Portugal changes Foreigners Law and makes residency easier for Brazilians
The President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, enacted, this Tuesday (11/2), the law that allows Brazilian citizens to enter Portugal as tourists and apply for a residence permit in the country. Law 23/XVI/1, which amends Law no. 23/2007, of 4 July (Foreigners Law), makes life easier for Brazilians who want to emigrate to Portugal, making it no longer necessary to apply for a visa in advance. You just need to arrive in Portugal legally with a short-stay visa, such as a tourist visa, for example, and then apply for a residence permit, according to the requirements of each type of residence permit (work, study, own income, etc.). Another change will be that the authorization will no longer be valid for just one year and will be valid for two years.
But this will only be possible after regulation by the Government. In other words, it will still be necessary to define which documents will be required to obtain residence permits, the procedures and how the documents and biometrics will be delivered, in addition to the applicable deadlines. Requests must be made to the Integration, Migration and Asylum Agency (AIMA).
Another change concerning the residence permit is that it is no longer granted on an A4 sheet of paper but on a card, like other residence permits issued in Portugal, following European Union standards. This will allow Brazilians and other CPLP citizens to travel to other European countries, since paper documents are not accepted in the Schengen Area.
The new legislation regarding foreigners also concerns the deadline for illegal immigrants to leave the country. Any foreign citizen who enters or remains illegally in Portuguese territory will be notified to voluntarily leave the national territory within a period of between 10 and 20 days.