“Blank sheets and false documents”. Residence authorized for 120,000 immigrants without verification of criminal records in the country of origin

This automatic granting of residence to CPLP citizens verified only the national security database, which shows crimes committed both in Portugal and international alerts issued.

Former Minister of Internal Administration José Luís Carneiro said today that immigrants from the CPLP who obtained automatic residence permits were subject to security checks, criticizing the PSD for engaging in “party politics” with this issue. Jornal de Notícias reported today that the “PS Government opened the door to 120,000 immigrants without verifying the criminal record”, due to the automatic residence permit, created in 2023 for immigra…

Jornal de Notícias reported today that the “PS Government opened the door to 120,000 immigrants without verifying the criminal record”, due to the automatic residence permit, created in 2023 for immigrants from the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP). According to the newspaper, this mechanism allowed expression of interest processes to be automatically transformed into one-year residence permits for CPLP citizens, without the subm…

The exceptional procedure was authorized by the extinct SEF during the Government of António Costa. With this decision, the manual verification of the criminal record of more than 120 thousand immigrants who received a residence permit was rescinded.

In 2023 and 2024, the defunct Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) granted more than 120 thousand residence permits to immigrants from Portuguese-speaking countries without verifying the criminal record of the country of origin, as required by law. “It was a serious flaw,” says Leitão Amaro, who revoked the regime in February.