Portugal Immigration Help

Join us for AIMA’s 51st National Management Convention at the Taj Palace, New Delhi, on September 11th-12th.

This year’s event, themed ‘India’s Ascent: Navigating Global Uncertainty’, will feature 13 sessions and fireside chats with over 30 eminent speakers. Listen to and learn from them on topics like economy, environment, geopolitics, inclusion, startups, leadership, and sustainability and more.

Plenary Session on- ‘Uncharted: India’s role in a multipolar world’ led by Mr Sachin Pilot, National General Secretary – INC and Member of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly and Former Cabinet Minister, Government of India; Mr Nikhil Sawhney, President, AIMA and Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Triveni Turbines and Mr Sunjay Kapur, Chairman, Sona Comstar will discuss about what India needs to do in proving its credentials to be a global leader and to have a big say in ordering the emerging multipolar world.

Special thanks to the Sponsors, Partners and Contributors- Tata Steel; Triveni Turbines; Apollo Hospitals; JINDAL STEEL & POWER LIMITED; Kirloskar Brothers Limited; Air India Limited; TCI Group; Union Bank of India; KPMG India; Ambuja Neotia; Apollo Tyres; CavinKare; Hindustan Group of Institutions; Loyala Institute of Business Administration; Neo Foods; Sona Comstar; TVS; The Dempo Group; Godrej Industries Group; HPCL ; IMS Ghaziabad - University Courses Campus; MDI Gurgaon; Medicaps University; Oil India Limited; JK Paper Ltd; Mahanagar Gas Limited; TataChemicals ; Punjab National Bank; Nabha Power Limited - Wholly owned by L&T; GAIL (India) Limited; NTPC Limited; MEPSC; Balmer Lawrie

For further details, visit- https://www.aima.in/events/51st-national-management-convention

For more queries, contact- [email protected]

AIMA already has more than 170 cases against it in administrative courts, the agency says that the majority are transferred from the former SEF

Migration boosting Portuguese population

An additional 46,249 people took up residence in Portugal in 2022, in a year in which, for the sixth consecutive time, the migration balance remained positive and the number of births increased by 5.1% compared to 2021.

Portugal Political Crisis Update: Snap Elections Called, CB Governor Independence Questioned, Further Resignations

AIMA opens the possibility of family reunification for those with a CPLP visa
Until now, those who have a residence permit certificate for CPLP citizens heard that the services were awaiting clarification. Brazilians among the most affected.

Immigrants: most renewals of residence permits do not keep the IRN

Prime Minister resigns amidst investigation by Public Ministry

The Prime Minister, António Costa, announced on the 7th of November that the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has accepted his resignation.

Portugal’s president calls snap elections in March after PM resigns
Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced resignation after chief of staff was arrested amid corruption probe.

Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has dissolved parliament and called snap elections, two days after the country’s prime minister resigned amid a continuing corruption investigation.

Rebelo de Sousa said on Thursday that the country would hold snap elections on March 10, the second in as many years.

“I have chosen to dissolve the Assembly of the Republic and hold elections on March 10,” he said in a televised address.

The announcement comes after Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa offered his resignation on Tuesday, following the arrest of his chief of staff as part of an anticorruption investigation that includes allegations of malfeasance and influence peddling.

The 62-year-old Costa, who first took power in 2015, denied any wrongdoing but said that he could no longer continue in his role. Prosecutors have said that he is the subject of a separate investigation.

The state prosecutor’s office has said that the country’s Supreme Court is looking at the “use of the prime minister’s name and his involvement to unlock” the activities being investigated.

I totally trust the justice system,” Costa said on Tuesday. “If there are suspicions, then the judicial authorities are free to look into them … I am not above the law.”

By law, an election must take place within 60 days of the issuing of a presidential decree dissolving parliament.

Rebelo de Sousa had said that he would only disband parliament, where the Socialist Party holds a majority of seats, after a vote on the budget for 2024.

That budget, which includes tax cuts for the middle class, spending on social programmes for the poor, and a 24 percent increase in public spending amid flagging economic growth, was passed by the house on October 31. It must be finally approved by November 29.

After meeting with the main political parties on Wednesday and the Council of State, a consultative body, on Thursday, the president said that allowing lawmakers time to pass the budget will help “meet the expectations of many Portuguese”.

The corruption probe is focused on allegations of improper behaviour around the development of lithium mining and hydrogen projects in the country, and Costa’s chief of staff, Vitor Escaria, was arrested on Tuesday as police conducted raids on several public buildings and additional properties.

Prosecutors also named Infrastructure Minister Joao Galamba as a formal suspect, and issued arrest warrants for the mayor of the town of Sines, where some of the projects were to be located, and two executives at the company Start Campus, tasked with building the hydrogen production project and data centre.

