Those who rent real estate must present a document with notarized signatures, including owners, to have access to a residence. Those who sublet rooms will be sorry.
The Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), without any prior notice, included another requirement for the proof of housing in Portugal by immigrants. In the case of rented properties, both the tenant and the owner will have to sign a statement “under commitment of honor”, with the signatures recognized in a notary office or validated by lawyers or solicitors. The new rules came into force on Tuesday (12/08). Sought by PUBLIC Brazil, AIMA did not manifest itself until the closing of this edition. This space, however, remains open for any statements.
An immigrant from a country in Africa, who asked not to have his name disclosed to avoid reprisals, says that he went to an AIMA post on Wednesday (13/08), in Vila Real, North of Portugal, to apply for the authorization of residence in the country. As usual, he presented the declaration issued by the Tax Authority, proving the tax residence in Portugal, and a document of the Parish Council of the region in which he lives with his wife and children.
To his astonishment, it wasn't enough. The attendant of the AIMA post that checked the documentation required him to present the certificate proving that he rents a property, with the appropriate signatures of him and the owner of the house, recognized under the terms of the law. At most, the attendant said, AIMA would accept a term of responsibility signed by his wife, who is Dutch, therefore a citizen of the European Union.
The immigrant left the AIMA post surprised and unable to resolve the documentary situation in Portugal. He knows, however, that in his case, the process will be easier, because it falls within Article 15 of Directive 38/2004 of the European Council, which regulates the transit of national citizens by the countries that have been the European Union. His wife will give the term of liability required by the agency for migration.
Coincidentally, the new rules of AIMA came out two days after the Constitutional Court overturned the anti-immigration package proposed by the Government and approved by the Assembly of the Republic.
Informal contracts
An immigration expert, lawyer Luciano Cleistenes says that the sudden changes in the rules defined by AIMA will make it more difficult for immigrants who need the residence permit to legally stay in Portugal. He points out that, because of the high values of rentals in Portugal, many people rent rooms to fit in the budget. “The problem is that many of these rooms are sublets, which are made without the owners of real estate being informed. In such cases, the owners will certainly not sign such a statement,” he says.
Cleistenes also points out that the statements “under commitment of honor” have costs that will have to be borne by immigrants. “And it will be no surprise if property owners charge to sign the document, in addition to the non-propritory fees. It will become a new market,” he warns. “For course, we are facing another restrictive immigration measure and it is incomprehensible that AIMA discredits other documents that are presented by immigrants and were issued by the public administration itself,” he adds.
For Bruno Gutman, also a lawyer specialized in immigration, it will be necessary to see how the new requirements will be dealt with within the AIMA posts, including the mission structure. “Each place of service of AIMA has an interpretation of the law. Sometimes, in the same post, the views of employees on a topic are different. This greatly harms immigrants and law professionals, as there is no standardization. And it is not just about AIMA, we see it throughout the public service of Portugal”, he emphasizes.
The amount of revenue measure
In the evaluation of Fábio Knauer, CEO of Aliança Global Group, AIMA’s decision is married to the Tax Authority, as it also aims to oblige property owners to register the rental contracts that today “are a drawer”.
“There are many cases where property owners settle rent informally because they don’t want to pay taxes. Therefore, on the one hand, we see AIMA wanting to know if immigrants legally lease real estate and, on the other, the collection position of the Portuguese tax authorities is clear”, he adds.
Knauer recalls that, recently, AIMA informed the police authorities of the existence of more than a thousand immigrants with registration in the same property, indicating signs of fraud. The migration agency was able to reach this finding after crossing information of immigrants who had resorted to the defunct expression of interest to reside legally in Portugal. “From those cases, AIMA has been better controlled by the data presented by immigrants,” he says.
Despite the need to close the door to fraud, either on the side of immigrants or on the side of real estate owners, the CEO of the Global Alliance says that the tendency is for the Portuguese Government to place more and more restrictions on the permanence of foreigners in the country. According to him, the overthrow of the anti-immigration package by the Constitutional Court will lead the administration of Luís Montenegro to tighten the norms that do not need to go through the Assembly of the Republic, that is, they are defined in the offices of the bureaucracy.