PCP and Bloco de Esquerda were not present in this discussion in the committee, but, like PSD and Chega, communist parliamentary leader Paula Santos, at the last meeting of the leaders' conference, spoke out against a quick legislative process of a bill amending more than 40 articles.

On the part of the PSD, in addition to the extent of the changes presented in the Government diploma, the sensitivity of a change in terms of the policy of flexibility of visas for entry into national territory, at a time when doubts are raised about the future of the agents of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF).

In view of the difference in positions between the PS and the other opposition forces, the Constitutional Affairs Committee once again referred the analysis and possible decision on this agenda to the conference of leaders to allow the vote on the Government diploma in general.

In the Government's proposal that amends the legal regime for the entry, stay, exit and removal of foreigners from the national territory, among other aspects, it is determined that the granting of residence and temporary stay visas to nationals of a State in which the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) Agreement does not depend on a prior opinion from the SEF, can be “without prejudice to the granting of visas being communicated to the SEF, for the purposes of exercising its powers in matters of internal security”.

A change that the executive says results from the mobility agreement signed by all CPLP member states at the last summit of the organization's heads of state in July last year, in Luanda.

Temporary workers

With this diploma, the Government also intends to establish “procedures to attract regulated and integrated immigration for the development of the country, change the way in which the public administration relates to immigrants and guarantee conditions for the integration of immigrants.

To this end, the Government wants to move forward with the creation of a title of limited duration that allows the legal entry of immigrants in Portugal with the objective of looking for work, simplifying procedures and opening the possibility of temporary stay or residence visas.