“There is no right. 400 euros is a lot of money”, says Turkish Levin, one of the many immigrants who gathered today at the institution's headquarters, in Lisbon, to try to ask for clarification on the change in the rules for paying scheduling costs.

According to electronic messages sent on Wednesday night to immigrants with expressions of interest who are waiting to schedule a meeting to complete their processes or as part of family reunification, AIMA demands advance payment of the costs.

For spouses of immigrants in a regular situation, the cost is 33 euros, for citizens of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) the cost is 56.88 euros and for the rest, the total is 397.90 euros, payable in a few days.

“We received 1,763 emails about this”, lawyer Catarina Zuccaro, a specialist in these processes, told Lusa, who is critical of the decision.

“People have been waiting for years and now they are asking to pay in advance for something they didn’t have. This is worrying. Everyone is super scared because they are afraid of losing everything. A lifetime of waiting for a visa and those who live on a minimum wage have great difficulty paying 400 euros at once”, said the lawyer, who accuses AIMA of “solving their problems and not those of immigrants”.

According to the lawyers, this measure will allow AIMA to “sift” who actually remains in Portugal, after submitting an expression of interest.

"I understand. There are a lot of people in the system and this will allow us to select [who is still in Portugal], but it is unfair. There are other ways”, considered the lawyer.

Russian Valeria, who was waiting her turn in line this afternoon at AIMA headquarters, is one of those cases of despair of those who don't know how they will pay the costs of the process.

“I couldn’t get a job, I can’t get the money out of Russia because of the sanctions. I will have to choose between eating and paying”, she said.


“Changing the rules”

The leader of the Bangladeshi community in Lisbon, Rana Taslim Uddin, accuses the Portuguese authorities of “changing the rules” without taking into account the “difficulties of those who are here and want to live here”.

“Suddenly, a person receives this request for a very high value, without any consultation with the immigrant associations”, highlighted the Bengali leader, who is concerned about the “negative signal” that is given to those who “also work so hard for Portuguese economy”.

In the email sent to immigrants, AIMA warns that payment must be made within ten working days, to ensure “the scheduling of your service, following the presentation of the expression of interest”.

“Failure to pay the fee within the prescribed period determines the termination of the regularisation procedure” and, “after validating the account and making payment, you will receive a scheduling proposal within the following 20 working days”.

After “the appointment and before the scheduled date, you will receive a link that will allow you to resubmit all the updated information and documentation, in order to speed up your process and simplify the service”, says AIMA in the email.

“If you are no longer interested in continuing with the expression of interest, please let us know by clicking here, allowing another user to have faster access to a vacancy”, can also be read in the email.

Mohamed Sall came from Mali six months ago and was at AIMA's door today to try to find out more information.


Scam

“You have to pay, I pay. I just want to make sure I'm not being scammed. I already owe a lot to a lot of people for getting here,” he said, without clarifying how he made the trip to Lisbon.

“Portugal is the country where I want to live. I want to live in an organised place without war,” he explained.

The leader of the Association to Support Immigrants and Refugees in Portugal, Amadou Diallo, considers the cost requested in one lump sum, before scheduling, to be “unacceptable”.

“400 euros is a lot of money and people have nothing. They live on the street and now they want 400 euros”, he asks.

Levin left southern Turkey, next to Syria, to try to “live in Europe”. He works in a restaurant and dreams of bringing his wife and children. “I like Portugal, I’m not going to give up. But it’s hard to pay that all at once,” he said.

If the objective of the Portuguese authorities is to keep immigrants away from the dream of legal residence in Portugal, Rana Taslim Uddin warns that this will not happen.

“People will pay. It's unfair, but they will pay, because those who want to stay here to work, those who like Portugal, don't want to leave here”, he summarised.

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