Inês Subtil, research coordinator at Amnesty International Portugal, believes that many of the immigrants whose applications were rejected by AIMA will remain in Portugal, but "condemned to clandestinity".
Three months ago, an AIMA mission structure was created because there were more than 400,000 unanswered residency applications. Since then, 113,000 processes are in progress and 108,000 have been rejected.
The data was provided by the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, who also said that "any case that goes beyond the process with a rejection decision means illegal presence". However, it was not clear what happens at the end of the process.
Inês Subtil, research coordinator at Amnesty International Portugal, said that "they are condemned to live in hiding", because she believes that "people are already here, and rejection of residency does not mean they are leaving the country".
People "are left in an even more vulnerable situation, at the mercy of an illegal system, with illegal jobs, illegal housing and they end up living in an underworld". This "is a very complex process", as Inês Subtil warns, and the problem is made worse because the addresses given by those who arrive can often change during the process or even be false, which means that "many communications are lost and, even if there is an order to leave the country, it is not received". Thus, immigrants who have had their residency rejected will only leave Portugal if "they have contact with the authorities, that is, if they need to go to a hospital or if they have some contact with the police", she explains.
The head of Amnesty International Portugal stresses that "it is good that there is an improvement in the service provided by AIMA, but it is essential that alternatives are provided for cases of rejection through subsequent monitoring". This is because many of these people "came to Portugal looking for better living conditions, are already here and are not leaving".
Inês Subtil recalls that "Portugal had legislation that gave people an option and allowed immigrants to regularise their status, and was praised internationally for its humanistic approach, although there is obviously room for improvement and in recent months the number of applications has accumulated". Therefore, she believes that "it is not enough to say that security measures should be increased, nor to increase restrictive measures, we need to provide answers to people's problems".
In a press conference after the Council of Ministers, Leitão Amaro explained that "most" of the applications were rejected due to "non-payment" of the associated fees, since after applying for residency, it is necessary to pay the biometric fees for the process to proceed. The minister also said that "some people, when notified of rejection, can still make the payment" so that the process can continue.
nês Subtil explains that the costs are not the same for all immigrants. For example, "those from CPLP countries pay lower amounts", but in general the fees start at 80 euros and can go up to 700.
The research coordinator at Amnesty International Portugal regrets that this payment is presented as the main explanation, since it "gives the idea that people could meet all the other criteria and were rejected simply because they were unable to pay". Therefore, she calls for "alternatives to be found through payments in instalments or the possibility of extending the deadline".
Leitão Amaro also said that the Government believes that many of the immigrants who had their applications rejected are no longer in the country.