By creating a “humanitarian visa”, the party wants to ensure that asylum seekers “do not have to travel to national territories, with all the risks that such travel entails, and can instead seek asylum at their Portuguese embassy”. “In the country of origin or neighboring country”.
The Liberal Initiative today introduced a bill to create a “humanitarian visa” that would allow people fleeing persecution or conflict in their home country to temporarily seek political asylum in Portugal.
The law currently provides that for a foreign citizen or stateless person to request political asylum in Portugal, they must do so on national soil, through a request to the Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) or other police authorities.
Through the bill, the Liberal initiative seeks to create a “humanitarian visa” where asylum seekers “do not have to travel to the national territory, with all the risks associated with such travel, and can instead pursue an application for asylum at a Portuguese consulate in your country of origin or in a neighboring country”.
“This opportunity already exists in several countries such as Germany, France, Lithuania, Poland and Brazil”, reads the diploma.
In practice, the bill aims to create a humanitarian visa, designed for people “exposed to war, grave danger or persecution”, to be issued directly at the embassy of the country of origin or in a neighboring country. They will come to Portugal temporarily and then they can claim political asylum.
For this purpose, the diplomatic services “use information related to possible ethnic, military or other conflicts that may occur in certain regions, to the affected persons, to issue visas for humanitarian reasons,” the diploma provides.
The Liberal initiative mentions “the possibility of issuing visas for humanitarian reasons, politically and formally, in accordance with the recommendations of the European Parliament”, as well as the rulings of the Court of Justice of the European Union. -Members “are free to issue humanitarian visas through their embassies or consulates to persons seeking to enter their territory, in accordance with their national law, with a view to seeking asylum.
Therefore, the party proposes an amendment to the Law on the Entry, Stay, Exit and Removal of Foreigners from National Borders, so that Article 45 will now include “humanitarian visas” to refer to “types of visas issued abroad”. Given to
This visa is granted “for entry and temporary stay” “for humanitarian reasons, authorized by order of the Minister, i.e. on the basis of lists of persecuted citizens or information about ethnic, military or other conflicts occurring in a given region”.
The Liberal initiative also provides that this visa is “only valid for Portuguese territory”.
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