Priscila Correa, promoter of one of the petitions, which had more than 8,000 signatures, recalls that the current law, dating from April 2024, counts the deadlines from the date of application, but the legislation has never been regulated and, in April of last year, the current government announced that the deadline would only be from the date of issuance of the residence certificate.

“People were unable to make an organised and universal application at the registry offices,” and “now the law is changing again,” because “we are in a country where the system does not work from the point of view of direct public administration to the immigrant,” Priscila Correa told Lusa.

The Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) is a “dysfunctional body” and is yet another example of “dysfunctionalities of the Portuguese State” in the management of immigrants, where systemic delays are most evident.

“It takes us about six years to get an appointment and then finally a card,” because “none of the deadlines are effectively met.”

The decree on counting deadlines allowed for “some fairness” because it counted the time from the application, but marking the starting point for the allocation of documents is “not recognising the inefficiency of the State.”

“Of course, Portugal has autonomy to decide its laws, but just because it’s legal doesn’t make it legitimate,” considered the lawyer of Brazilian origin, hoping that the deputies will consider these requests.

The delays affect not only immigrants, but also the so-called ‘golden visas,’ with “reputational damage” to the country, she warned.

Currently, there are “55,000 people waiting for the opportunity to schedule an Investment Residence Permit (ARI) appointment” and who “invested seven billion euros” in Portugal.

“The money has already been given to the State, but the State has not returned it in terms of services provided, discrediting the Portuguese State in the eyes of investors,” she considered.

“Changing this article is to expose the pact between the far right and the right wing, where what matters is not efficiency, but segregation,” she accused.

The complexity of nationality applications includes additional supplementary deadlines, because only after the process is completed can descendants submit their application for recognition.

There are cases of Sephardic Jews with pending applications since May 2021, the lawyer exemplified, emphasising that, afterwards, “there is a chain of other descendants who depend on the first decision.”

“All requests are paid for and must be fulfilled. It is not a favour that the State does, it is a right,” she further accused, also criticising the government’s proposal to extend the maximum periods to ten years, counted from the residence permits.

In another petition, the prosecutor, Juliet Cristino, asks that “the residence time be considered from the moment the temporary residence permit is requested.”

“Given the modification in the Nationality Law, there are numerous nationality processes pending in the registry offices,” without people receiving a response.

“The responsibility for the delay does not fall on them, but on the insufficient number of vacancies in the public administration,” writes the prosecutor.

The period of “residence for the application for Portuguese nationality will not take into account the beginning of the legalisation process,” and “this is wasted time” with “stagnant lives,” says Juliet Cristino.

During the session of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, the two petitions will be discussed together, and the rapporteur for the process will be the Socialist MP Pedro Delgado Alves.