The president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, promulgated this Thursday, 16th, the second version of the anti-immigration package that changes the so-called “Foreigners Law” and affects Brazilians who intend to live in the country.
He justified that the project “revised and approved by 70% of deputies minimally corresponds to the essential doubts of unconstitutionality raised by the President of the Republic and confirmed by the Constitutional Court”. The changes come into force as soon as they are published in the Official Gazette.
The “Foreigners Law” is a set of rules that regulate the entry, stay, exit and rights of non-European citizens in Portugal. It establishes the types of visas, residence permits, regularization requirements and criteria for granting citizenship.
FREE LIST
10 small caps to invest in
The list of stocks from promising sectors on the Stock Exchange
The first version of the anti-immigration package was approved by the Assembly of the Republic in July, but was returned by Sousa to Parliament after the Constitutional Court – Portugal’s highest judicial body – considered five sections unconstitutional.
One of the points considered illegal by the court was the possibility of separating foreign couples if one spouse is legal and the other is illegal in the country. For the body, this rule “is incompatible with the protection constitutionally due to the family, in particular the coexistence of spouses, or equivalents, with each other”.
At the end of September, the Assembly of the Republic approved a second version with milder measures, but which will impact the lives of foreigners. Following the publication of the new law, procedures for acquiring residence, work or study visas will become more rigorous.
Continues after advertising
To apply for residency, you will need to prove real ties with the country, such as having a work contract, being enrolled in a school or having family ties. The minimum time to apply for citizenship will vary and will include cultural integration and Portuguese proficiency requirements.
A report published by the Agency for Integration, Migrations and Asylum (AIMA) last year showed that 368,449 Brazilians resided in Portugal in 2023. The survey also points out that the group corresponds to 45% of the total number of beneficiaries of new residence permits issued in the country in 2023 and is the main resident foreign community.
As these data do not include Brazilians with pending cases and citizens with dual nationality, the Brazilian community in Portugal is estimated at 700 thousand people, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
