After all the early upsets, President Marcelo has enacted the Foreigners Law amending rules over the entry, stay, exit and removal of foreign nationals.
According to information posted on the official website of the presidency, Marcelo considers that the revised law (approved by 70% of MPs, all of the centre-right and/ or right) “corresponds minimally to the essence of the doubts of unconstitutionality raised by him (at the outset) and confirmed by the Constitutional Court”.
This updated version of the law was approved in parliament on September 30 with votes in favour from PSD, CDS-PP, CHEGA, IL and JPP, and votes against from PS, LIVRE, PCP, BE and PAN.
The new regime limits visas for seeking work to “qualified work”, restricts the possibility of family reunification for immigrants and foreigners with residence permits in Portugal – not including refugees – and changes the conditions for granting residence permits to citizens of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP).
On July 24, President Marcelo submitted the first version of the decree to the Constitutional Court, requesting preventive review of rules on the right to family reunification and the conditions for its exercise, on the deadline for the assessment of applications by the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) and the right to appeal.
The Constitutional Court’s majority ruling of August 8 declared five rules of the parliamentary decree unconstitutional, requiring the whole package to be reworked.
Source: Lusa
