According to the Minister of the Presidency, the timeframe in Portugal is below the community average and is a factor in attracting immigrants.
The Minister of the Presidency stated this Tuesday that the granting of Portuguese nationality has a “calling effect” on immigrants and argued that the future Government should extend the deadline, which is now five years.
At a press conference, following the publication of the interim report on the recovery of pending processes at the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), António Leitão Amaro explained that the deadline, below the EU average, is a factor in attracting immigrants, who seek to benefit from this measure.
The nationality law has already been subject to changes in this legislature, establishing the five-year period only after the granting of the residence certificate and not after the application, as was previously the case.
Despite this, “there is also a contribution to this effect of calling the nationality law as it exists today”, explained Leitão Amaro, considering that “it is important to reconsider the term, as well as the way of counting”.
Regarding the residence certificates issued by parish councils, an “instrument that is relevant in public policies and that has been subject to abuse”, the Government wants to review the rules with “anti-fraud measures”.
The minister specifically defended “limits to the number of people that can be attested by each witness and per property”.
Leitão Amaro also accused the PS and Chega of having rejected the creation of the National Unit for Foreigners and Borders (UNEF) within the PSP, creating problems in controlling those who arrive.
The Government will move forward with the creation of centers to receive asylum requests, already approved when it was in office, even before the early elections on May 18, and defended a “new and more effective regime for removing illegal immigrants”.
On the other hand, the minister argued that new channels for family reunification should be opened, but this measure “must meet the response capacity of the country and public services”.
These are “new solutions” to be “implemented by a Government in full power”, explained the minister, who said he was not in an election campaign, nor did he want to talk about election promises.
"I am here as a member of the Government" and "I am not here as a candidate for the Democratic Alliance", so "I will not talk about the electoral programme of the parties that support the Government", stated the candidate who is also the head of the list for Viseu for the legislative elections.
Of all the proposed measures, only the construction of temporary detention centers will move forward, because they have already been approved by the Council of Ministers and must be operational by the beginning of 2026, within the scope of the European pact.
"We already need them today", because the spaces to keep foreigners upon arrival, with pending processes, are "completely full".
"The police know that if they detect more people in an illegal situation, they will have nowhere to put them," the minister summarized, hoping to present news in the coming days.
The aim is a "faster and more effective return system", in which "24-hour detention is a measure of last resort", favouring "mixed regimes" of detention, whenever possible.
António Leitão Amaro also blamed the previous socialist government for a policy of “lack of control” in the entry of foreigners, which allowed the number of immigrants to quadruple in seven years.
“It was a very rapid change” and the “biggest demographic change we have seen in our lives”, stated Leitão Amaro, accusing the PS Government of “irresponsibility that generated great inhumanity” towards those populations, because public services were unable to keep up with the increase in demand.
“It is important that the country knows and discusses this demographic transformation, “because the Socialist Party changed the immigration law” and “opened the door” to Portugal, said Leitão Amaro.
Today, social security receives much more funds than it pays out in social benefits, but this “long-term impact is uncertain” for Portuguese accounts, the minister stressed.
On the other hand, “people with different cultures, languages and religions” have appeared in Portugal, which has increased the diversity of the social fabric, but this “very rapid growth in immigration can be a source of unrest in communities”.
Therefore, this executive has made a commitment to “put an end to uncontrolled immigration”, opting for “regulated immigration with humanism”.
“We do not follow the radicals with the doors wide open”, nor the “populists who want the doors closed”, he stated, highlighting that, today, the “migration priority is for those who come with an employment contract, who come to work and with conditions”.
On Monday, hundreds of migrants, most of them from the Indian subcontinent, gathered at the headquarters of the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) to protest the lack of response to pending applications.
Leitão Amaro acknowledges that many immigrants “were not treated well by the Portuguese State”, because the socialist government “destroyed the immigration service” and “nearly a million people were left waiting for a response”, between AIMA and IRN.
The immigrant organisations have expressed concern over this statement as the lives of immigrants are already volernable and the AD letd governemt is adding to their misery.