Government, political parties, group of healthcare professionals, immigrant associations and the National Association of Parishes (ANAFRE): these are some of the entities that advocate issuing an address certificate to immigrants living in the country. But none of the entities can force parish councils to pass the document, even if there is no legal impediment that prevents them.
More than 20 days after DN revealed the situation in Arroios and others together increase entities defending the rights of foreign citizens. However, there seems to be no one to convince some parish councils to change their minds, as is the case of Arroios, which maintains the position of not issuing certificates to immigrants without a residence permit, confirmed DN with Carlos Rêgo, advisor to the mayor , Madalena Natividade. Rêgo denies having received an opinion from ANAFRE, saying it was just “information”, despite being signed by the association’s legal office.
The advisor says that a “true opinion” is that of the General Directorate of Local Authorities (DGAL), which, according to Rêgo, defends the need for a residence permit to obtain the certificate. The DN tried to obtain clarification from DGAL, but received no response.
Jorge Veloso, president of ANAFRE, tells DN that he “cannot force” the boards to change their minds, but that he “would really like them to accept” the opinion of the association he leads. According to Veloso, parish councils do not have the power to judge cases, but rather to carry out administrative acts, such as issuing an address certificate. “What is at stake is proof of residence and not the legality of staying in national territory, a legal competence that parish councils do not have”, states an opinion from the entity’s legal office. The document was sent once again to all local authorities.
The refusal of some councils across the country to provide the document causes a series of constraints and a direct impact on the lives of immigrants who want to start their lives here, but also those who already live and pay taxes in Portugal.
This is what happened to Brazilian Luize Mourele, who has lived in Coimbra for two years and is waiting for her residence permit, requested at the end of 2022. The need for an address certificate issued by the parish council began as it was necessary in the face of another bureaucratic obstacle: even with a lease contract in its name, the school did not accept the certificate for the equivalence process of educational qualifications.
Luize, 27 years old, began an exhausting pilgrimage through public bodies and schools in Coimbra trying to solve the problem.
The urgency had a justification: a deadline to enroll in a course at the Institute of Employment and Professional Training (IEFP) that will help her career. Luize has a degree in social assistance from the University of Brasília (UNB), but has not yet managed to get a position in the area in Portugal. After much insistence, back and forth, the young woman managed to request equivalence. “The secretary sympathized with me, because of my despair”, she says.
Several associations supporting immigrants, such as Casa do Brasil, as well as professionals working in the area, publicly assume that the disparity in public service rules in Portugal is one of the main obstacles to the integration of immigrants. The latest annual report from the Ombudsman’s Office highlights the entire second chapter on the “lack of coordination between public services”. The provider’s assessment is that “the difficulty for public services to act in concert prevents the regular processing of procedures”.
The Ombudsman still accuses the public service of “contradictions, lack of consultation and dialogue”. The same report highlights two other problems in Public Administration: slowness and communication problems. Again, the issues intertwine and create more obstacles. To cite Luize’s case again, if the residence permit, requested in 2022, had already been issued, the immigrant would have no problem obtaining the equivalence of her educational qualifications.
The Ombudsman’s Office itself received two complaints about the issue of address certificates, but is still analyzing the situation, an official source told DN. The same body has an opinion that responds to a similar situation in 2007, in which it recommends that the address certificate be provided, as required by law, from oral or written testimony from two voting citizens and a statement from the applicant. The final recommendation was that “the procedures leading to the issuance of a residence certificate be changed in favor of foreign citizens residing in the parish of Ericeira, in strict compliance with the legal regime in force in this matter”. The provider at the time, H. Nascimento Rodrigues, classified the other requirements to obtain the document as “extravagant”.
At the time, there was also a justification for false statements, the same one used by the Junta de Arroios. However, local authorities do not have legal powers to do so. “The intervention that local authorities are called upon to carry out in this matter is based, solely and exclusively, on the capacity, of those legally recognized, to certify facts and not legal situations (such as the regularity of stay in Portugal)”. The opinion is similar to the conclusion of the ANAFRE legal office. “What is at stake is proof of residence and not the legality of staying in national territory, a legal competence that parish councils do not have”, explains the entity.
Tags: Junta Arroios issuing certificates immigrants pressure
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