Portugal imposes strict immigration laws

Portugal’s new government has tightened its migration policies on Monday, removing a key rule from the previous socialist administration that encouraged individuals to relocate to the nation for work.

With one of Europe’s most liberal immigration policies, Portugal’s foreign-born population has doubled in five years, thanks in part to South Asians who have come to work in farming, fishing, and restaurants.

Prime Minister Luis Montenegro vowed to end “excessive abuse” of the country’s immigration policies, describing the revisions as a “new cycle.”

The new centre-right government — formed after elections in March — repealed a key provision which allowed immigrants to request regularisation by demonstrating that they had been working for a least a year and contributing to social security.

Since 2007, Portugal had been granting papers to all those who declare their earnings, and in 2018, the socialist government extended this to those who had entered the country illegally.

Montenegro said that while Portugal needed migrants to cope with its “demographic decline”, it was also necessary to “avoid the extremes”.

Portugal has seen its foreign population double in five years, reaching one million people last year, according to provisional figures from Aima, the agency for integration and migration.

That is a tenth of the total population.

Last year some 180,000 migrants were regularised, according to government data.

The government agency for migration was created last year after the dissolution of the former border police, but it has been faced with a lack of staff and heavy workload.

On Monday the prime minister said the new agency was “not working” and would be restructured.