An email, to which Antena 1 had access, states that from now on it will be mandatory to pay fees before going to the agency counters. And the value soared from around 90 euros to almost 400.
Contacted by Antena 1, AIMA confirms this change in procedures, which it says was made to speed up the response to requests.
However, there are those who consider that the objective of the Agency for Migration and Asylum Integration is to cancel part of the approximately 400 thousand processes that are pending, an Argentine immigrant told Antena 1, who preferred to remain anonymous, for fear of reprisals.
In response to Antena 1, the office of the Deputy Secretary of State of the Presidency says that the Government is not aware of the change in fees and adds that it has asked those responsible for the Agency for Migration and Asylum Integration for clarification.
According to AIMA, immigrants now have ten days to make the payment, otherwise the request will be automatically cancelled.
Heard by journalist Rosa Azevedo, the president of the Associação Solidariedade Imigrante de Beja says that this ten-day period is very short.
Since the emails began to be sent, many immigrants have called the association. Some are afraid that they are being victims of a computer scam.
The AIMA Workers Union welcomes this change in procedures.
The Union believes that the advance payment of fees can help resolve pending processes, because some immigrants no longer live in Portugal, and requests remain active, in the services of the Agency for Migration and Asylum Integration.
Tags: AIMA sends message immigrants pay advance process cancelled
