Between hope and the labyrinth: immigration

In recent years, Portugal has become an increasingly sought-after destination for foreign citizens seeking better living conditions, stability and security.

For a lawyer, few paths are as winding as that of following the regularization process of a foreign citizen in Portugal. Between duplicate forms, platforms that collapse after the second login attempt and criteria that vary according to the mood of the competent entity, it is possible to experience a true legal-democratic odyssey – only without Ulysses, without a happy ending and, generally, without a response to the email sent eight months ago.

The most recent reformulation of the immigration legal system, with the creation of the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA, IP) and the formal extinction of the SEF, was announced as a decisive step in the modernization and humanization of migration policies. In practice, however, the legal reality continues to be marked by uncertainty, institutional disarticulation and unpredictable deadlines.

The most emblematic – and also most problematic – instrument continues to be the Expression of Interest request. What was intended as an extraordinary and exceptional route has in fact become the usual gateway. Only a door with an internal latch, no bell and with the warning “Wait for a response”. Those who submit an application today wait patiently for the following tax year (or the birth of a grandchild) to find out whether the situation has been analysed. And this is not a lack of criteria – quite the opposite. Criteria exist, and should exist. The problem is that there are no responses, no decisions, no predictability. There is no approval, but there is also no rejection.

The new immigration law promises speed and simplification. Promises are always nice. For the lawyers who follow these processes, the practice continues to be marked by difficulties in scheduling appointments and divergent criteria, in a true game of false leads, where each request has a different interpretation depending on the counter, the technician or the time zone.

In the case of Family Reunification, the obstacles are particularly sensitive. The constitutional protection of family unity (art. 36 of the Portuguese Constitution) often comes up against a web of disproportionate documentary requirements and delays that seem to forget that behind each application there is a family in suspense.

Immigration is not just a political or economic challenge; it is a test of our legal capacity to include, protect and organise a multicultural society within a framework of legality and justice. It is not necessary that all requests be granted. It is only necessary that all decisions be made. With clarity, reason and reason. Because between hope and the labyrinth, what is missing is not the law – it is the answer.