More than 85 thousand Portuguese-speaking immigrants living in Portugal requested, in nine days, residence permits through the new portal made available by the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) for the automatic attribution of these documents, announced the Government.

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

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

According to the Government, of the 85,770 residence permit requests made on the CPLP portal, available on the SEF and ePortugal.gov websites, the Foreigners 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 have arisen 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 indicates that "it is very important that immigrant citizens take this opportunity to regularize their situation" in Portugal. According to official data, there are about 150 thousand immigrants from Portuguese-speaking countries in Portugal with processes pending at the SEF, most of them Brazilians.

According to SEF, these residence permit concessions are automatic and "exclusively 'online', with no need for any other type of interaction with the service or physical displacement to a service station.

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

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

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)