Immigrant or expatriate?
When migration changes its name according to the colour of your skin, your passport and your bank balance. Opinion piece by Vivien Merciel Suarez
Anything goes in the name of the fight against immigrants
The piece analyses rhetoric and policies that treat any measure as acceptable in the fight against immigration. It considers how such an approach can erode legal safeguards, bypass due process and civil rights, and normalise discriminatory or ad hoc enforcement under the guise of national policy. The article argues for clearer legal frameworks, independent oversight and rights-based reforms to balance legitimate border and public-order concerns with rule-of-law protections.
The couple with a company where 159 undocumented migrants never actually worked
The man was known for 'facilitating' the legalisation of immigrants in Portugal by allowing registration on the SEF platform through forged employment contracts and enrolments in the Social Security system.
What the President of Portugal Can (and Cannot) Do and How That Affects Immigrants' Lives
Explains the President of Portugal's constitutional powers and limits, and examines how presidential actions and decisions can shape immigration policy, residency rights, asylum procedures and the daily lives of immigrants in Portugal.
Bills on statelessness proceed to committee stage without consensus among right‑wing parties
Chega voted against all the bills, while CDS abstained on the bill from the government's coalition partner, PSD.
After a petition, Parliament will discuss how the waiting time for citizenship documents is calculated
Following a petition, Parliament will debate how the period applicants wait for the document conferring nationality should be counted.
Bills on stateless people advance to committee stage without consensus among right-wing parties
Chega voted against, and CDS and IL also distanced themselves in the vote on the bills from PSD, PS, BE and Livre.
There are at least five Portuguese–Venezuelan political prisoners: "We hope our father will be released"
The family of Juan Francisco Dos Ramos believes the Portuguese–Venezuelan, son of Madeiran parents and a colonel in the National Guard, may be on the list of political prisoners to be released in the coming days. There are at least five Portuguese–Venezuelans recorded as detained for political reasons.
Ask the Lawyer: Can I leave Portugal with an expired visa as a family member of an EU citizen?
A reader asks whether they are allowed to depart Portugal when their visa has expired, given they are a family member of a European Union citizen.
Stateless people: Chega the only party to vote against the law
MP Vanessa Barata labelled the law an “incentive to illegality”, opposing the introduction in Portugal of rules to establish the status of stateless persons in official documents.
School, healthcare, housing: four parties want to resolve issues facing stateless people
PSD, PS, Livre and BE have presented legislative proposals to regulate the statelessness status that has been pending since 2023.
Stateless people: Parliament to discuss statute on Wednesday
The revision of the legislation aims to resolve the legal limbo faced by people who lack a document confirming their nationality; through AIMA they could receive a residence authorisation.
Parliament to discuss the status of stateless persons on Wednesday
The legislation provides for access to nationality for stateless persons after four years of legal residence in the country.
The Constitution must be addressed in this legislature
The CDS parliamentary leader rules out amending the Constitution specifically for the Nationality Law, but says the issue 'must be addressed in this legislature'.
Pursued by ICE: Portuguese man shot and wounded by US immigration services
The man, whom ICE identified as Tiago Alexandre Sousa-Martins, was hospitalised and is out of danger.
2025: the year of the rightward shift
A government that fell and then rose again, parties being reconfigured, and the right holding a majority. This was the year the country was introduced to Spinumviva and immigration became the dominant political issue.
Labour package and Nationality Law to be reviewed by the next President of the Republic
The labour reform package and proposed changes to the Nationality Law will be examined by the incoming President rather than the current one.
Immigration: 'Worse than not having data is having data that are unreliable,' says observatory director
The observatory director warns that, in the context of immigration, unreliable data are worse than having no data at all.
President Marcelo vetoes nationality law decrees on grounds of unconstitutionality
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, today vetoed the decrees implementing the nationality law after the Constitutional Court ruled them unconstitutional, returning them to the Assembly of the Republic.
Marcelo vetoes amendments to the Nationality Law
The President of the Republic does what he 'is obliged to' after the Constitutional Court struck down the amendments to the law.
President of the Republic vetoes amendments to the Nationality Law
The President has vetoed proposed amendments to the Nationality Law.
Spinumviva probe shelved, Nationality Law vetoed and Ukraine awaits Europe
The Public Prosecutor's Office has shelved the preliminary investigation into the company Spinumviva, owned by the family of Luís Montenegro. As soon as Montenegro learned of it, he fired off harsh criticisms from Brussels at journalists, commentators and the Public Prosecutor's Office. In other words, he did not react as one would expect from someone who has just received a Christmas present.
The complaint against Mendes and Catarina's ancestors
The social-democratic candidate was the subject of a complaint filed with the Attorney General's Office. In an interview with Observador, Seguro pressures his rival. Details about the ancestors of Catarina Martins. And the Nationality Law.
PSD: "Loss of nationality? It's a more symbolic issue"
The vice president of the PSD parliamentary group downplays the issue of losing nationality, admitting that the measure may be dropped, and states that the “political spirit” of the law has been validated by the Constitutional Court.
