The Chega party has announced its intention to present a resolution proposal urging the government to “temporarily suspend family reunification” until the migration situation is “resolved.” This would prevent individuals who have obtained a valid residence permit in Portugal from requesting the entry and stay of family members.
According to party leader André Ventura, the government has been ineffective on this issue, and there are thousands of immigrants who “should not have entered.”
“And now they enter, the families come, and therefore, just to give people an idea, we could go from one and a half million to two million immigrants in a few months. This is unsustainable,” Ventura claimed on Monday.
Ventura stressed that the suspension of family reunification has “nothing to do with humanitarian concerns or being acceptable,” nor is it intended to “punish anyone.” Instead, it aims to ensure that Portugal does not become “a magnet for immigration.” He accused the government of inefficiency in this matter, suggesting that “for now, no one should access family reunification until the country has regularized half a million people.”
When asked if the suspension request is intended to cover those who entered Portugal under refugee status, such as Ukrainian refugees, Ventura distinguished between those coming from “visible, notorious, and understandable conflicts” and immigrants for other reasons.
Will reunification bring “arrivals by the thousands”? “It’s false”
Accusing André Ventura of “precipitation” and ‘fake news,'” the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, highlighted that one of the current government’s promises is to regulate family reunification of immigrants, limiting it to the country’s capacity.
“It is false that the government has announced arrivals by the thousands through family reunification,” the minister emphasized in a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
He recalled that the Government’s proposal during the election campaign already included a change to “the law to limit family reunification to the country’s capacity for integration.”
Vejo precipitação de alguns levados por fake news.
É falso que o Governo tenha anunciado chegadas aos milhares pelo reagrupamento familiar.
O q é verdade: a proposta do Governo AD de mudar a lei para limitar o reagrupamento fam. à capacidade de integração do País – pg.140 Prog AD pic.twitter.com/FWOaZoReY8— António Leitão Amaro (@Leitao_Amaro) June 9, 2025
The proposal commits the AD to “regulate and adjust the opening of entry channels (already provided for by law) for CPLP citizens and family reunification, considering the finite capacity for integration in the country and the responsiveness of public services.”
Last week, the Agency for Integration, Migration, and Asylum (AIMA) warned that the number of foreigners would increase with family reunification requests from those regularized. The Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, promised moderation.
Of the 446,000 pending interest expressions a year ago, about 170,000 were extinguished due to the applicants’ lack of response, and 35 were denied. However, those who have had their process approved have the right to request family reunification.
An official government source told Lusa that family reunification will be limited to the ability of Portuguese society to integrate immigrants.
