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IMMIGRATION: Portugal Opens Doors, Bucks EU Trend

LISBON, Aug 10 2006 (IPS) - A decision reached Thursday by Portugal’s Council of Ministers to facilitate the legalisation of undocumented migrants is a significant step towards integrating more than half a million foreign workers into society at large, and at the same time runs counter to the European trend of ever tighter border controls.

The date chosen for the approval of the new Immigration Law was highly symbolic, as it coincided with the Brasilia summit meeting between Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa and Brazilian President José Inácio Lula da Silva.

By this “goodwill gesture,” as it was seen by some analysts, or “this need to optimise relations with a sister nation,” according to others, Sócrates has put an end to a longstanding source of friction between Brazil and Portugal.

Because of the strong historical, cultural and linguistic ties, Portugal has been the destination of choice for some 160,000 Brazilian immigrants, one-third of whom are undocumented. Brazilians are now the largest foreign community in this country of 10.2 million people.

Under the new law, temporary residence permits will be issued to foreigners who plan to seek work in Portugal, as long as they have the qualifications to register on the “employment exchange” (Bolsa de Empleo), according to criteria designed by the Permanent Tripartite Consultative Commission (CPCS), an organisation made up of representatives of the government, the business community and trade unions.

This system requires foreigners to enter Portugal already possessing the promise of a contract of employment, or to have offers from within the “Bolsa de Empleo”, which will be published on the Internet by the Institute of Employment and Professional Training.


The law also establishes a new visa system for guest-workers, and the concession of residence permits to researchers and highly qualified foreign workers.

The draft law was not debated in parliament because of the Socialist Party’s absolute majority and the full support of the other leftwing parties. It provides for residence permits to be granted to undocumented immigrants who are already “effectively employed in the legal labour market,” or are running their own businesses.

Lisbon’s position is in clear contrast with the general trend in the European Union (EU), where bureaucracy and police action are building ever higher walls to block the entry of immigrants. Portugal has been a member of the EU since 1986.

As for its punitive aspects, the law establishes severe legal sanctions against human trafficking and illegal immigration; decrees fines for businesses that hire undocumented workers; and criminalises so-called “marriages of convenience”.

When foreigners are turned away on arrival in Portugal, the new law grants them the right to be informed of the reasons why entry is being refused by the authorities “in a language they can understand,” and furthermore the decision “must be communicated to the diplomatic mission of their country of origin.”

The “open door” policy for foreign workers that Lisbon has promoted since the start of the current administration has been generally welcomed by immigrant associations, who see it as a partial fulfilment of longstanding demands.

But not all of them share this view, Eduardo Tavares de Lima, president of the General Assembly of the Casa do Brasil, an association for Brazilian immigrants, told IPS. His group’s members applaud the government’s decision, but regret that a way has not been found to legalise the status of all immigrants in Portugal.

On the contrary, “very few work visas are granted, and everyone who arrived after Dec. 31, 2002 – or in the specific case of Brazilians, after Jul. 11, 2003, when President Lula visited Portugal – continue to be in the country illegally.”

During that trip, Lula won an extension of the deadline for the regularisation of the status of Brazilian immigrants.

Tavares de Lima emphasised the precariousness of the situation of “thousands of immigrants, particularly those from Portuguese-speaking African countries (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tome e Príncipe), who have been here for over a quarter of a century, and have played a vital role in the building of modern Portugal.”

But after a meeting with Lula Wednesday, Sócrates said in Brasilia that the new law “will make integration easier, and obtaining a residence permit will be faster and simpler.”

The prime minister added that his administration’s decision constituted “a very significant step towards recognising the importance of the Brazilian community” living in Portugal.

According to immigrants’ associations and organisations that defend their rights, among the most positive characteristics of the Council of Ministers’ decree is the priority given to children born in Portugal who are attending primary school. They will be granted residence permits, which will also be extended to their parents, should they be undocumented.

Furthermore, the law also includes an amendment concerned with re-uniting families that was proposed by the associations. The waiting period for decisions on allowing family members still abroad to join those in Portugal will be cut from nine to three months.

“There used to be tragic situations, such as when all the members of a family had come to Portugal, but the parents had to leave their older children behind,” Timóteo Macedo, the president of the Immigrant Solidarity Association, told journalists.

But Macedo stressed some aspects that could have been improved: “The new law maintains immigrant quotas, and the supply of visas is determined by Portugal’s labour needs.” According to the association’s leader, “there’s no need to carry out a study; it would be more appropriate just to legalise all foreigners living in Portugal. If they are here, it’s because they have jobs.”

Another longstanding aspiration of the immigrant associations was also incorporated in the new law: visas may now be renewed at city government offices, instead of exclusively at the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) offices.

This will relieve the permanently over-congested SEF offices of much paperwork. Formerly they had sole responsibility for processing visa renewal applications for the 460,293 immigrants living in Portugal, as well as policing some 200,000 undocumented people in the country. The Secretary of State (deputy minister) for the Interior, José Magalhães, told that press that the new law has “a number of mechanisms to permit the legalisation of most of the foreigners who are working illegally” in Portugal.

 
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  • ALI QURBAN

    pls open immigration

brad leithauser