The lack of response to the processes of regularization of immigrants in the country has put many in difficult situations and social deprotection.
About 45 immigrants are now protesting outside the facilities of the Foreigners and Borders Service, near the Marquis of Pombal, against the late response of their legalization processes, and some of them are waiting for the residence documents there two and three years.
The immigrants, who mostly work in the agriculture sector, came from all over the country, but mainly from the Alentejo and Algarve, to obtain answers about their situation in the country.
“We protest because they do not give us the residence card. I paid the fees to make the documents two years ago and I’m still waiting for them. There are people who arrived a month ago and they receive them and we who have been here since 2015, we did not receive them, “Shaft Buttah told i . “We came to this country to work and we can not. We have to wait, wait and wait, “he said. “Let’s not get out of here. We need and want answers. We came from afar to stay here, from different cities all over the country. ”
Shahid Buttah also said that “nobody wants to know about us” and that “my boss says if I want to leave, let me go,” referring to the lack of social protection that immigrants are targeting in the country.
“We continue to receive letters from people who have been working for 40, 35, 24 months and have been discounting” and that “they are still waiting for a residence permit or a favorable order,” said Anabela Rodrigues, a leader of the Immigrant Solidarity Association , to i in an interview.
The association calculates “around 30 thousand” irregular immigrants in Portugal, referring to the very difficult conditions in which they live, especially in agriculture. “They divide houses between 4.5 and 8 people, because if they want to rent a house they can not because they do not have the conditions,” he said. “There are cases where the boss does not pay because the person does not have the social security number, getting into very difficult life situations,” he explained.