Four people who died after shipwreck off the coast of Lisbon in Portugal were ‘warned’ not to sail

UPDATE: Saturday, November 4 at 11:58 pm

THE four people who died after their boat capsized off the coast of the Torres Vedras district of Lisbon on Friday, were reportedly warned not to go out to sea in such adverse weather conditions.

According to cmjornal.pt, they were strongly advised not to set sail by a couple of sailors who also had their boat in the Peniche marina that they sailed out of. They ignored the warning only to tragically perish a few hours later.

It is believed that the four people had arrived in the marina on November 1 and intended to head south, towards Cascais or Lisbon.

‘We said little, they just asked us where the supermarket was and then we alerted them. We couldn’t tell if they had been doing these trips for many years and if they had experience’, revealed Paula Nunes and Nicolas Gibault.

On hearing of the fatal outcome of the sailing trip, the couple said they regretted the decision made by the four people, who: ‘had made the decision to leave, something we could not prevent. We were shocked’.

‘We told them the day before that there were no safety conditions. There were rough seas and very high waves, but they decided to leave in the morning’, added the couple, who are said to be waiting in Peniche with their sailboat for more favourable weather.

What is AIMA? What will the IRN do?

The Agency for Integration, Migrations and Asylum will succeed the SEF and the High Commission for Migrations, which is also abolished.

AIMA is responsible for administrative functions related to foreign citizens in Portugal, namely residence permits and refugees.

The High Commission for Migration will be responsible for the reception and integration of immigrants in Portugal.

AIMA will inherit from SEF around 300,000 pending immigrant legalization processes.

590 workers from SEF's general and IT careers will be transferred to AIMA. The ACM has approximately 190 employees.

This transfer of competence takes place at a time when more than a million immigrants live in Portugal.

What will the IRN do?

The IRN now ensures the competences in granting and issuing the Portuguese electronic passport and handling renewals of residence permits.

75 non-police workers from the SEF go to the IRN.

What will happen to SEF facilities?

The SEF facilities that exist in the country will be transferred to the services that assume their responsibilities, but so far the fate of the building where the SEF headquarters is located, in Porto Salvo (municipality of Oeiras, district of Lisbon) is still unknown. , which is leased.

New migration agency with almost 700 thousand processes in hand by the end of 2024

Agency for Integration, Migrations and Asylum takes office this Sunday, taking over pending processes from the extinct SEF
A total of 347 thousand pending immigrant cases and around 340 thousand renewals to be decided by the end of 2024 are the priority of the new Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), which begins operations this Sunday.

In a statement, the Government states that the 347 thousand pending cases inherited from the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF), now extinct , will be one of “the Agency’s initial priorities, particularly in cases where family reunifications are at stake”, promising “ a specific operation” to deal with this problem in the first quarter of 2024 and the launch, by the end of that year, of a “digital portal for online applications for the granting and renewal of residence permits”.

PUB

AIMA “expects to set up a mega-operation to recover pending issues in the first quarter of next year, with the involvement of local authorities and the network of Local Support Centers for the Integration of Migrants”, a project that includes the “installation of a Center of AIMA Contact, the installation of specific stores within Lojas do Cidadão, the creation of its own stores, or the expansion of physical presence in the territory, through partnerships with municipalities, universities and other entities”.

According to the Government, “strengthening security associated with the issuance of documents will be a component of AIMA’s actions, with the creation of a permanent audit team for internal procedures and combating and preventing fraud”.

In addition to pending issues - requests for regularization of different types that have not yet received a response -, the government estimates at 340 thousand the number of renewal processes that will have to be handled by the agency compulsorily in 2024, “the year in which the exceptional regime is no longer in force automatic renewal”.
This package includes visas granted to citizens of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries and to Ukrainians fleeing the war.

With a budget of 81 million euros, the new agency begins its activity with “34 service counters across the country and will open at least 10 new branches within a year”, has 740 employees and plans to hire 190 new hires, “an essential reinforcement to improve the quality and speed of the services offered”.

This project “embodies the separation of police and administrative functions”, says the statement from the office of the Deputy Minister and Parliamentary Affairs, Ana Catarina Mendes, highlighting that “it will now be possible to initiate a series of new measures, functionalities and policies that will expand and improve the quality of access to services” and reinforce “the security of processes and procedures and the trust and credibility of users and society in the system”.

The new portal, to be launched by the end of the year, aims to “deal with requests for family reunification from older residents, eliminating the need for telephone scheduling” and in 2024 the guardianship plans to launch a “strategic plan for the promotion of the Portuguese language”, expanding the functions of the portal to “requests for the granting and renewal of residence permits” and the “installation of a multidisciplinary national center to manage international protection processes and accompany refugees and asylum seekers from the moment they file their application or upon arrival at Portugal until full integration”.

