Initially, the authorization will last for one year and allows direct access to Social Security, Health and tax number.
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Portugal will automatically grant immigrants from the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) a residence permit with a duration of one year, according to a government ordinance.
The ordinance, which the Lusa agency had access to and which has not yet been published in Diário da República, determines the model of administrative residence permit to be issued to foreign citizens under the agreement on mobility between CPLP Member States.
The document, signed by the Minister of Internal Administration, José Luís Carneiro, also establishes a fee of 15 euros for the digital issuance of the residence permit certificate.
Residence permit will last for 1 year
The Government justifies granting a residence permit to CPLP citizens, which will initially last for one yearwith the new regime for the entry of immigrants in Portugal, in force since November 2022 and which allows CPLP immigrants to have a visa facilitation regime in the country.
“In order to comply with this provision, it is therefore necessary to approve a model for the document in question, as well as to define the fees due for the respective issuing procedure”, says the ordinance.
On Saturday, the Minister of Internal Administration had already stated that immigrants from CPLP countries would benefit from a “protection status of up to one year”, equivalent to that of citizens who entered the country to escape the war in Ukraine, in which the request of temporary protection is done through an online platform.
José Luís Carneiro also said that this model for citizens of CPLP countries will allow them “to benefit from a protection status of up to one year that allows direct access to Social Security, Health and tax number”.
Process allows for the regularization of thousands of immigrants
This process will make it possible to regularize the situation of thousands of CPLP immigrants, mainly Brazilians, who have expressed an interest, between 2021 and 2022, in obtaining a residence permit in Portugal.
A source from the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) told Lusa that At stake are around 150,000 CPLP immigrants, mostly Brazilianswho between 2021 and 2022 completed expressions of interest on the electronic platform, the Automatic Pre-Scheduling System (SAPA), (application formalized with the SEF to obtain a residence permit).
However, according to the same source, this number may not correspond to reality, since many of the registrations may not be valid or many of the immigrants may no longer be in the country.
According to SEF, in a first phase of the process, immigrants will be contacted online and, after this notification, CPLP citizens will be legalized under this new mobility regime, with no need for a face-to-face visit.
This process takes place at a time when the Government is preparing the restructuring of the SEF, whose administrative functions in terms of immigration will be transferred to the Portuguese Agency for Migration and Asylum (APMA).
Brazilian community was the one that grew the most
SEF data show that the foreign population legally residing in Portugal increased in 2022 for the seventh consecutive year, totaling 757,252. The Brazilian and Indian communities grew the most.
According to the SEF, Brazilian citizens remain the main foreign community residing in the country, with a total of 233,138 people, 28,444 more (13%) than in 2021.
