be issued on plastic cards, like other foreign documents — currently, they are on A4 sheets of paper.
Once the new version of the law has been sent by Parliament to the president, he will have 20 days to sign it. If he deems it necessary, he may send it for evaluation by the Constitutional Court—the equivalent of the STF (Supreme Federal Court) in Brazil—in the first eight days. But the 20 days do not start counting now. Before that, the modification to the law will return to the Parliamentary committee that discussed the matter for final drafting.
After this entire process, Aima will have to open the padlock it has kept on its page since 2022 so that CPLP citizens can apply for a residence permit while already on Portuguese soil.
Amid the vote on the amendment to the Foreigners' Law, there was a defeat for the government, which is a minority in Parliament. The proposal to create a police unit for foreigners was rejected in plenary by deputies after having already been rejected by the Committee on Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees this week.
If approved, the National Foreigners and Borders Unit would give the Public Security Police superpowers to stop migrants on the streets, arrest undocumented immigrants and deport them from Portugal. The proposal was considered very radical by the deputies.
With the approval of the Assembly of the Republic, this will be the 17th change to the Foreigners Law. The vote, by the way, caused a moment of uncertainty for those who are not familiar with how the Portuguese Parliament works. Four votes were necessary, when the Legislative Assembly's rules state that there are two stages of analysis by the deputies. (Folhapress)
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