Collected photo

LISBON, Sept 30, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The Portuguese government on Tuesday 
adopted stricter immigration laws that make it harder to enter the country, 
pushed through with the support of the far-right.

The reforms, supported by the right and far-right, are an amended version of 
a text approved by parliament last July, but vetoed by President Marcelo 
Rebelo de Sousa over the Constitutional Court's objections to its family 
reunification provisions.

Government spokesman Antonio Leitao Amaro has defended the reform, saying 
"the time of irresponsible immigration is over" and underlining what he 
called a need to "control and regulate flows in order to integrate with 
humanity".

From now on, the right to family reunification for immigrants will only apply 
after at least two years of legal residence in Portugal.

But the amended reform includes exceptions that allow for a shorter period, 
particularly for married couples, or even eliminating it altogether for minor 
children.

Only highly skilled workers are eligible for job search visas.

Brazilians, Portugal's largest migrant population, will no longer benefit 
from a regularisation mechanism after entering the country with a tourist 
visa.

The raft of measures voted in July also stipulated the creation of a new 
police unit tasked with combating irregular migration and deporting people.

Lawmakers are still debating another element of the reform regarding 
conditions for acquiring Portuguese nationality.

Last year, the minority rightwing government revoked a provision that allowed 
migrants to apply for regularisation by proving that they had worked and 
contributed to social security for at least one year, even if they had 
entered Portugal with a tourist visa.

By the end of 2024, there were more than 1.5 million non-Portuguese people 
living in the Iberian country -- around 15 percent of the total population 
and nearly four times more than in 2017.