SEF prepares new model to regularise situation of thousands of immigrants before handing over to APMA

Foreigners and borders agency SEF has announced it is preparing a new model to regularise the situation of thousands of immigrants who have shown interest, between 2021 and 2022, in obtaining a residence permit in Portugal – before SEF itself is finally ‘extinguished’ and morphs into APMA, the Portuguese agency for asylum and migrations. In a statement, SEF says the new model involves notifying online the 290,000 immigrants who have shown interest  – many of whom the agency believes will no longer be in this country. Large temporary processing centres will then be set up in pavilions, a little along the lines of temporary vaccination centres during the pandemic. The idea is to ‘clear the backlog’ of immigrants potentially waiting to be processed before SEF’s extinction deadline of March 31.