According to the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, José Cesário, the entry into Portugal of CPLP immigrants will be “more demanding”.

Regarding the visa for looking for work, “the person will have to demonstrate that they have the conditions to subsist in Portugal while they are looking for work”, he said.

Following the changes to the Foreigners Law, which came into force on October 30, 2022, citizens of the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP) were granted simplified visas, being exempt from “proof of means of subsistence”.

In this case, they would have to present a term of responsibility from a Portuguese or foreigner residing in Portugal that guarantees their subsistence and accommodation.

This proof will be necessary again, and the Government has already given guidance in this regard.

“What we want is for people to come to Portugal, to come with the full defense of their rights, but without facing situations of authentic marginality, poverty, isolation, which is not good for them and not good for the country”, said the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities.

And he reinforced: “Portugal, if it needs labour, that's fine, it uses foreign labour, but it has to guarantee the rights of the people who come; but the doors are also not wide open for anyone to come, who then remains there to help God, often without being able to guarantee their subsistence”.

José Cesário believes that “these changes could result in regulation of this sector and, above all, a greater defense of citizens' rights and also a greater defense of the country's rights”.

On the other hand, CPLP visas will no longer overlap with all others.

“When the CPLP visa appeared, it overlapped all others. Now, we are implementing a change, a change, which is that the person can choose whether they want a CPLP visa or another type of visa”, he explained.

For José Cesário, “the fact that [a citizen] comes from a CPLP country does not have to force a citizen to always have a CPLP visa”.

He added that there are many people who feel penalized and who do not want the CPLP visa, but rather “a different visa, which allows them a normal residence permit, which in turn allows them to travel within the European Union, in the Schengen area, and that didn’t happen.”

The fact that CPLP Residence Permit holders cannot travel within the European Union is an “absolutely recurring complaint” from these immigrants.

“I have been sensitive to it for a long time and this is a change that must be pursued immediately,” he said, indicating that he has already signed the ordinance that will allow this change.

The CPLP integrates Portugal, Cape Verde, Brazil, Timor-Leste, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe, Angola and Mozambique.