Anxiety is great among immigrants who have the residence permits in Portugal expired, as the decree that guarantees the acceptance of these documents expires on June 30.
The Brazilian Monica Souza, 38, has systematically resorted to the posts of the Institute of Records and Notaries (IRN) and the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) to see if it can reduce its affliction. And there is no exaggeration in her concerns, who have lived and worked in Portugal since 2022. Monica has had her residence card expired since November last year and almost lost her job because she was one step away from being considered illegal in the country. The picture is aggravated, in her assessment, because the Government has fallen, the country will go through new elections in May and the decree that extends the validity of the documents of foreigners expires on June 30, without any sign of the public administration that it will be extended.
“Fortunately, my employer accepted the decree-law (10-A/2020) that is still within the expiration date and I have not lost my job, but there is a huge insecurity regarding what will happen. There needs to be a solution for those who have the documents expired,” says the Brazilian. He says that, in the tour he made with IRN and AIMA, the only place where he received a decent information was at the IRN post in Lisbon. “There, they said that the renewal of the documents was only being done in urgent cases of health. In other places, the answer was to insist on scheduling a timetable over the internet, "he adds.
Faced with the report of Monica and other immigrants who are in the same situation, the PUBLICO Brazil tried to contact the Government, AIMA and the Ministry of Justice, to which the IRN is subordinate. The only one to answer was the ministry, pointing out that "there was nothing to say beyond that there is a decree still valid." For Ana Paula Costa, president of the Casa do Brasil in Lisbon, the oldest institution supporting immigrants in Portugal, it is unfair that people face the insecurity of being with expired documents, with no prospect of renewal. “This is too worrying,” he said.
Ana Paula recalls that the decree that is in force, recognizing the validity of documents of expired immigrants, has been renewed since the pandemic of the new coronavirus. The problem is that it is a little more than three months from the decree to expire and Portugal lives with a Government with limited powers, with an election on the way. “In this period of uncertainty, people can be without a job and without access to public services because they have expired residence permits,” reinforces the president of Casa do Brasil. The ideal, in her evaluation, would be that the current administration should give at least one direction of what it can do.
Harmful disorganisation
Also anxious for the renewal of the expired document since the end of 2024, Lígia Cristino de Brito, 57, says that even before her residence permit expires, she sought AIMA by email asking for help. And the answer was that she should address the IRN, the body responsible for providing the desired service. In the same message, AIMA stressed: "We inform that the documents and visas related to the stay in national territory, which have expired from February 22, 2020, are valid until June 30, 2025 and are accepted by the Portuguese public authorities, for all legal purposes, pursuant to article 16, paragraphs 1 and 8, of Decree-Law No. 10-A/2020, of 13 March, in its current wording.
Cristina decided to do what AIMA had recommended and was a post of the IRN personally. After facing a long line, he heard from the attendant that, "at this moment, the documents are still being exchanged expired until August 2024." That is, the others should wait for when the IRN was able to provide the service. “It’s sad to see what’s happening to these people because they’re in limbo. Exceeded document does not guarantee anything, especially when you are an immigrant, "says lawyer Rodrigo Vicente. For him, the Government should give an encouragement to those who only want to be with the documentation up-to-date, a basic right.
Until the extinction of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) in October 2023, most of the expired documents of immigrants were automatically renewed. It was enough to enter the institution’s website, enter the required information, pay the fees and residence permits came to the people’s homes. Since the SEF was replaced by AIMA, automatic renewal was no longer possible, accumulating pending issues such as those of Mônica and Cristina.
Aware of all the problems left by the SEF and loomed by AIMA, the current Government chose to solve the pending of about 440,000 immigrants who had applied for residence authorization through the expression of interest, which was extinguished in June last year, and exchange the titles of 220,000 citizens of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP). This work, however, is still ongoing and far from completion.
Says Monica, in front of this picture: "I live continuously in Europe since 2016, always with adequate visas. I have lived in France (two years) and in Poland (four years). I arrived in Portugal in June 2022, with a qualified worker visa, through the multinational company for which I worked. Due to my qualifications and international experience, I got another job in a Portuguese company in 2024, but even so, I am with the expired residence permit. The situation of the immigrant, in general, is never easy, and we have to be resilient, even those who come to the country regularly. It is always bureaucratic and complicated. But the disorganization created by the extinction of SEF, exposing that there was no planning, I never lived.