In AIMA's statutes, published on Friday night in Diário da República, the government states that "the governance model now determined implements a paradigm shift in the way the Public Administration relates to foreign citizens, whether upon their entry and permanence in national territory, whether in its reception and integration, and also in terms of combating racism and the integration of ethnic groups, improving the quality of public services, with gains in efficiency, and the resources to them affections, maximizing synergies and enhancing their results".

Also on Friday, the Decree-Law was published that created the Borders and Foreigners Coordination Unit (UCFE), responsible for coordinating the actions of security forces and services among themselves and between them and the Institute of Registries and the Notary and AIMA, ensuring "the respective cooperation and articulation in matters of movement of people, return and control of people at the border".

The powers of the SEF were transferred to seven bodies, with the police passing to the PSP, GNR and PJ, while administrative functions related to foreign citizens go to the Institute of Registration and Notary (IRN) and the new AIMA.

The restructuring of the SEF was decided by the previous Government and approved by the Assembly of the Republic in November 2021, having been postponed twice.

AIMA sets a deadline of one and a half years to respond to all SEF pending issues
Luís Goes Pinheiro, head of the new agency, speaks of a "documentary avalanche" and takes "the technological shock in the area of ​​migration" as a priority.

The leader of the new Agency for Integration, Migrations and Asylum (AIMA), Luís Goes Pinheiro, defined this Monday as the objective of being able to respond to the almost 350 thousand pending legalization processes of immigrants inherited from the SEF, within a period of one and a half Speaking to journalists, Luís Goes Pinheiro emphasizes that problems "will always exist, but the important thing is to have the capacity to find solutions", adding that the current expectation is "to resolve pending issues and have the agency working, responding to its daily demand, no more than that, in the space of a year and a half".

We are aware that it will not be resolved just by increasing the number of human resources, which we want to happen, a very accelerated technological shock must happen, starting this year, so that we can very quickly respond not only to the demand we already have , but to all the demand that we already have pending at the moment", points out the leader of AIMA, who explains that on the first day of operation of the new agency, workers were faced with a "veritable avalanche of documents".

The agency made a commitment to "a strong investment in digital infrastructure and human resources, with the hiring of an additional 190 employees", for 2024. Asked by TSF whether this reinforcement could happen this year, due to high demand , Luís Goes Pinheiro maintains that this would certainly not be enough.

If the only approach was based on increasing human resources, it probably wouldn't arrive, in fact, I'm sure it wouldn't arrive and, therefore, we know that our priority is the technological shock in the area of ​​migration", he adds, also highlighting that " It is essential to invest decisively in the renovation of the Technological Park, in the digital transformation of this airline, in order to ensure that the human resources that are present today and those that will be added to it are more than sufficient to fully serve users ".

The leader of AIMA, who was also faced with the delay in opening the new agency and reports of a lack of sufficient training for some of its workers, emphasizes that these are "just examples of the need, at this initial stage", for adjustments to "all the changes that have occurred recently" and to create "conditions" so that people's problems can be resolved "quickly".

There was a lot of preparation, but solving problems, under this pressure, means reinventing ourselves every day", he says, considering that "there is no true integration without documentation", also congratulating the initiative of several former SEF employees who immediately made themselves available assisting in the documentation area.

Regarding the fact that a large part is still unaware of the extinction of the SEF, Luís Goes Pinheiro assumes that "it is always difficult to reach everyone, even more so taking into account that users are often foreigners".

"Because they are foreigners, they have more difficulty accessing the communication channels that people residing in Portugal are used to accessing", he explains, adding that "communication will have to be a lot" to be sufficient to "reach the largest number of people as possible."
There will have to be a lot of communication and it will be enough to reach as many people as possible."

The Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) was abolished this Sunday at 00:00, with the Agency for Integration, Migrations and Asylum (AIMA) taking effect, which will succeed this service in administrative matters of issuing documents to foreigners.

The SEF's powers will be transferred to seven bodies, passing police functions to the PSP, GNR and PJ, while administrative matters related to foreign citizens will go to the new agency and the Institute of Registries and Notaries (IRN).

The Borders and Foreigners Coordination Unit will also be created, which will operate under the authority of the secretary general of the Internal Security System, in addition to some inspectors being transferred to the Tax Authority.

AIMA, which inherits from SEF around 300,000 pending immigration legalization processes, will also succeed the High Commission for Migrations, which is also abolished this Sunday.

The restructuring of the SEF was decided by the previous Government and approved by the Assembly of the Republic in November 2021, having been postponed twice.

