Portugal says immigrant fees will fund integration plan and AIMA, approval due in November

Immigration pays for immigration

Minister of the Presidency António Leitão Amaro told parliament on Tuesday, 3 November, that the government will approve the National Integration Plan for immigrants by the end of November. The plan will be financed by fees and other charges the state collects from foreigners, and those fees will also be the sole funding source for AIMA, the agency for integration, migration and asylum. The announcement came during a committee-stage hearing on the 2027 State Budget proposal. Secretary of State Rui Armindo Freitas said the plan will involve municipalities, companies and civil society, and that it will also draw on European funds for immigration.

Freitas framed integration as a condition attached to settling in Portugal.

“Whoever chooses Portugal to live should learn our language, respect our laws and truly want to belong to our community.”

Some measures are already under way, including more linguistic and cultural mediators in schools and more funding for immigrant associations. The plan was promised a year ago. In an October interview with Lusa, Freitas said it is not meant to cover small actions, but to treat the foreign citizen as someone who must go through an integration path when arriving to build a career in the Portuguese economy.

Chega and the cost of immigration

The hearing was dominated by a dispute between the government and Chega, the party led by André Ventura. Chega deputy Cristina Rodrigues accused the government of being more "humanist" toward immigrants than toward Portuguese citizens, pointing to Portuguese-language courses for foreigners that cost 800,000 euros in total. She also argued that foreigners should not receive housing aid and that those who need it should not hold residence permits. Leitão Amaro replied that her premise was wrong and that the measures cost more than 100 million euros, including the reinforcement of AIMA.

“In this budget, for the first time, immigration is paying the costs of documentation, processing and integration.”

The minister also rejected Chega's proposal to bar children of foreigners from family allowance during their first four or five years in Portugal. He said it is false that immigrants come to exploit social security, pointing out that before the new single social benefit existed, foreign beneficiaries of the minimum income benefit (RSI) made up a share "much lower" than the total, below 4%. He pledged to keep opposing the idea that children of foreigners should lose family allowance.

Police clearance of housing camps

Housing protests have been held across the country since 10 October. Demonstrators want the new rental law reversed, an end to demolitions and evictions without alternative housing, limits on real estate funds buying homes, more public housing and the return of vacant buildings to residential use. On Friday, 30 October, Interior Minister Luís Neves said he assumed political responsibility for police operations at the camps in Lisbon and Porto, while stating that the PSP had full technical, tactical and operational autonomy.

“The political responsibility of the Government in this matter is absolutely mine.”

In the early hours of Sunday, 1 November, the PSP again cleared the camps at Rossio in Lisbon and Praça D. João I in Porto, removing about 100 tents. The operation ended in police charges and objects being thrown, leaving more than twenty people injured among protesters and officers. Answering a question from Bloco de Esquerda deputy Fabian Figueiredo, Leitão Amaro said there is a world of difference between political and operational responsibility.