“The [Government] eliminated the method that existed to provide documentation to people, to regularize individuals, to allow for their integration. Then, to solve this oversight, it had to create last-minute proposals to address the economy’s need for tens of thousands of workers to function,” stated Mariana Mortágua on the sidelines of a session dedicated to menopause held at a café in Porto.
According to the political activist, the issue is that the “fast track” is also a “red light” because it decides who gets legalized.
“This ‘red light’ are all the immigrants who continue to enter undocumented, and there is no way to stop it. They will continue if the economy needs them,” she emphasized.
The manifestation of interest—a legal resource that allowed for the regularization in the national territory of those arriving with a tourist visa, which ended last summer by Government decision—was a way for people to integrate, Mortágua considered.
Mariana Mortágua argued that the Government chose to make immigration “a battle horse” and a dispute with the far-right, accusing the Minister of the Presidency, Leitão Amaro, of lying “grossly” about immigration figures by claiming that Portugal was among the countries with the most immigrants.
In her opinion, the “fast track” does not solve the immigration problem because it establishes that companies can leave the country and hire recruiters to choose immigrants.
“Anyway, I have, even moral, questions about this immigration method,” she said.
This new mechanism complicates immigration and treats immigrants like a commodity, she noted, emphasizing that the fundamental issue is ensuring that people arriving have rights, documentation, and the ability to regularize.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs declared that today is a “great day” for those advocating for regulated immigration and that the “fast track” for hiring immigrants, now in effect, is a better system than the previous one.
Paulo Rangel highlighted that this “fast track,” which came into force today, “is a policy that regulates, controls, and is profoundly humanistic, aiming to restore the integrity of rights to those coming to help the economy, especially in sectors like tourism, agriculture, and construction,” among others.
Consular services commit to responding within 20 days to work visa requests, as part of the “Fast Track” for hiring immigrants by Portuguese companies, according to the protocol signed with key employer organizations.
This measure enables direct hiring abroad by companies, following the end of manifestations of interest decreed by the Government last summer.
