Men need a mission, purpose, or something to ground themselves. Prostitutes don’t provide any of that.
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And now let’s imagine that each one is allowed to bring his significant other with a couple of kids on average. Then there are parents of his, and possibly of hers. The single labourer now needs to find them housing. His children will need to be enrolled in a school, and his parents and in-laws might need medical care. All of this to be accomplished on… maybe 1000 € per month? Can Portugal truly accommodate a migrant family multiplier of 4x to 6x?
Do you see why so many Portuguese are concerned?
Yes, if the changes to the nationality law are approved as they are currently drafted, we all will suffer greatly, from a poor labourer to an affluent investor, myself including. Still let’s have a sober perspective on the reality of the current situation.
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Yeah we all being screwed…
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Quick release
Those kids grow up to become workers and taxpayers. They all consume goods which they pay VAT on, and buy other things within the economy
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Most certainly… in the future. The issue is now. That’s what everyone votes upon.
And BTW, not every community integrates into every society. If you come from the southern border states of the U.S., you will certainly see the differences. Often it takes more than one generation to fully assimilate.
Trust me: I was an immigrant into the U.S. in the 80s, and it took lots of effort to accept that the only path forward was assimilation. All too often the societal pressures of your community will hold you back. The key is to not create ghettos where similar cultures congregate and create a cultural bubble. That’s what a well-metered immigration must do, yet all too often fails.
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This is an honourable sentiment. I’ll add that even to a ruthless utilitarian, for the sake of the country, it’s important for the people to talk about peace and love. The nastier immigration debates with racial overtones in the media / on social media will find their way into school yards, leading to bullying, etc. and making it harder for the immigrants already in the country to integrate.
At the same time, policymakers need to use their heads, not just their hearts.
This Indian gentleman in Singapore was a construction worker on a “work permit,” which had no path to PR/citizenship. Then he had to better himself (imagine working a construction job in a place near the equator, and when all your coworkers get to relax after work, you shower and go to night school…) and get on a different class of employment visa, which eventually led to PR and citizenship.
When resources are limited, the country can only bear the social cost of integrating a certain number of immigrants. The “work permit” residents are just in Singapore to make money. Singapore pays them competitive wages and requires them to follow the laws, but don’t worry about integration or paying for healthcare in their old age. The classes of visas with path to PR/citizenship do require integration and long-term resources, so the country naturally should be more selective.
Some pure hearted leftists might call this modern slavery. But countries make hard choices, and different countries choose differently. At least what Singapore chooses works for Singapore. Can Portugal say the same?
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I guess we will have to see what Portugal has to say, regardless of whether we like it or not.
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Indeed. Meanwhile, I would very much like to get my hands on that residency card after 3 years of waiting 
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That’s exactly the concern of locals. One portuguese friend of mine told me that her relative working in a hospital as a doctor said that more than 90% babies born in the hospital are from foreign parents…Under the eyes of portuguese, it is 100% invasion.
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Do you think Portugal is going to exit the EU? Hard to keep out foreigners with open borders. EU citizens have almost unlimited right to move to Portugal
In my opinion, Portugal will never exit EU unless EU is dissolved or EU kicks them out.
It is actually not hard to keep the foreigners inside the country. The easiest way is to introduce a rule that immigrant must show up at police station every two weeks. If one does not show up at his local police station for check up, then his card is automatically cancelled unless he can prove the reason (medical one or on business trip) within a given period of times.
For EU citizens, it is impossible to track where they are if they use cash and public transport.
Can you please explain me how this new law will stop this? I am asking since the beginning for this debate but nobody could answer me properly. What is currently proposed solely affecting people’s citizenship rights. It means they will continue to live in Portugal. They will use all facilities and other common rights. How will this new law prevent it?
As of today, despite all the noise and speculation, nothing has really changed — everything remains as it is. Nearly 500,000 immigrants are reportedly eligible for citizenship, yet neither Portugal nor AIMA seems remotely capable of processing those numbers. On top of that, tens of thousands are living and sustaining their lives in Portugal with expired work permits, and countless Golden Visa and affluent retiree applications remain in limbo. I don’t know what your personal situation is — but the truth is, no one really knows what’s going on, or how to handle it. 
In storty short, wait 90 business days after your aima submission, no hearings → sue aima ! (2500 3000 eur for each )
I suppose you are referring to the “proposal to change citizenship’s law”. I am not sure what your question is. And what you refer “prevent” to…
However I am trying to answer.
If citizenship’s law is changed as proposed, then it will prevent the following things:
- to prevent relatives of the immigrant from entering to Portugal.
- to prevent immigrants from obtaining passports in 5 years. Whoever is eligible to apply now must wait 5 more years.
- to prevent some immigrants from getting passport for the rest of their lives by raising a requirement of language to b1/b2 and only taking exams count. Taking coures will no longer yield a language certificate. By doing so, immigrants (with weak language skills due to ability and high age) will never satisfy the requirement.
- to prevent the kids of immigrants from getting passport easily. It was 1 year physical requirement of immigrant parents. Now 1 year becomes 3 years.
- to prevent all low skilled immigrants from entering to Portugal
…
Thanks for your throughout answer. I assume that only way to address issues is stopping immigration. All the proposed law is just extending duration to be a citizen. None of them prevent new immigrants to come Portugal. Of course these are my vague interpretation but it seems Chega and others just want to abuse these immigrants more. They had to stop new immigrants and they had already did as far as I know. So this new laws just propose a brutal way of abusing more these innocent immigrants.
to prevent relatives of the immigrant from entering to Portugal.
Would you please explain me which part of the new law propose this?
It does prevent new immigrants to come to Portugal. As said earlier, only highly skilled immigrants will be eligible to apply for visa to enter the country. In addition to that, all visa application will be handled by the portuguese embassies. Therefore, there is no way for new tourists to enter Portugal and then legalize themselves by showing a work contract. If they want to stay in the country for long term stay, they must go back to their home country and apply for long term visa under highly skilled worker scheme.
The newly proposed law is that immigrants are allowed to bring relatives to Portugal after 2 years of staying in Portugal. Right now, they come on 1st day and next months their relatives might join them.
It’s better that you read this article. Google translate can help.
https://www.dn.pt/política/governo-fecha-as-portas-ainda-mais-à-imigração-economia-terá-que-se-adaptar-diz-ministro
Imagine trying to hire a foreigner expert for your company in Portugal. “The weather is wonderful! You will enjoy the beach alone for 2 years while waiting for your spouse to be eligible to join you!” Lol it’s a total non-starter.
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Only desperate low skilled migrants will be interested in that proposal, which will only exacerbate their economic troubles.
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here is a peripherally relevant article that provides a sense of the overall sentiment. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-07-07/over-tourism-the-most-overcrowded-destinations-and-what-can-be-done?utm_campaign=bn&utm_medium=distro&utm_source=yahooUS
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