“What is happening is a huge setback for the rights of immigrants and the rule of law,” said the president of the country’s largest immigrant association.
Among other aspects, Timóteo Macedo criticized the institution of a general two-year deadline for family reunification requests, accompanied by “a regime of exceptions one after the other.”
“This process of requesting family reunification is an inviolable and non-negotiable right,” emphasized the president of Solidariedade Imigrante, noting that it is already being hindered today.
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, justified today the promulgation of the revision of the so-called Foreigners Law, approved by 70% of the deputies, with the fact that the decree minimally addresses the essential constitutional doubts previously raised by him and confirmed by the Constitutional Court.
The decree from the Assembly of the Republic changes the legal regime for the entry, stay, exit, and removal of foreigners from national territory.
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 rejection in August of five provisions in the previous decree, primarily relating to family reunification.
PS, Livre, PCP, BE, PAN, and also the sole deputy of JPP had voted against the first version, approved on July 16 with votes in favor of PSD, Chega, and CDS-PP, which IL abstained from.
The decree was drafted from a government proposal by PSD/CDS-PP and a legislative project from Chega.
The new regime limits visas for job-seeking to “qualified work,” restricts the possibility of family reunification for immigrants from foreigners with residence permits in Portugal—excluding refugees—and changes the conditions for granting residence permits to citizens of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP).
Among the changes introduced in the new decree regarding family reunification, the principle remains that this right can only be exercised by a foreign citizen with a valid residence permit in Portugal “for at least two years,” a period which does not apply to “minors or incapacitated dependents” or to “a spouse or equivalent who is, with the holder of a residence permit, a parent or adopter of a minor or incapacitated dependent.”
To request reunification with the “spouse or equivalent who has cohabited with the holder for at least 18 months prior to their entry into national territory,” a “15-month” period of legal residence in Portugal is required.
The two-year requirement remains as a condition for requesting reunification with a spouse or equivalent who does not meet those requirements, as well as with other family members, adult children, and ascendants who are not incapacitated.
