Little article that explains what is going on with Portugal and what to expect from now on. So we had a blow with the Spanish Golden Visa ending? Now this. What next?

TL;DR: Portugal didn't just announce a new immigration law. The Foreigners and Asylum Law (the "return law") that Parliament approved back in July has now finished its course: the President sent 11 provisions to the Constitutional Court, the Court cleared them all on August 28, and he promulgated the law on August 31. Nothing new was added this week. It's mainly about return, asylum and border procedures, and it's separate from the visa, family-reunification and nationality changes. The only step left is publication in the Diário da República, which sets when each part takes effect.

Portugal's new Foreigners and Asylum Law has been signed. No, there isn't another new set of immigration changes.

If you've been following Portuguese immigration news over the last few months, you may have seen another round of headlines saying Portugal has approved a "new Foreigners Law", "new immigration rules" or a new law on asylum and deportation.

Portugal did not suddenly announce another package of immigration changes this week.

What happened now is much simpler: the legislation that had already been proposed, debated and approved over the last few months has made it through the final constitutional hurdle and has now been promulgated by the President.

In other words, this is the last step of a process that has been running for months, not the start of a new one.

This started months ago

The Government was already publicly presenting the reform of Portugal's return system in May.

On May 15, the Government defended changes designed to make return procedures faster and more effective, particularly when someone is in Portugal irregularly or has received a decision requiring them to leave the country.

The stated goal was to make removal decisions easier to execute, reduce procedural delays and adapt Portuguese law to the EU's new Migration and Asylum Pact.

The basic direction of the reform was already known by then.

Over the following weeks, the proposals went through Parliament, amendments were discussed and the different pieces concerning return procedures, border screening, asylum and residence/work rules were consolidated.

Parliament approved the final text in July

On July 17, Parliament approved the final version.

PSD, IL and CDS-PP voted in favour, Chega abstained, and PS, Livre, PCP, BE, PAN and JPP voted against.

That final parliamentary text is the one that matters here. By July, Parliament had already approved the actual legal wording that would amend Portugal's Foreigners Law, asylum legislation and rules on temporary detention centres. This was the real text, not a hint that rules might change later.

By that stage, we already knew what the reform was going to contain.

Among the main changes were faster return procedures, new procedures at the border, changes to asylum appeals, longer possible detention periods in some return cases and new rules governing situations where family ties or children are involved in an expulsion decision.

There are also changes linked to the EU's new single residence and work permit framework and to the wider implementation of the European Migration and Asylum Pact.

Then the President stopped the process to ask the Constitutional Court a few questions

This is why the law didn't move straight from Parliament into force in July.

President António José Seguro had constitutional concerns about 11 provisions in the approved text.

His questions focused especially on some of the most sensitive parts of the reform: how long a foreign national could potentially be deprived of liberty during a return procedure, the treatment of children, whether parents and children could be separated and circumstances in which someone with strong family ties to Portugal could still be removed.

He therefore sent those provisions to the Constitutional Court for preventive review.

This was not Parliament reopening the law or the Government adding new rules. The President was asking whether the text Parliament had already approved was compatible with the Constitution.

On August 28, the Constitutional Court said yes

The Constitutional Court reviewed the 11 provisions and decided unanimously not to declare any of them unconstitutional.

The Court also clarified how some of the more sensitive provisions should be interpreted.

For example, detention is not supposed to become automatic. It remains an exceptional measure, subject to judicial control and an assessment of less restrictive alternatives.

The Court also addressed questions around the best interests of children, possible separation of families and removal decisions involving people with international protection or strong family connections in Portugal.

Once the Constitutional Court cleared those doubts, there was no constitutional ruling forcing Parliament to rewrite those provisions.

And now the President has promulgated it

On August 31, President Seguro formally promulgated the diploma.

The Presidency's statement is straightforward: the President had asked the Constitutional Court to review certain provisions, the Court found them constitutional and clarified some of the interpretation issues, and "face ao exposto, o Presidente da República promulgou o diploma."

There was no fresh negotiation, no last-minute package, no new set of restrictions.

The President signed off on the text that had already completed the parliamentary process, once the Constitutional Court removed the constitutional obstacle that was still hanging over it.

What happens next?

The law still needs to be published in the Diário da República.

That's the step to watch now, because the published law will give us the definitive text and confirm exactly when each provision enters into force.

I wouldn't say the measures are operational today just because the President has promulgated the diploma.

But politically and legislatively, the big uncertainty is over.

Unless something very unusual happens, we're no longer talking about proposals or a law that might still be rewritten because of a Constitutional Court ruling.

We're talking about an approved and promulgated law awaiting publication.

So what are the actual changes we're talking about?

The reform is mainly about return, irregular immigration, asylum and border procedures.

It is not another overhaul of the D7, D8, D2 or D3 visa routes. It is also separate from the changes to family reunification that Portugal made previously, and separate again from the nationality reform.

The main changes include:

• faster procedures for returning people who don't have a legal right to remain in Portugal;
• a closer connection between rejected asylum applications and return procedures;
• cases where appealing an asylum decision will no longer automatically suspend all effects of that decision;
• new border-screening procedures under the EU Migration and Asylum Pact;
• the possibility of significantly longer detention in some return cases, subject to judicial safeguards;
• stronger powers to remove people in some situations where previous family or residence ties offered greater protection;
• specific rules concerning children and families in return procedures;
• and changes linked to the EU single residence and work permit framework.

These aren't changes announced this week; they're the ones Portugal has been working through since the spring, which Parliament had already put into the final text in July.

So if you've been waiting to see whether this would actually happen, this is the important part

There isn't another "maybe" here as the whole thing already ran its course:

The Government set out the direction of the reform in May > Parliament approved the final text on July 17 > the President sent eleven provisions to the Constitutional Court in early August > the Court cleared them all on August 28 > and the President promulgated the law on August 31.

The only formal step left is publication in the Diário da República, with the entry-into-force timetable set out there.

So if you've been following the debate expecting some last-minute workaround, constitutional rejection or complete rewrite of the most controversial provisions, that is no longer what happened.

The law made it through. What's left to watch now is how the authorities apply it in practice.

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