The President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, promulgated this Thursday (16) the new Foreigners Law, which imposes stricter rules on the entry and stay of immigrants in the country. The measure, which limits family reunification and toughens the granting of visas, marks a significant change in Portuguese migration policy.
According to government spokesperson, António Leitão Amaro, this is “a very important day for the country, it is a very important chapter of change in immigration policy, now regulated, with more control, more security, but also with more dignity for those who arrive”.
During a press conference after the Council of Ministers meeting, Amaro stated that the new legal text represents only the beginning of a series of reforms.
“This is neither the first nor the last chapter of this change in immigration policy,” he declared.
The spokesperson recalled that, last year, the government had already ended the system known as “expression of interest”, which allowed foreigners to regularize after one year of contributions to Social Security.
The new legislation was approved by Parliament at the end of September with the support of the right-wing nationalist Chega party, which defends strict border control. Among the main changes are the limitation of family reunification and the requirement that foreigners from Portuguese-speaking countries obtain a residence visa while still in their country of origin.
“It’s not enough to come to Portugal to do tourism and then see what happens, come with a visa exemption and then see what happens”, explained Amaro. “To travel to Portugal to live, you need to come to work or study.”
The Portuguese government also abolished the so-called “indiscriminate job search visa”, a mechanism that allowed foreigners to enter without a prior job offer. According to the spokesperson, “the work visa is reserved only for professions, functions, with high qualifications, where there is an evident and necessary job offer for the national economy”.
In addition to the Foreigners Law, Lisbon is preparing new legal changes. Amaro anticipated that, next week, the government should approve changes to the Nationality Law, which increase the minimum period of legal residence to acquire citizenship – from five to seven years in the case of Portuguese-speaking citizens and ten years for foreigners of other origins. The project is still under analysis in Parliament.
According to the spokesperson, the next measures also include a new regime for deporting illegal immigrants, the proposal of which should be evaluated by November. The objective, according to him, is to guarantee “more control and more security” in the management of borders and migratory flows.
