President rubber stamps Portugal’s Foreigner’s Law

Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has finally promulgated the controversial new Foreigners Law since it now “minimally corresponds to the essential doubts as to whether it was constitutional or not that the had.

“Considering that the diploma has now been revised and approved by 70% of the MPs in Portugal’s parliament, and minimally corresponds to the essence of the doubts of unconstitutionality raised by the President of the Republic and confirmed by the Constitutional Court, the President of the Republic also promulgated the diploma of the Assembly of the Republic that amends Law No. 23/2007, of July 4, which approves the legal regime for the entry, stay, exit and removal of foreigners from the national territory,” reads a note published on the website of the Presidency of the Republic.

On September 30, parliament approved a new version of the revision of the so-called foreigners law, with votes in favor from PSD, CDS-PP, Chega, IL and JPP, and votes against from PS, Livre, PCP, BE and PAN, after the Constitutional Court’s lead in August, following a request for preventive inspection from the President of the Republic.

PS, Livre, PCP, BE and PAN and also the sole JPP MP had voted against the first version, approved on July 16 with votes in favor of PSD, Chega and CDS-PP, in relation to which IL abstained. IL and JPP decided to vote in favor of the new version.

With the changes mostly put forward by the PSD and CDS made, as well as three changes presented by Chega and one from the PS, the law now requires of a period of two years to request family regrouping, except when children are involved. The timeframe for a decision on a case is now set at 90 days with the criteria for the renovation of authorisation for residency for regrouping more stricter, although in the case of bi-lateral agreements, immigrant entry conditions can be more favorable.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stressed that the enactment of the law does not put an end to democracy and that “this debate will continue to be held for a long time”. “There will be many occasions when the Portuguese economy and society will evolve,” he said, in response to the need to balance the forces of those in society who argue that curbing immigration is necessary and those who consider immigration essential for certain sectors of activity such as tourism and agriculture.

This issue was the subject of a “very intense political debate”. The parliamentary majority wavered several times, changing in the opposite direction. This is democracy. A change that corresponds to 70%. It is up to the President to know whether the Constitution is respected or not,” he concluded.