The Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) announced today that it is preparing a new model to regularize the situation of thousands of immigrants who have expressed interest, between 2021 and 2022, in obtaining a residence permit in Portugal.
In a statement, the SEF advances that this new model, which today is the headline of the Expresso newspaper, involves notifying immigrants to obtain a residence permit without the need to resort to telephone contact and arises in the wake of the new regime for the entry of immigrants in Portugal, which entered into force in November 2022 and in which citizens of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) now have a visa facilitation regime in Portugal.
A SEF source told Lusa that at stake are the approximately 290 immigrants who between 2021 and 2022 filled out the Expressions of Interest (application formalized with the SEF to obtain a residence permit) on the electronic platform, the Automatic Pre-Scheduling System (SAPA). ).
However, according to the same source, this number may not correspond to reality, since many of the registrations may not be valid or many of the immigrants may no longer be in the country.
The source gave as an example the case of the legalization of around 150 immigrants who had made an expression of interest between 2019 and 2020, but who only showed up to obtain a residence permit 74.
According to the SEF, the new regularization model for these thousands of immigrants goes through two stages and will take place differently for CPLP citizens, who will obtain a residence permit more quickly and automatically.
That security service explains that, in a first phase of the process, the immigrants will all be contacted 'online' by the SEF and after this notification, CPLP citizens, who make up about half of the expressions of interest, namely Brazilians, will be legalized by under the new CPLP mobility regime, with no need for a face-to-face visit.
The remaining foreigners, which will be around 150 thousand and which include citizens of India, Nepal and Bangladesh, and after being contacted 'online' by the SEF, will be notified for face-to-face assistance in a "large center" that will be created in the area. de Lisboa, which will have several branches and will operate with extended hours.
The SEF clarifies that “this is not a matter of regularization, but of putting into practice, in the coming months, a pending recovery procedure, concentrated in time, and covering requests for the years 2021 and 2022”.
The Foreigners and Borders Service guarantees that this new model will be made “in strict compliance with the legislation in force”, stressing that the objective is to recover “quickly, the pendencies that have become more acute in recent years, with the exponential increase that has occurred in demand, even during the pandemic period, when services were closed”.
This new model of legalizing immigrants comes at a time when the Government is preparing the restructuring of the SEF, whose administrative functions in terms of immigration will be transferred to the Portuguese Agency for Migration and Asylum (APMA).
As part of the restructuring of the SEF, which was postponed until the creation of the APMA, the police powers of that body will pass to the PSP, GNR and PJ, while the current attributions in administrative matters regarding foreign citizens will now be exercised by the APMA and the Institute of Registries and Notaries.
The restructuring of the SEF was decided by the previous Government and approved by the Assembly of the Republic in November 2021, having already been postponed twice.
This week, in parliament, the Minister of Internal Administration assured that the Government maintains “the political objective” of completing the legislative process of creating APMA by the end of March.
SEF data show that the foreign population legally residing in Portugal increased in 2022 for the seventh consecutive year, totaling 757.252, and the Brazilian and Indian communities were the ones that grew the most.
According to the SEF, Brazilian citizens remain the main foreign community residing in the country, with a total of 233.138 people, 28.444 more (13%) than in 2021.
Indian residents in Portugal also increased by 13% in 2022, from 30.251 to 34.232, and are now the fourth most numerous community in the country.
The Nepalese became part of the 10 largest foreign communities in Portugal, with 23.441 citizens legally residing in the country, now taking the place of the Chinese.
This process of regularizing the situation of thousands of immigrants was reported today by Expresso.
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