Abolition of expressions of interest mean immigrants on tourist visas cannot apply for residency
Since the government’s abolition of the “expression of interest” mechanism, applications for immigrant residency in Portugal have fallen by around 80%.
The news came from minister for the presidency António Leitão Amaro during today’s PSD/CDS-PP parliamentary conference, showing, in his opinion, the “mistake” the country’s left made in allowing the mechanism in the first place.
Speaking on a panel entitled “Sovereign Portugal”, Amaro argued that the AD coalition government “is the only political force” governing for all Portuguese people.
A day after 3,000 people took to the streets in a protest against uncontrolled immigration, Amaro stressed it is “possible to do things differently” from the previous Socialist administration.
“We don’t need to divide people between good and bad; our own and strangers; Portuguese and foreigners. Here too, this government is proposing a different path for the country from all the other political forces.
“On our left, they still haven’t realised the mistake they made when for years, four years, they turned Portugal into a country with its doors wide open… and they still haven’t realised the result of what they did!”
AD is seeking to implement “a moderate alternative“, aware that “Portugal needs immigrant workers and needs those who may truly be fleeing situations of humanitarian aggression.
“At the same time, we needed to close some of the wide-open door measures and so we made the most difficult decision straight away – just a few weeks into the job, which was to close that gigantic gate called ‘the expression of interest’. To give you an idea, since we took that decision, the reduction in the number of applications for residence has been in the region of 80%.”
The expression of interest refers to the previous Socialist government system whereby immigrants could enter the country on a tourist visa, and once in Portugal could apply for residence by expressing an interest in seeking employment.
Leitão Amaro never referred directly to the State Budget negotiations for 2025, but he reiterated his belief that the government has found a different way to achieve a balanced budget from what he called the “wrong recipe” of previous Socialist executives.
“We showed that it was possible to turn a page after all (…) to lower taxes, raise the salaries of civil servants, bring public investment to record levels and still achieve a budget surplus,” he said.
“Next to us, on either side, we see parties only focussed on part of the Portuguese – perhaps preoccupied with other calculations,” he added.
“We are not and will not be a party that only wants to please a certain age group of Portuguese because it thinks it has electoral favouritism. Everyone counts for us,” he said, referring to the various proposals in health, education and housing, and the new model for youth IRS, which the PS Socialists are using to insist they cannot support the government’s state budget.
Source material: LUSA
