Recent legislative changes in Portugal, including new limitations on family reunification and extended timeframes for obtaining nationality, present new challenges and highlight the need for an informed debate on integration policies, according to the 2025 update of the Migration Integration Policy Index (MIPEX).
The comparative ranking reveals significant declines in two main areas of integration policies, specifically nationality (-52 points) and family reunification (-33 points).
Regarding access to nationality, Portugal’s score dropped from 86 to 34 points, falling below the European average of 44. The extensions to family reunification timelines led to a decrease in the index from 93 to 60 points, still seven points above the EU average.
Despite these declines, Portugal maintains an overall score above the European average, though its profile is more unbalanced than in previous cycles, according to the authors.
Lucinda Fonseca, a researcher who managed the evaluation of Portugal’s situation, emphasized that immigrant integration primarily occurs at the local level, where everyday needs are most evident and institutional responses more immediate.
This session aimed to create “a space for critical reflection, informed dialogue, and pathway construction,” as immigrant integration is a crucial issue for the country.
The MIPEX is a tool that compares integration policies across more than 50 countries, evaluating eight public policy areas.
The setbacks in Portugal in sensitive areas should serve as a warning and an opportunity to strengthen public policies, invest in local capacities, and recenter integration as a strategic priority, stated Maria Lucinda Fonseca.
According to the geographer from the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning at the University of Lisbon, Portugal has a “solid experience of integration policies,” but recent legislative changes could harm social cohesion if not mitigated by appropriate measures.
Suggestions from the researcher include immigrant association activities, multilevel governance policies, increased work by local authorities, and strengthened support in schools.
Basak Yavcan, coordinator of the MIPEX research team, noted the tightening of migration policies in Europe, with Portugal adopting this trend this year.
Until 2024, Portugal, along with Finland and Sweden, had the best integration and immigrant reception policies, but this trend has changed, she explained.
Portugal’s leadership in this area was due to easy access for immigrants to regularization, the labor market, education, and family reunification.
In the European context, there’s a “stagnation of integration policies,” contributed to by the rise of far-right parties, as explained by Basak Yavcan.
Though MIPEX evaluated policies only up to 2023, the organizing committee assessed the impact of legislative measures enacted this year. They found significant declines in nationality access and family reunification, two essential conditions for immigrants’ full integration.
“This concerns us, as it will create new difficulties,” admitted Basak Yavcan.
Commenting on the results, António Vitorino, former director of the International Organization for Migration, believed that the legal changes would have little impact on attracting and retaining immigrants, serving more as a response to populist movements’ pressure.
“It’s a global trend that has reached Portugal,” he stated.
The event featured Gulbenkian administrator Cristina Casalinho, who highlighted Portugal’s advantages in having good integration policies for refugees and immigrants, as seen in the past.
She recalled that the Gulbenkian Foundation found Portugal to be a “hospitable, peaceful, and welcoming” society, choosing to settle there after World War II and establishing the foundation in its name.
Consequently, the administrator expressed the Gulbenkian Foundation’s openness to more projects in immigrant and refugee integration.
