Decree-Law no. 37-A/2024 was published on 3 June 2024, revoking residence permit procedures based on expressions of interest.
As stated in its preamble, Law no. 59/2017, of 31 July, made it possible, through an expression of interest, to regularise one's stay in national territory by exercising a subordinate or independent professional activity without a valid visa for this purpose.
Law 28/2019 of 29 March, on the other hand, created presumptions of legal entry based on dependent or self-employed work in national territory in Article 88(6) and Article 89(5), on the condition that the applicant's social security situation has been regularised for at least twelve months.
Thus, "The abusive and systematic use of this mechanism, coupled with the enormous demand, the vicissitudes of the lengthy process of abolishing the Aliens and Borders Service and the inefficient distribution of the respective resources and attributions among various pre-existing and to-be-created entities, has contributed to the situation in which the country finds itself in terms of the regularisation and documentation of foreign citizens, with hundreds of thousands of cases pending analysis and the inability of the competent services to respond."
As such, with effect from 04/06/2024 - and without prejudice to the residence permit procedures initiated until its entry into force, to which Law no. 23/2007, of 4 July, in its previous wording, will remain applicable - article 81(6) and (7), article 88(2) and (6) and article 89(2), (4) and (5) of Law no. 23/2007, of 4 July, whose content is transcribed below, are hereby repealed:
Article 81
Application for residence authorisation
(...)
6 - When the simultaneous application referred to in the previous paragraph takes place as part of the submission of an expression of interest for the granting of a residence permit for the exercise of a professional activity, under the terms of articles 88(2) and 89(2), the applicant may identify family members who are in national territory, who benefit from the applicant's presumption of legal entry, if applicable, under the terms of article 88(6) and article 89(5).
7 - For the purposes of the previous paragraph, applicants whose household includes minors of school age or adult dependent children, in both cases attending an educational establishment in national territory, have preference in submitting applications for a residence permit.
*
Article 88
Residence permit for the exercise of a subordinate professional activity
(...)
2 - By means of an expression of interest submitted via the AIMA, I. P. website or directly to one of its regional offices, the requirement laid down in Article 77(1)(a) is waived, provided that the foreign national, in addition to the other general conditions laid down in that provision, fulfils the following conditions:
a) Has an employment contract or a promise of an employment contract or has an employment relationship proven by a trade union, by a representative of migrant communities sitting on the Council for Migration or by the Authority for Labour Conditions;
b) Has legally entered national territory;
c) Is registered with social security, except in cases where the document presented under the terms of point a) is a promise of an employment contract.
(...)
6 - Legal entry as provided for in paragraph 2(b) shall be presumed whenever the applicant has been working in national territory and has had their social security situation regularised for at least 12 months.
*
Article 89
Residence permit for self-employed professionals or entrepreneurial immigrants
(...)
5 - Legal entry as provided for in no. 2 shall be presumed whenever the applicant has a contract for the provision of services or self-employed professional activity in force in national territory and has had their social security situation regularised for at least 12 months.
*
This ends the validity of residence authorisation instruments based on a mere expression of interest, while safeguarding the situation of foreign citizens who have already started residence authorisation procedures under those instruments.
Comments