According to an official source from the office of the Minister of the Presidency, this procedure was based on a "regulatory decree (nº 1/2024) of January 17, 2024, approved by the previous Government, and which ordered new fees to be applied to the processes then pending.
The Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) asked immigrants with pending authorization processes to pay fees of up to 400 euros within 10 days to expedite the response to accumulated requests. An official source from the office of the Minister of the Presidency noted awareness of the measure and emphasized that the Government will present a "different response," which will be part of the action plan being prepared by the Executive.
The Government has been made aware of a procedure by AIMA in which communications were sent to migrant citizens regarding pending authorization processes, some of which had been pending for a long time. It was also revealed that citizens were asked to pay amounts of up to 400 euros within a very short period of 10 days, under threat of their requests being forfeited. This information was confirmed with the authority by Notícias ao Minuto.
According to the entity, this procedure was based on a “regulatory decree (no. 1/2024) of January 17, 2024, approved by the previous Government, and which ordered new fees to be applied to the processes then pending”.
“It is admitted that AIMA understood its actions as being linked to norms dictated by the previous Government and that it acted seeking to achieve a benevolent objective of accelerating the processing of the thousands of pending processes that it inherited from the inadequate process of extinguishing the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF). However, the way the procedure is now applied affects thousands of people, many of them in vulnerable contexts, and can create socially and economically difficult situations”.
The government stated that "the objective of resolving the hundreds of thousands of pending issues deserves a response that, while being effective and rationalizing, is socially fair and balanced", and indicated that this "different response will be part of the action plan that the Government, as already reported, is preparing and will present soon".
The news was reported by Antena 1, which highlighted that many of those targeted were afraid that they were being victims of a computer scam.
However, the AIMA workers' union argued that the measure could help resolve pending processes, as some immigrants no longer reside in Portugal, according to that statement.
Comments