The initial proposal was withdrawn after being rejected in August by the Constitutional Court.
The Portuguese Parliament approved the anti-immigration bill package presented by the government on Tuesday (30) by 160 votes to 70. The more restrictive bill was rejected in August by the Constitutional Court. Therefore, the proposal is now considered more 'lenient'.
The approval came after the government reached an agreement with the far-right Chega party. The party also supported the PSD, Iniciativa Liberal, CDS-PP, and JPP. They reinforced the ideas of the governing center-right Democratic Alliance party.
Despite the definition, the expectation is that the final text will still present more changes.
The vote was heavily debated by parliamentarians, especially after the agreement reached between Chega and AD. Left-wing and progressive parties complained of "government opportunism."
There was an initial relaxation of the proposal, with a rollback, for example, of family reunification, giving more time and space for families to reunite. The time limit for immigrants married to a Portuguese citizen to request reunification in Portugal was reduced to one year. They must live together for 12 months in their home country.
However, if you have children, reunification can be immediate.
In fact, family reunification was the main reason the courts did not approve the text.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is unlikely to take the matter to court again after a more comprehensive decision is made.
After approval in Parliament, the bill will now be sent to the president, who has eight days to review it. He is expected to sign the bill into law.
The National Foreigners and Borders Unit, also known as the "immigrant police" or "foreigner police," came into force in Portugal in August. According to the Portuguese press, there will initially be 1,200 officers to carry out border control.
Among the responsibilities of this group will be to monitor illegal citizens in the country, and may carry out immediate expulsion.
Under the responsibility of the Public Security Police, one of the main functions of this force will be to monitor the entry and exit of immigrants from the country, as well as the stay of foreign citizens in Portugal.
The situation is expected to directly affect Brazilians living illegally in Portugal, as well as other nationalities.
Brazil represents the largest group of foreigners in Portugal. The most recent data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is from 2023 and indicates that 513,000 Brazilians lived in the country.
The decree signed by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in July states that this unit aims to ensure the removal from the country of undocumented immigrants and people whose residence visa applications were denied, either before or after the new anti-immigrant legislation was passed. Furthermore, one of the group's prerogatives will also be to control entry and exit at airports and ports across the country.
The goal of the package is to restrict the acquisition of Portuguese citizenship and reduce the number of people immigrating to the country. Some notable items include the provision for the loss of Portuguese citizenship if immigrants commit serious crimes and the increase in the residence period required to apply for citizenship. The bill increases the period from five to seven years, but can be extended to ten if the immigrant is from a non-Lusophone country.
The new laws also extend the period in which an immigrant must live legally in Portugal to be authorized to naturalize a child born there, for example - and end the possibility of Brazilian tourists without a visa requesting authorization to live in Portuguese territory.