“The meeting went well and was worth it. The President of the Republic listened to us and has a position that pleases us”, Timóteo Macedo, from Solidariedade Imigrante, one of the seven associations that were present at the Palácio de Belém, told Lusa.

According to Timóteo Macedo, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa “considers that the diploma, which came from the Council of Ministers and was promulgated by him in three hours, is temporary and will fight for that very reason”.

The recent changes to the Foreigners Law, in force since June 4, ended the two articles that allowed immigrants to proceed with a residence permit process and become legalized, known as “expression of interests”.

At issue is the end of article 88, aimed at employees, and article 89, for those in the country working on their own, explained Timóteo Macedo.

Since the decree law came into force, any request for expression of interest has been refused, even if the applicant is already in Portugal.

At the meeting, Marcelo promised to fight for these two articles to be “re-applied”, according to the representative of the Solidariedade Imigrante association.

“The president argued that this decree-law is temporary. The president will put pressure so that, in September, when the parties want to discuss the decree in detail - because there are parties asking for its review - mechanisms will be found so that the two articles of the expression of interest can be applied again”, said.

"There are thousands of children born in Portugal, patients undergoing treatment under bilateral agreements, family reunification processes and there is no answer for anything", lamented the leader.

The situation of immigrants, with the legal changes that banned expressions of interest, is "becoming unsustainable", with "thousands of people in limbo, who work and now have no channel to regularise themselves", added the director.