Government retreats into the Foreign Law

Leitão Amaro presented the new proposal: There are several exceptions in relation to the period of two years of residence valid to request the family regrouping.

The new proposal for change to Foreign Law It maintains a period of two years of residence valid to request the family regrouping, but admits several exceptions, including for spouses, today the presidency minister said today.

The new proposal for amendment to the legal regime of entry, permanence, departure and removal of foreigners from the national territory arises after the first diploma was ‘led to’ by the Constitutional Court (TC).

At a press conference, António Leitão Amaro explained that although keep o two -year -old appointed in the diploma ackled by the Constitutional Court, it will move to a year when it comes to spouses who cohabited with the applicant of family regrouping in the year before he had immigrated to Portugal.

The ruler also said that the proposal, delivered today to the Assembly of the Republic by the parliamentary groups of PSD and CDS-PP, extends the possibility of immediate request that was already expected to minors to the greatest incapable of the immigrant and the father or mother of his son.

“These one -year rules or the dismissal for the spouses in the case of the common child [são] Always relative to marriages and unions of facts that comply with Portuguese law, that is, excludes marriages with minors, excludes polygamous marriages, excludes forced marriages, ”said António Leitão Amaro.

As in the initial version, highly qualified professionals or with Residence authorization for investment (Visas Gold) will also be dismissed of any deadline to request the family regrouping.

According to the proposal of change delivered by the parliamentary groups of PSD and CDS-PP, the deadline can also be dismissed or reduced “in exceptional cases duly substantiated, by order of the government member responsible for the area of ​​migration ”, weighted“ the nature and solidity of the family’s family ties and the effectiveness of their integration in Portugal, in the light of the principles of human dignity and proportionality ”.

The Constitutional Court also questioned the integration measures. The new diploma clarifies: Once they have residence permission, the closed family members must attend formation in Portuguese language, in constitutional principles and valuesand – for minors – fulfill the compulsory education.

Asked if this does not give randomness to the process, the minister admitted that there is “a dimension of discretion” in a decision in those terms, but claimed that the established parameters prevent it from being arbitrary and allows it to be supervised by a court.

Leitão Amaro added that the law of entry, permanence, departure and removal of foreigners from the national territory already provides, in article 123, an exceptional regime in certain situations.

The Minister of the Presidency admitted that the Executive preferred the first version of the law, but stressed respecting the Constitutional Court.

“Now is the time of parliament,” he concluded.

Without talking to others

The PSD and CDS-PP presented in Parliament a new version of the diploma that regulates the entry of foreigners in Portugal Not to mention previously “with no party”arguing that the text maintains the principles of rigor and control of immigration.

In Parliament, the vice president of the bench António Rodrigues argued that the text now delivered-who hopes to be discussed next week in plenary-“accommodates all remarks of the Court”, namely in the matters related to family regrouping and access to law, “without questioning government policy.”

Questioned if you have guarantees that this version will have favorable votes from arrival -who approved the previous diploma -António Rodrigues replied that the proponents PSD/CDS -PP have not spoken “with no party so far”.

The deputy insisted that “ principles e values continue to be exactly the same ”, and PSD/CDS-PP only accommodated the legal doubts of the TC.

“It would make no sense to be talking to anyone about this article. If there is criticism of it, to get them to the discussion in the specialty, we will be available to discuss them,” he said.

In the same line, also the deputy of CDS-PP João Almeida does not anticipate difficulties in approval From the diploma, saying that, respecting the position of the Constitutional Court, it does not abdicate the essentials, “either regarding the regulation of immigration, and concretely regarding the issue of family regrouping,” which remains not automatic.

“What we do is maintain all the rigor that is essential in a migratory policy,” he said.