A group of 41 students from Guinea-Bissau is being held at Lisbon airport, after arriving in this country (last Friday) without a document showing that their living expenses (food, board and university fees) are guaranteed.
The situation is an example of Portugal’s new approach to foreigners trying to enter the country from outside Schengen space.
According to Eliseu Sambú, coordinator of the Lisbon-based ‘association of students from Guinea Bissau (AEGBL), entry into this country of Guinean students has become more difficult since the end of 2024 (following the government’s get tough approach on immigration).
The problem with these students is that they are all said to be missing a “term of responsibility”, which is proof that someone will be receiving them, and be responsible for them while they are staying in Portugal “whether in terms of university fees, or accommodation and food.
“Essentially, it is the proof of means of subsistence”, explains Sambú, adding that some of the students’ family members are “now trying to resolve the situation”, and hoping that AEGBL’s lawyer will be able to help in this regard.
Sambú complains that the Guinean embassy in Lisbon has “failed the students”, by doing nothing. “We have sent emails (…) but the response has been silence”, he told Lusa.
The AEGBL coordinator is equally critical of the fact that at no point in the process of the acquiring of the students’ visas to Portugal did anyone mention the need for a ‘term of responsibility’.
Lusa says it too has tried to get in touch with the ambassador of Guinea Bissau, Artur Silva, “without success”.
The same applies to ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal, on whose premises the students are now being detained.
Bottom line, according to Elias Sambú, is that the 41 young Guineans have been given until this coming Friday to produce terms of responsibility, or they will be returned to Guinea-Bissau.
As this text went up online, various news sources reported that the secretary of state for the communities, Cipriano Mendes Pereira, is now actively involved in trying to ‘free’ the students, suggesting they stay ‘calm and serene in the expectation that this situation can be resolved in a short space of time’.
The PSP police, which effectively refused the group’s entry onto national territory, has also reported “lack of proof” that the 41 would actually be studying.
Source material: Lusa/ NOW/ RadioTV Batanba
