The first residence permits for those who have already passed through the AIMA task force centers are starting to arrive, but there are many immigrants whose cases have been rejected. Find out the reasons.
After 90 working days since immigrants began being served at the Integration, Migration and Asylum Agency (AIMA) task force centers, the first residence permits began arriving by post this week. But many citizens have nothing to celebrate, as instead of good news, they received notifications by email that their applications for residency in Portugal had been rejected. There were at least 108 thousand people rejected by AIMA, who are still waiting for a new chance.
Lawyer Célio Sauer emphasizes that denial is not a total rejection, as AIMA gives a period of 10 days for immigrants to attach the required documents again and pay the fees that were not paid within the stipulated deadlines. In other words, there is a second chance, which, in his view, must be taken advantage of.
For Sauer, it is sad to receive notification from AIMA that the residency applications have been rejected, but there is a positive side to this process: it means that AIMA has started analyzing the applications again, which was not the case until September, when the residency centers were launched. mission. "Again, the denial is not a rejection, as there is a deadline to complete the process", he reinforces.
There are several reasons why AIMA has rejected applications for residency in Portugal by foreigners. “There are cases where the agency asks for the rental contract to have recognized signatures. A rental agreement does not need notarized signatures,” he says. He explains that rental contracts must be registered with the Federal Revenue Service, which is the responsibility of the property owners, not the tenants. “I believe they are asking for the signatures as evidence against the owners,” he suggests.
Transfer to Social Security
Another requirement made by AIMA, which is not in the law, is proof of residence in addition to that issued by the parish council. “It happens that 30, 40 or 50 people appear with the same address registered by a parish council. When processes were analyzed with a longer time between them, this sometimes passed, but now that everything is being analyzed at the same time, the agency sees this”, explains Sauer.
There is also the issue of lack of Segurança Social contributions. “There is the case of a young man who received a notification that his residency application had been rejected because the company he works for deducted the amount from his salary but did not pass it on to the Segurança Social. In these cases, AIMA's hands are tied, and the immigrant's only option is to seek an agreement with the company so that Segurança Social payments can be made. If you are unable to do so, you will have to take legal action against the company. AIMA would have to give some time for the matter to be dealt with,” he points out.
Lawyer Catarina Zuccaro includes, in the list of reasons for the rejection of processes by AIMA, the refusal to declare the date of legal entry into Portugal. “Airline tickets are not accepted. The fact that there are tickets is not proof that the person boarded the plane,” he emphasizes. Instead of airline tickets, proof is being requested such as an in-person request for a CPF, in which the person signs the application at the tax office and writes the date, and proof of opening a bank account, also with the date and signature.
Catarina adds another obstacle for immigrants close to AIMA: the lack of proof of means of subsistence. “Some companies declare that the employee was absent for half the month to pay less to the Segurança Social. So, instead of a salary of 1 thousand euros, you make deductions on 200 euros, for example. However, to obtain a residence permit, you need an income of at least the minimum wage (€870),” he says.
This also occurs on the immigrant side. “Some people who work as self-employed workers, with green receipts, only pay the minimum amount to Social Security, 23.95 euros. Therefore, the rental declaration does not fit into what is paid to the Segurança Social”, explains the lawyer.
With residence
Sauer says that a positive advance promoted more recently by AIMA was in the process of delivering documents for the residence authorization process. “When people are notified by AIMA about the rejection of their application, everything can be answered on the AIMA portal itself. Immigrants have a username and password, gather documents and write what they intend to do for a new submission of the process. You don’t need to hire a lawyer for this,” he describes.
If many are having problems with AIMA, those who got their residence permit are celebrating. “I have a client who was seen in the second week of operation of the Hindu Temple center and has already received a residence permit,” celebrates lawyer Adriana Ayala.
“I was on the work and a friend came to tell me that I had received a letter from AIMA”, says Algerian Houcine Deba, 27 years old, who lives in Cuba, in Alentejo. He had been trying to legalize his status in Portugal for two and a half years. “I arrived in the country in May 2022 and expressed my interest on June 27,” he recalls. At the time, he worked in the cleaning sector, later moving to the construction sector.
Deba explains why she chose Portugal and not Spain or France, countries where the presence of Algerians is greater, to live. “It’s a calmer country, there’s less stress. He has no problems with the police and the people are nice,” he says.