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Portuguese news in English on Tuesday, July 15, 2025.
‘Urgent’ immigration changes this week, citizenship in September
The government’s proposed citizenship changes have been pushed back to September but voting on the rest of its immigration reforms is set down for this Wednesday (July 16), Público reports. Right-wing parties blocked the left’s requests for associations representing immigrants to be heard in parliament ahead of an eventual vote on the nationality law changes but there will be hearings involving the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) and some other bodies. The timeline backdown came after parliamentary Speaker José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, from the governing Social Democratic Party (PSD), admitted there were some “reservations” about the constitutionality of parts of the proposal and called for a “better reflection”. While the changes to waiting periods for citizenship applications will not be voted on until the third week in September (nationality law), the proposals relating to the foreigners law governing who can enter and remain in the country and the proposal for a “mini-SEF” police unit will come to the floor of parliament this Wednesday.
Immigration changes pushed ahead with urgency
The Democratic Alliance governing coalition (AD - made up of PSD and CDS – People's Party), Chega and the Liberal Initiative (IL) came together to push ahead with the foreigners law changes on Friday, Público reports. Negotiations continued on the sidelines of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees hearing, where the proposals had been classed as “urgent”. Chega backed down on some of its demands but there were still some changes made to those Prime Minister Luís Montenegro’s government outlined last month (refresh your memory here).
The proposed law now blocks anyone who entered the country illegally from applying for residency for up to seven years, and requires people applying for family reunification to prove they lived together in another country. The majority approval in the committee allows the proposals to head back to the floor of parliament, where Chega and AD have a combined majority, for a final vote on Wednesday. It’s the last sitting day before summer break.
Chega and PS weigh in
At the weekend, Chega leader André Ventura said his far-right party had reached an “agreement in principle” on “guidelines” regarding the changes to citizenship, Público reports. The leader of the parliament’s second largest party also said he wanted to see deportation centres, a welfare control police body and money for the mini-SEF included in the upcoming budget.
Socialist Party (PS) leader José Luís Carneiro accused AD of violating the constitution and legal duties with some of its choices regarding the reforms, Público reports. He took particular issue with the committee voting not to seek opinions from relevant legal bodies on the changes. He said AD had “mixed everything together”: nationality with immigration and questions of safety.
AIMA launches new document renewal page
AIMA has launched a page in its portal for the renewal of expired residency permits, Público reports. The page was meant to launch at the start of the month but instead went live on Friday. For now it’s only available for those whose permits expired this month, with plans to expand that soon for August expiries. But don’t get your hopes up too high just yet. On Friday, lawyer Catarina Zuccaro said she tried to start the renewal for more than 30 clients and only had success with one. Even though the government has extended the validity of expired permits again, the renewal is important because the amnesty is not recognised in other European Union countries and many people in Portugal also face problems with having their expired documents accepted. AIMA said it started contacting the roughly 350,000 people whose documents expired between February 2020 and June 30 at the beginning of this month to begin the renewal process.
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