The Portuguese government has confirmed that it would allow 108,000 migrants to get residence permits through a second chance. These applicants have already had their residence application refused due to reasons such as fees not paid or lack of documents.
Both the Deputy Secretary of State for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Rui Armindo Freitas, and the president of the agency, Pedro Portugal Gaspar, assured on 18 December, that there will be a new call so that these immigrants can resolve all pending issues.
The 108,000 immigrants initially rejected by the Agency for Integration, Migration, and Asylum (AIMA) are among the more than 400,000 pending cases involving requests for residence permits. According to calculations by the Minister of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, António Leitão Amaro, in the first three months of the task force (mission structure) created by AIMA, with 20 service centers, more than 220,000 cases were evaluated. The government promises to eliminate the backlog of pending cases by the end of June 2025.
How the process will work?
As confirmed by the AIMA president, the candidates will send a letter provided they are given a second chance to fulfill the requirements of the residency application which they could not before. Confirming the details, the president of AIMA, Pedro Portugal Gaspar said;
The second call — which is already included in the rules of the Code of Administrative Procedure — for immigrants will be made by (written) letter. In other words, the agency will send a letter to citizens, after, in the first phase, the model used to call for the evaluation process of residence applications was made by email. Therefore, it is an administrative procedure that will be applied.
Deportation of failed migrants
What will happen to the rejected migrants who fail to even comply with this new chance, neither the secretary nor the president of AIMA made it clear whether there would be any type of punishment for the 108,000 immigrants, such as a fine.
On the other hand, talking to the Portuguese newspaper Publico.pt, Armindo Freitas assured that “for now, the 108,000 residency applications (rejected by AIMA) will not result in the repatriation of immigrants.” He reinforced that they would be given a “second chance to present the missing documents in a second call.”
Portugal and the migrants’ issues
The Portuguese labor market has an immense demand for foreign skilled workers. After the decision made by the government on 3 June to abolish articles 88 and 89, many migrants in Portugal are in limbo. Most of these also had at that time their residency applications were refused. Since the department has no high pressures as before, it is expected that the least leftover applicants will get their residence permits.
The Portuguese government amended its law and allowed specific foreigners to get residence permits once again even after 3 June’s Decree-Law no. 37-A/2024.
This new amendment means that foreigners who have entered before 3 June can still apply for the residence permit and legalization in Portugal according to articles 88 and 89.