In nine days, more than 85,000 Portuguese-speaking immigrants living in Portugal applied for residence permits through the new portal provided by the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) for the automatic granting of these documents, the government announced.

The new platform for obtaining a residence permit in Portugal for citizens of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) went live on March 13 and is aimed at Portuguese-speaking immigrants with cases pending at the Immigration and Borders Service (SEF) until December 31, 2022 and those who have a CPLP visa issued by Portuguese consulates after October 31, 2022.

A joint statement from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Assistant Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Administrative Modernization, sent to Lusa, says that between March 13 and 7pm on Tuesday, SEF received 85,770 applications for residence permit certificates from CPLP citizens.

According to the government, of the 85,770 applications for residence permits made on the CPLP portal, available on the SEF and ePortugal.gov websites, the Aliens and Borders Service issued 74,725 documents with reference to payment for residence permits.

The government guarantees that "security levels remain unchanged in this process, with 4,369 security consultations having been carried out prior to the issuing of residence permits because alerts were raised in the initial analysis".

According to the executive, this is "an agile and efficient procedure that should be used by citizens of CPLP countries", giving them access to education, health, security, professional activity, vocational training and justice.

The government also states that "it is very important that immigrant citizens take advantage of this opportunity to regularize their situation" in Portugal. According to official figures, there are around 150,000 immigrants from Portuguese-speaking countries in Portugal with cases pending at SEF, most of them Brazilians.

According to SEF, these residence permits are granted automatically and "exclusively online, without the need for any other type of interaction with the service or physical visit to a service point".

However, in the case of minors involved in the legalization process, it is necessary to go "at a later date to a SEF service point".

The residence permit for CPLP immigrants costs 15 euros and it usually takes 72 hours for the document to be made available in electronic form. This residence permit in Portugal for CPLP citizens is granted under the mobility agreement between the organization's member states.

In addition to Portugal, the CPLP includes Cape Verde, Brazil, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Angola and Mozambique. The residence permit under the CPLP mobility agreement is initially valid for one year, renewable for two successive periods of two years.

SEF data shows that the foreign population legally residing in Portugal increased in 2022 for the seventh consecutive year, totaling 757,252, and the Brazilian community was the one that grew the most, as well as being the most numerous. At the end of last year, there were 233,138 Brazilians living in Portugal. (Lusa)