A new model of residence permit (RA) in Portugal will be available for Brazilians and other citizens from the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP). To Agora Europathe Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) confirmed on Wednesday (1) that the more than 174 thousand Brazilians who are already in Portugal with an expression of interest process will benefit from the process, which will be automatic. The agency, however, said that the measure will begin to be adopted soon, but did not confirm a specific date.
At the same time, immigrants from the CPLP who move to the country from now on will also be able to adhere to the new model of residence permit. The document, which will only be available in digital form with a QR code, will be valid for one year and can be renewed for two-year periods. The citizen will have to use an identification document, such as a passport, when presenting the digital RA for validation. The regulation of the new document came into force in the country today (1).
According to the SEF, the procedure to obtain it will be completely online, without the need to go to a service station, both for those who arrive in the country and for those who are already waiting for a response from the agency. However, the website for applying for the CPLP RA has not yet been finalized. According to the agency, there is no confirmation of the date for which the portal will be available.
The cost of obtaining the document will be 15 euros. Currently, an RA through the Expression of Interest (EOI) costs 55 euros. Both Residence Authorizations (RA) grant citizens some of the same rights, such as the right to work and access to public health care.
However, the CPLP RA does not give the right to travel within the Schengen area, as it is a document valid only on Portuguese territory. As for family reunification, it is not yet clear whether the new document will grant this right.
The government has also not confirmed the requirements that the citizen who arrives in the national territory will have to fulfill to obtain the document. According to the approved law, the country has the right to “require from the applicant citizen proof of sufficient means of subsistence”. The SEF told Now Europe that the issue has not yet been defined, nor what the proof of means of subsistence will look like.
Regularization Mutirão
Even with the possibility of obtaining an automatic RA, the agency claims that it will soon hold a task force in Lisbon to assist immigrants who are in line for the Manifestation of Interest. The goal is to “quickly resolve the pending issues, which have been exacerbated in recent years with the exponential increase in demand [for an RA in Portugal].
Between 2016 and 2022, around 300,000 immigrants will receive a residence permit (RA) to live in Portugal. Currently, the country has 700,000 immigrants, of which more than 200,000 are from Brazil. Also according to the SEF, the date for the beginning of the convocations has not been defined. Brazilians and other citizens from the CPLP will be able to choose if they prefer to be summoned for the procedure and obtain the RA, or to change the procedure to obtain the digital document with a validity of 1 year.
