Brazilian Wilton Ferreira traveled more than 200 kilometers from the Algarve to Lisbon to receive the long-awaited residence permit. When the card arrived at the address, he was working and, afterwards, he was unable to go to the post office in time to collect the document. On his first break from work, after being notified by email that the residence permit was at the Mission Structure headquarters in Lisbon, the immigrant went to collect it. And he received it from the hands of the Brazilian ambassador in Lisbon, Raimundo Carreiro, who was visiting the place together with the DN Brazil and the Secretary of State for Migration, Rui Armindo Freitas. “I’m very happy, really happy, I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time,” he told DN Brazil. “Are you feeling welcomed?” asked the ambassador. The Brazilian responded. “Now yes”, with the residence permit in hand.
The statement reflects what most immigrants feel: that true integration begins when the valid residence permit is in your pocket, to be presented to the authorities and ensure the rights provided for by law, often denied during the long waiting period. Wilton, who works in maintenance at a hotel chain, arrived in Portugal two and a half years ago. He did the interview at the Mission Structure in December last year.
With ten months of waiting for the card, the Brazilian’s case illustrates the only recurring criticism of the Mission Estrura’s work: the delay between the service and having the card in hand, the most desired moment by foreign citizens who chose Portugal to live. In addition to this delay, there is no way of knowing how the process is going, due to the lack of a system online that allows monitoring. By telephone, when calls are answered, employees claim that they cannot provide the information. Emails and letters are also not answered.
To have an overview of this service, the DN Brazil obtained the total number of services so far from the Ministry of the Presidency. Since September 2024, more than 22 service locations have already received 501,771 foreign citizens, of which 214,583 are from Brazil. The number is equivalent to around 42% of the total. The Government states that it has already “practically zeroed out” the cases of expression of interest, and, as the case of Wilton illustrates, it is still delivering cards. In Lisbon alone, there are more than two thousand documents to be delivered. Cards returned by the post office are also kept in the center of Porto, these being the only two locations.
O DN Brazil found that, of the total, less than three thousand cases (in a universe of more than 400 thousand expressions of interest) are still unresolved, with a dedicated team to finalize them as soon as possible. Currently, there are just under three months left until the end of this task force1300 people pass through the Mission Structure in Lisbon every day, from 8 am to 10 pm. At this moment, the focus of services is on renewing residence permits and exchanging the paper with a QR Code from the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP).