More than 113,000 Portuguese-speaking immigrants have been granted residence permits in Portugal since the launch of the platform that aims to ease the procedure for acquiring residency in this country.
According to the statement of the European Commission, the majority of beneficiaries of residence permits in Portugal were citizens of Brazil (86.8 per cent), SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
In addition to Brazil, applicants from the following territories account for the highest proportion of applications made through this platform:
- Angola (5.5 per cent)
- San Tome (4.3 per cent)
Run by the National Aliens and Borders Office (SEF), the platform has been available since March 13. It aims to facilitate the procedures of acquiring residency for citizens of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking countries (CPLP) or more specifically from Angola, Cape Verde, Brazil, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe and East-Timor.
Applicants from the territories mentioned above had their cases pending since before December 31, 2022, or who hold a CPLP visa that has been issued after October 31, 2022.
“The move online means those eligible are no longer required to queue for a face-to-face appointment when applying for a residence permit. The permit, valid under the CPLP mobility agreement for one year initially, ensures access to education, health, social security, the labour market, professional training and legal rights. It is renewable for two successive periods of two years,” the statement reads.
The country’s Immigration and Border Service (SEF) previously revealed that in the first month of operation (in March) of the new portal for residence permit application, it issued over 93,000 permits for Portuguese-speaking immigrants. The majority of them were nationals of Brazil.
The SEF said through a statement that since March 13, it received 114,131 requests for residence permit certificates from CLPL citizens via the new platform.
The agency revealed that of the total number of applications, SEF issued more than 103,500 documents with reference to payment, of them, 97,631 were resolved and resulted in the granting of over 93,200 residence permits.
In February this year, Portugal’s government said that it would grant automatic residence permits that will remain valid for a period of one year to nationals of countries part of CPLP.
In addition, it stressed that the move would permit about 150,000 immigrants from Portuguese-speaking countries to regularise their stay in this country while also helping Portugal to tackle labour shortages.
However, the government stressed that CPLP citizens would also be required to prove that they have a job in the country.
Source: Schengen Visa News