OAN Staff Abril Elfi
2:53 PM – Saturday, May 3, 2025
Minister of the Presidency António Leitão Amaro has stated that Portugal’s government is planning to expel approximately 18,000 foreigners living in the country without authorization.
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On Saturday, Amaro announced that the center-right government in the country will issue around 18,000 notifications to people in the country illegally to leave.
He continued, saying that officials are set to begin next week by asking some 4,500 foreigners to leave Portugal voluntarily within 20 days.
If they decide not to leave voluntarily, then they will be deported, Amaro said.
Amaro told the local press last week that “Portugal needs to review its deportation system, which doesn’t work.”
“It is important to realize that Portugal is one of the three countries in Europe that executes the fewest deportations of people who were ordered to leave for violating the rules, including for security reasons,” he said.
Amaro stressed that the notifications to leave the country are issued because people have come to the country “violating Portuguese and European rules.”
“A state governed by the rule of law needs to draw the consequences of what the law says, and what the law says is to give notice to leave the country voluntarily, within a period of up to 20 days, after which the so-called coercive removal must take place,” he added.
The country is set to hold an early general election on May 18th.
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro called the early election in March after his minority government lost a confidence vote in Parliament and resigned.
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