Portugal News

Candidate for Belém rejects a link between immigration and crime, arguing that the “keyword” in this area should be “integration”

Belém candidate Henrique Gouveia e Melo has completely distanced himself from anti-immigration rhetoric, even if it means losing votes in the presidential race.

In an interview with Lusa news agency, when confronted with the possibility that his anti-immigrant rhetoric might win him votes, the former Chief of Staff of the Navy responded: “Then I’ll lose votes.”

Indians become the second nationality

At the end of 2024, 1,543,697 foreign citizens were registered in Portugal. This is the final number given by the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum in the report released this Thursday, which thus "removes" the figure released in April of almost three thousand immigrants and misses the estimate of 1.6 million.

The President had indicated that he would send the legislation back to the Constitutional Court, but this Thursday he ended up giving the green light to the law that regulates the entry, exit and removal of foreigners.

The President of the Republic has promulgated the legislation approving the new regime governing the entry, stay, departure and removal of foreigners from the national territory, one day after indicating that he would send the legislation back to the Constitutional Court.

New legislation will therefore not interfere with long-standing citizenship processes. The proposal will be discussed this Wednesday.

The Government will drop the application of retroactive effects in the Nationality Law, but maintain the loss of citizenship for those who commit very serious crimes.

Since the creation of the new website for online renewal, the introduction of the NISS has been a problem for those who have a degree without a NISS requirement, such as digital nomads, retirees and students.

The far-right Chega party is expected to take over city halls in the country’s interior, but has failed to win outright in major cities.

Exit polls for Portugal’s nationwide local elections on Sunday show the top candidates neck-and-neck in Lisbon and Porto, with the far-right Chega party failing to conquer any major cities.

According to projections from the Catholic University of Portugal published by state broadcaster RTP, Chega has failed to win outright in the country’s largest cities but is well-positioned to act as kingmaker in several municipalities.

The new European border control system for non-EU citizens comes into operation today in Portugal and other Schengen countries, replacing traditional passport stamps.

SAccording to the Internal Security System (ISS), the new European automated external border control system, the Entry/Exit System (EES), "applies to all non-EU citizens entering the territory for short stays (up to 90 days in a 180-day period), regardless of whether they require a visa".

Rachhpal Singh, 29, has lived in Portugal for six years. He's legal, works, and pays taxes. On October 5th, he was attacked by a group of men, some of whom wore neo-Nazi 1143 t-shirts, at the Aveiras service station on the A1 highway. He hasn't yet been contacted by the authorities and only wants to recover his stolen phone.

The deadline is for the immigrant to keep proof of application. This issue applies to documents that expire after June 30th, which are valid for another six months according to the law.

According to sources, Immigrants with residence permits that expired before June 30, 2025, should apply for renewal as soon as possible. The decree-law that renews expired documents expires on October 15 and will not be renewed, reports media. 

The ruling party made it clear before the summer recess that it would agree to hold hearings, but that the matter should be resolved by the time the State Budget, which will be presented today, is discussed.

The recent approval of the new Foreigners' Law raised questions about possible changes to the Nationality Law, as both were announced jointly by the Government. However, they are distinct laws . The Nationality Law is currently undergoing hearings—or hearings—with professionals and entities involved in the matter.