The Agency for Immigration and Asylum (AIMA) has issued a directive notifying 72 foreign nationals, mainly from the Indian subcontinent, that their residence permits will be revoked and they have 20 days to leave the country.
The affected individuals, who have been residing legally in Portugal for at least six years, working, paying taxes, and living normal lives, received the unexpected news: a “cold splash of water.”
“These people were not expecting anything from AIMA,” explained lawyer Filipa Santos Costa, who was approached by three of the affected immigrants and disclosed the situation.
“They were perplexed, unsure of what to do,” she said. “AIMA is canceling something that no longer exists. It’s a legal anomaly.”
“Imagine if the state sent you a letter saying it was canceling your citizen card and you had to leave in 20 days,” the lawyer stated. “That’s what AIMA is doing to these people.”
At least one of the notified individuals holds Portuguese nationality.
One client of Filipa Santos Costa is not even a foreigner in Portugal; he is a full Portuguese citizen who received the order to leave. “So, in practice, AIMA is telling a Portuguese person to leave their own country,” she emphasized.
“Twenty days. I underscore, twenty days to leave Portugal,” said the lawyer.
The explanation for this decision is given “very succinctly” in a single paragraph.
“The common factor among these 72 individuals is that they have worked for a company under investigation,” said the lawyer, adding that the investigation has been ongoing since 2019, for six years now.
“An investigation is underway to determine if the company was legitimate, meaning it may not have sold employment contracts to these people and they might not have actually worked for the company.”
In other words, this could be a facade operation allowing immigrants to stay in Portugal and obtain residence permits.
The lawyer points to political reasons behind the notification.
However, Santos Costa explained, “nothing is proven and there hasn’t been a trial.” The case is still under investigation and “the notified individuals are witnesses, not defendants,” she stressed.
“Our criminal process assumes the presumption of innocence, yet it seems AIMA applies the opposite: the presumption of guilt, assuming these individuals, who once worked for this company, are guilty of something,” she accused.
Santos Costa believes the immigration agency’s directive is not coincidental. “It’s the zeitgeist,” she claims, suggesting political motives behind the order for these 72 people, who had permission to reside, to leave the country.
“I ask: if this company has been under investigation since 2019, why now, at this precise moment, does AIMA consider it urgent—AIMA used the term urgent, not even allowing them to be heard—that they leave the country? Why is it only urgent now?” she questioned, emphasizing that the agency’s invocation of ‘urgency’ denies the notified individuals their right to be heard.
However, the issues with this directive do not end here.
The directive reportedly violated the data protection rights of those notified.
The document, sent to all 72 individuals, contained their names, nationalities, birth dates, passport numbers, tax numbers, residence permit numbers, and their addresses in Portugal, as reported.
“A complaint to the data protection authority, the National Data Protection Commission, is necessary. That’s what it’s there for. And also the Ombudsman,” the lawyer stated.
“This far exceeds the personal scope of each of these immigrants,” she added.
For now, Filipa Santos Costa is still “strategizing” legal actions to assist her clients through legal channels but ensures a case will be presented in Portuguese courts.
She notes, “there are several ways to react legally” because “the illegalities committed have been numerous.”
“There is the issue of data protection violation, the violation of the right to a prior hearing; one of the individuals notified is Portuguese; such a decision should be properly justified and it’s not… there is so much to challenge legally,” she concluded.
Filipa Santos Costa considers a possible collective court action on behalf of the 72 individuals against the agency for these alleged illegalities, but, for now, underscores the importance of “protecting the individual interests of those affected.” However, she maintains that “someone must assume responsibility” for the incident.
The Notícias ao Minuto has contacted AIMA but has not received a response.
