Portugal's Immigrant Population Set for Significant Revision, Government Reveals

Significant Increase in Immigrant Numbers

The Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, announced this Wednesday that the number of immigrants in Portugal will see a "very significant" upward revision. He emphasized the need for a discussion regarding the public services' capacity to respond to this increase.

"In the coming weeks, there will be a revision of the numbers of residence permits requested and issued, which is going to be very significant," he stated during the Antena 1 program Política com Assinatura.

Updated Data and Economic Response

According to the September report from the Agency for Integration, Migration, and Asylum (AIMA), the resident foreign population in Portugal surged by 33.6% in 2023, totaling 1,044,606 citizens with residence permits. Amaro pointed out that the government already has preliminary information on these revised numbers, which will be disclosed shortly, indicating that the previous estimates had been substantially exceeded.

Historical Context and Current Challenges

Amaro highlighted that these revised figures pertain to a period before the current government took office. He mentioned a backlog of 440,000 processes to be addressed, which will reflect the numbers up until the end of 2023. He criticized the previous government led by António Costa, attributing "great irresponsibility" to their handling of immigration since 2017.

Political Accountability

Pedro Nuno Santos, the current secretary-general of the PS, was also called out for maintaining this irresponsibility over several months. Recently, however, he appeared to be shifting his stance on immigration policy. In a recent interview, he acknowledged that not everything was handled properly in recent years regarding immigration.

Amaro concluded by stressing that in the past six years, the number of foreign residents in Portugal has more than doubled, from 480,300 in 2017 to over one million last year.