The PCP Parliamentary Group has presented a bill, proposing the “legal reinstatement of residence authorization procedures based on expressions of interest for the exercise of a subordinate or independent professional activity”.
The PCP considers the impact of the Government's decision to revoke the "possibility of obtaining a residence permit to work in Portugal through expressions of interest" to be negative.
From the communists' point of view, this is an initiative that, "in the context of the need to resolve more than 400,000 cases of regularisation of the situation of foreign citizens that have accumulated due to the ineffectiveness of the Agency for Interaction, Migration and Asylum, resulting largely from the disastrous way in which the SEF was abolished by the PS Government", not only does not resolve the problem but will have profoundly negative consequences, particularly for immigrants and their families, the economy and the labour market.
The PCP stresses that, in a context in which immigration appears objectively necessary, the adoption of so-called “closed door” policies does not reduce immigration, but rather contributes to its illegal increase. On the other hand, the “need to hire foreign workers so that the national economy can develop is an objective fact”, not least because of the positive impact that contributions made by foreign workers have had on the balance of social security.
Immigration will only be a problem if immigrants end up in the hands of criminal associations or if their irregular situation is used by employers to increase job insecurity and lower wages.