Portugal News

Madeiran Leader Highlights Immigrants’ Crucial Role in Reversing Demographic Decline and Supporting Economic Growth

In June, the Government changed the law on foreigners and, among other measures, eliminated the expression of interest, a legal resource that allowed immigrants who had arrived in the country with a tourist visa to legalize their status in Portugal.

The coordinator of the Left Bloc, Mariana Mortágua has 

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.

AIMA says that the end of expressions of interest allowed the evaluation of pending processes
Pedro Portugal Gaspar says that it was necessary to “suspend this type of resource” in order to then “make an assessment and resolve the liabilities”. But Portugal still needs immigrants.

The president of the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) said this Tuesday that the end of expressions of interest made it possible to resolve pending regularization processes, before finding other solutions that respond to the needs of the labor market

The Church body recognizes that the ideal would be not to have to emigrate “to overcome poverty”, but considers it a “reason for patriotic pride” that there are immigrants who want to live in Portugal, and a “reason for shame” that there are those who feel “hostilized” here.

According to the data released by Aima, the number of foreigners in Portugal has increased to one million. According to the report, in the last year 2023, the number of immigrants has increased by 33.6% compared to 2022. The largest number of immigrants living in Portugal are Brazilians.

The BE coordinator today accused the PSD/CDS-PP Government of having created an “institutionalized mafia” that prevents the regularization of immigrants and considered that the executive has the responsibility to finance the associations that help these citizens.

The Judicial Police arrested on Thursday the suspect of two crimes of attempted murder and two crimes of discrimination and incitement to hatred in Porto.

The attacks on immigrants in the city of Porto this week are worrying academics linked to the issue of migration, who criticize the actions of the media and politicians who dehumanize those who arrive in Portugal.

The North American non-governmental organization (NGO) Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), which monitors the activities of the so-called extreme right around the world, identified more than ten Portuguese people, including politicians, lawyers, former judges and academics as headliners at conferences held in Europe between 2000 and 2024 .

The Deputy Secretary of State for the Presidency, Rui Armindo Freitas, reports, in an interview with TSF and Diário de Notícias, that, three months after the end of the expressions of interest, results are already being seen.

The Government says that immigration in Portugal is decreasing and that a reduction in the migratory flow throughout the country is already evident.