With the Constitutional Court's (TC) rejection and the President's veto of the amendments to the foreigners' law , approved by the PSD and supported by Chega, the bill will return to Parliament. The bill will be reviewed again in September, after the summer break—when the amendments to the Nationality Law will also be voted on.
The government, which had already considered this veto scenario, confirmed the new attempt after the TC judges' decision. "We can adjust the route, but the destination will be the same: more regulated immigration in Portugal," the Ministry of the Presidency declared in a social media post. The message is accompanied by a video of Minister António Leitão Amaro. "We will adjust the legislation, but let this be clear: to achieve the same objective (...) Portugal needs and will have more regulated immigration."
When Parliament resumes, the government is expected to once again count on Chega's support in approving the law, as was the case last month. André Ventura, the party's leader, has already warned that he will not accept any setbacks to the law , leaving it up for discussion how the points raised by the Constitutional Court will be addressed in the new text.
For the Government, one of the key points is the issue of family reunification, to provide a form of "real expectations" for immigrants. In practice, there are already cases of immigrants waiting more than two years for family reunification .
The legislative process will need to restart from scratch, with the submission of the new text of the law and the necessary votes on the general, specialized, and final votes. In the first approval, which took just 16 business days in total , the PSD, with the support of André Ventura's party, vetoed the holding of hearings and requests for opinions, as is customary, to expedite approval.
Until new approval at all stages in Parliament, promulgation by the President and publication in the Official Gazette (DRE), the law remains as it currently is.