The President of the Republic has enacted the decree from the Assembly of the Republic that amends the legal regime for the entry, stay, exit, and removal of foreigners from the national territory, according to information released today on the Presidency’s website.
In the statement, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa notes that the revised and approved bill by 70% of the deputies “minimally addresses the essential constitutional concerns raised by him and confirmed by the Constitutional Court.”
In remarks to journalists in parliament, the PSD parliamentary leader, Hugo Soares, emphasized that “it is clearly an important day for the country, but especially for immigrants” who choose Portugal as a place to live and work.
“We can say today that we have an immigration law that allows entry into Portugal for those who seek us, but in a responsible manner, so that we can integrate them with humanism,” he said.
When asked about the President of the Republic’s comment that the new version of the bill only “minimally” responds to his constitutional doubts, Hugo Soares preferred to highlight the enactment.
“I believe the President of the Republic chooses every word with great care, and this one too, but the point is that he enacted it. If he did, it is because he understands there is constitutional compliance, which we also believed,” he said.
Regarding the timing of the decision by the head of state, who had sent the first version of the bill to the Constitutional Court, Hugo Soares declined to comment, unlike the CDS-PP.
“It was just what was missing, the timing of the President of the Republic and the timing of the President of the Republic,” he said.
Shortly before, CDS-PP deputy (a party partner in the coalition supporting the PSD-led government), João Almeida, had stated that the President of the Republic’s decision, although important, “clearly comes late.”
“The enforcement, which will now occur after the enactment of the immigration law, should have happened earlier, and the proof is the numbers revealed today, showing that the government, when presenting them, was proposing an urgent legislative change,” he said.
According to João Almeida, official numbers released today demonstrate that “Portugal, in seven years, has quadrupled the number of immigrants,” now exceeding 1.5 million.
“No country can withstand such an increase in such a short time. It’s impossible,” he stated, highlighting the pressure that number places “on educational institutions, health facilities, and all responses of the Social State.”
The IL and JPP, who had voted in favor of the decree, also welcomed the enactment by Belém.
IL President Mariana Leitão considered the enactment of the bill “great news” that will allow the country to have “clear rules” on immigration, preventing irregularities, and moving away from the “chaos” caused by “PS and other left-wing parties.”
The JPP also praised the President’s decision, with deputy Filipe Sousa stating that, although it is not a “perfect bill,” the country will no longer have “open doors, as happened in the past,” and “there will be more effective control” of immigration.
This new version was approved in plenary on September 30 with votes in favor from PSD, CDS-PP, Chega, IL, and JPP, and votes against from PS, Livre, PCP, BE, and PAN, following the Constitutional Court’s August rejection of five clauses of the previous decree.
On July 24, the President of the Republic submitted the first version of the parliament’s decree to the Constitutional Court, requesting a preventive review of the constitutionality of the clauses on the right to family reunification and the conditions for its exercise, the deadline for the evaluation of requests by the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), and the right to appeal.