SEF was created in 1986 and was a security service integrated into the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Portugal's new immigration agency repeats old problems
Vacancies for renewal of residence permits have been sold out, the website opened without information and there is a divergence in the deadline for resolving pending processes

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300,000 residency requests still pending at the end of SEF

Almost 300,000 expressions of interest to obtain a residence permit in Portugal are still pending at SEF, leaving "a heavy legacy" that the new migration agency will have to take on.
According to a presentation made by the Foreigners and Borders Service, which will be abolished on Sunday, there are 292,000 expressions of interest which have been formalised with SEF by foreign citizens in order to obtain a residence permit in Portugal.

SEF states that the daily average for submitting an expression of interest on the SAPA portal is 1,000 requests.

The data were presented with the Agency for Integration, Migrations and Asylum (AIMA) being just days away from taking office, which will succeed SEF in the administrative functions of issuing documents for foreigners.

SEF director, Paulo Batista, acknowledged SEF's "heavy legacy", but highlighted the work done this year, stressing that "there have been as many new residence permits issued".

This year, SEF issued 306,000 new residence permits to foreigners.

According to data, the most representative foreign community in Portugal is Brazilian (400,759), followed by Ukrainian (77,680), the United Kingdom (56,921), Angola (55,983), Cape Verde (54,335), India (47,558 ) and Italy (39,914).

In September, SEF informed Lusa that almost one million foreign citizens with residence permits reside in the country.

What will happen to SEF facilities?

The SEF facilities that exist in the country will be transferred to the services that assume their responsibilities, but so far the fate of the building where the SEF headquarters is located, in Porto Salvo (municipality of Oeiras, district of Lisbon) is still unknown. , which is leased.

What will the Institute of Registries and Notaries do?

The IRN now ensures the competences in granting and issuing the Portuguese electronic passport and handling renewals of residence permits.

75 non-police workers from the SEF go to the IRN.

What is AIMA?

The Agency for Integration, Migrations and Asylum will succeed the SEF and the High Commission for Migrations, which is also abolished.

AIMA is responsible for administrative functions related to foreign citizens in Portugal, namely residence permits and refugees.

The High Commission for Migration will be responsible for the reception and integration of immigrants in Portugal.

AIMA will inherit from SEF around 300,000 pending immigrant legalization processes.

590 workers from SEF's general and IT careers will be transferred to AIMA. The ACM has approximately 190 employees.

This transfer of competence takes place at a time when more than a million immigrants live in Portugal.

What is the Borders and Foreigners Coordination Unit?

This unit, already nicknamed “mini-SEF”, will operate under the authority of the secretary general of the Internal Security System, Paulo Vizeu Pinheiro, and will be responsible for coordinating the actions of the police among themselves and between these forces and the IRN and AIMA, ensuring respective cooperation and coordination in matters of movement of people, return and control of people at the border.

The unit, which will be headed by a general coordinator, whose name is not yet known, will also manage police databases and information systems in matters of borders and foreigners and international police cooperation.

What will the GNR do?

The Republican National Guard will be responsible for monitoring, inspecting and controlling maritime and land borders, including cruise terminals. For this purpose, the current GNR Coastal Control Unit will be renamed the GNR Coastal and Border Control Unit.

The GNR currently has 235 trained soldiers.

What will the PSP do?

The Public Security Police are responsible for monitoring, inspecting and controlling airport borders, as well as managing temporary installation centers at airports.

At PSP, the Organic Airport Security and Border Control Unit was created, which will be responsible for controlling the entry and exit of people into the country by air and for security at airports. airport security squad, which already exists.

Currently the PSP has 400 police trained in border control and 62 air escorts.

How many inspectors go to the Borders and Foreigners Coordination Unit, AIMA and Tax Authority (AT)?

To date, it is unknown how many there are, with the MAI claiming that the number of elements to be placed in these institutions will be defined "at a later stage.

SEF inspectors who are at the top of their careers will be transferred to AT.

How many inspectors go to the PJ?

The Judiciary Police will immediately have 390 inspectors. According to the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI), 789 elements from the inspection and supervision career and five from the surveillance and security career transferred to the PJ.

Of the 789 inspectors placed in the PJ, 404 will be “temporarily assigned to the security forces”, 324 of which in the PSP and 80 in the GNR, a regime that can last up to two years.

Where do SEF employees go?

Non-police employees go to the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum and the Institute of Registration and Notary.

The inspectors will be transferred to the Judiciary Police, with some temporarily staying at the PSP and GNR. There are also inspectors who can go to the Tax Authority, AIMA and the Borders and Foreigners Coordination Unit.

How many workers have the SEF?

There are 1,708 workers, 1,043 of whom are inspectors (a number that includes those in international organizations and agencies, on unpaid leave or in offices) and 665 non-police officers.