No entanto, ao manter-se nos mesmos termos a exigência de “entrada legal no território nacional” que já teve diferentes interpretações (nomeadamente se esta inclui o espaço Schengen) nos últimos dez anos, não está garantida a resolução do problema de dezenas de milhares de imigrantes que continuam à espera da concessão de autorização de residência ao abrigo dos Artigos 88-2 e 89-2. Muitos destes trabalham e descontam há anos para a Segurança e continuam reféns dos exploradores do trabalho ilegal e do poder arbitrário do SEF, agravado com sucessivos Despachos da sua Diretora Nacional e com todo o tipo de entraves burocráticos ao reconhecimento dos mais elementares direitos de cidadania.

Ninguém nos garante de que, quem tenha uma promessa de Contrato de Trabalho ou relação de Trabalho comprovada por Sindicato ou Associação de Imigrantes com assento no CM (Conselho das Migrações) fica de imediato regularizado.

Mas nenhum direito cai do céu se não for exercido e reclamado. A entrada em vigor da Lei 59/2017 constitui um desafio e uma oportunidade, mas tudo vai depender da iniciativa e da capacidade de mobilização dos imigrantes e das suas associações.

Há que exigir não só a clarificação e a adaptação dos procedimentos do SEF a este novo quadro legal – por exemplo, as manifestações de interesse podem ser apresentadas diretamente nas delegações regionais; haverá prazos de resposta a respeitar; e deixa de fazer sentido o prazo “oficioso” de seis meses que o SEF tem imposto para a apreciação das manifestações de interesse, antes do qual o sistema emite a sua recusa automática e a consequente notificação para o abandono voluntário de território nacional no prazo de 20 dias, que ninguém cumpre…

É inaceitável deixar para trás milhares de imigrantes que aqui vivem e trabalham sem obterem documentos, deixando-os à mercê das redes de exploração e do trabalho escravo. O governo português ao não querer ver esta realidade, está a ser cúmplice das políticas mais retrógradas, securitárias e xenófobas e da falta de solidariedade desta Europa que nos envergonha a todos!

Good evening everyone,
As requested by a lot of people, here goes a short explanation of the changes that have been introduced to the immigration law last week.

It is important to start by warning everyone that the media have been doing a very bad job by announcing that “the Government is implementing a mechanism to legalize the immigrants with only a work promise and without Visa”. This is simply not true and is creating a lot of confusion for most of the people.

What changed with the law 59/2017 and how is it going to affect the immigrants in practical terms?

- Article 88.2º used to be an exceptional article and have an unofficial character. It was now turned into an ordinary process that will be subject to the guarantees of the Code of Administrative Procedures (CPA). This means that the waiting times will be regulated (SEF will have to respect the deadlines) and that people will have the right to appeal against SEF’s decisions.

- Through line C) the new law is also giving an end to the manoeuvers of some Social Security Centres who refused to grant the social number to those who did not have a residency permit. People will now be able to do the “SEF entry” with a simple promise of a work contract, that, in order to be effective, will make it compulsory for the Social Security Centres to grant the number. In short, you will not need to have the social number to make the SEF entry anymore.

However, since the requirement of “Legal Entry”, which has already had different interpretations over the last ten years, has been maintained, we still have no solution to the problem of tens of thousands of immigrants who are waiting to legalize. Many of them have been working and paying their taxes to the country and are still hostages of the exploiters who take advantage of their vulnerability and who use them as cheap workforce. There is no recognition of their basic rights of citizenship. With the introduced changes, people who have no legal entry (Visa and proof of entry by a ticket), won’t be able to legalize through artº88.2.

It is also important to be aware that no one assures us that anyone who has a promise of a work contract will be regularized as they are announcing in the news. We need to remember that no right falls from the sky and it will only be respected and applied if it is reclaimed. The new Law 59/2017 is both a challenge and an opportunity, but everything will depend on the initiative and mobilization capacity of immigrants and their associations.

It is also to underline that the appointment for article 88.2 have been blocked in Lisbon for the last 7 months and that we still don’t know when they will open again.
It is unacceptable to leave thousands of immigrants who live and work here behind without giving them a concrete option to legalize. People are left at the mercy of networks of exploitation and slave labor. The Portuguese government, by not wanting to admit this reality, is being complicit and is showing retrograde and xenophobic policies and a huge lack of solidarity.

We still have a lot of work ahead, as we say in Portuguese: A Luta Continua!

A LUTA CONTINUA!