AIMA sends a clear message to immigrants, emphasizing the necessity of paying in advance to avoid potential cancellation of their application process.
The Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) began this Wednesday, to notify immigrants to pay, within a period of ten days, a fee of almost 400 euros in relation to expressions of interest.
Immigrants with pending cases at the Agency for Migration and Asylum Integration (AIMA) are receiving email notifications about a significant rule change. A concerned immigrant, who chose to remain anonymous, raised the issue to Antena for protection.
According to the email accessed by Antena, immigrants must now pay fees in advance before visiting AIMA's counters. The fee has surged from around 90 euros to nearly 400 euros.
AIMA, when contacted by Antena, confirms the procedural change, citing its aim to expedite response times to requests. However, some immigrants fear that this move is aimed at canceling a portion of the roughly 400 thousand pending processes.
An Argentine immigrant, also choosing anonymity, voiced concerns to Antena 1, fearing potential reprisals.
In response to Antena 1's inquiry, the office of the Deputy Secretary of State of the Presidency claimed ignorance of the fee change and sought clarification from AIMA.
According to AIMA's new directive, immigrants have a mere ten days to settle the payment, failing which their requests will be automatically canceled.
Alberto Matos, president of the Associação Solidariedade Imigrante de Beja, expressed concern to journalist Rosa Azevedo, highlighting the impracticality of the ten-day deadline.
He believes many immigrants will struggle to pay within this short timeframe, leading to the cancellation of their processes.
Since the initiation of email notifications, numerous immigrants have reached out to the association. Some express fears of falling victim to a potential computer scam.
On the other hand, the AIMA Workers Union embraces this procedural shift. They believe that requiring upfront fee payments can aid in resolving pending processes. This is particularly relevant as some immigrants no longer reside in Portugal, yet their requests remain active within the Agency for Migration and Asylum Integration's services.
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