There are many demands: a mechanism to renew expired documents, delays in analyzing processes, lack of responses, and a problem with the SIS.
More than 1000 immigrants from different parts of the country protested this Monday (07) in Lisbon due to the lack of responses from the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA). The initiative came from the citizens themselves, who sought support from the association Solidariedade Imigrante (Solim) which helped organize the act.
The demands were on posters and in slogans. "Documents for everyone", "no more waiting", "we are all immigrants" and "no one is illegal" were some of the phrases uttered in Portuguese by the immigrants, most of them from countries such as India and Bangladesh.
The posters read "making an employment contract gives dignity to those who work", "equal rights - we are all immigrants", "we workers are not criminals", "we work hard, we want legalization", "long-term integration deserves residency" and "we love Portugal".
One of the biggest problems currently affecting immigrants is the difficulty in speaking to AIMA about the Schengen Area restriction list. This occurs when an immigrant has a residence application rejected in one European country and tries again in another. The situation is not new. The difference, explains Timóteo Macedo, president of Solim, is that the now-defunct Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) acted to resolve the problem, while they are unable to do so with AIMA.
In this situation is the Algerian businessman Walid Saadoune, who tried to regularize his situation in France and was unsuccessful. Here in Portugal, he is unable to do so because his name is on this list - and he cannot get any answers from AIMA.
Walid was at the protest with his wife and son, a baby who was born in Portugal. "We want to live here with our family, this is not fair," he told DN.
According to Macedo, this will not be the only protest. Others will be held, on a date yet to be defined, in Porto and Alentejo. "Nothing falls from the sky, we will not achieve anything without a fight, and they are seeking justice", stated the president of the association. The leader of the Left Bloc, Joana Mortágua, and Fabian Figueiredo were also present at the protest.
This was the second protest at AIMA headquarters in two business days. Last Friday, Brazilian lawyers held a protest to demand improvements in the services provided to professionals. Since mid-February, the agency has limited the number of service passwords for lawyers to 10.