Brazilians have been waiting more than a year for equality status to be granted

Treaty between Brazil and Portugal is the "hope" for those who obtained a CPLP residence permit to have "some document", but talk of information at SEF and AIMA generates complaints.

The "delivery receipt notice" from CTT (Portuguese Post Office) is the only proof that the request for the granting of the equality of rights status for José Ronaldo da Silva and his wife, Camilla Pontes, was delivered and received at the correct location. This document is dated December 13, 2023. Since then, the couple has received no updates about the process. "Nowadays, all requests are taking a year or more to be granted. Why does it take so long? For those with CPLP residence permits, this problem would already be solved with the card, some well-known document," José Ronaldo told DN Brasil.

The card Ronaldo refers to is the "citizen's card," the Portuguese identification document that can be requested by Brazilians after the approval of the equality of rights request. Those with a CPLP residence permit, which is a form of regularization confirmed only by a paper – and which some entities have refused, as DN Brasil has already reported – turn to the equality status to get "an official document," explains Ronaldo. "With the citizen's card, I wouldn't have any problems. The CPLP is just a piece of paper, but the card is a recognized and accepted document," says the Brazilian.

The equality of rights and duties status, as well as the equality of political rights and duties status, are mechanisms established under the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation signed between Brazil and Portugal in 2000. These rights are valid for adult Brazilians residing legally in Portugal and for Portuguese citizens residing in Brazil. The application process is, in theory, simple: the applicant must present documents proving legal residence and obtain a certificate issued by the Brazilian consulate. Additionally, they need to fill out a form available on the AIMA (Agency for Integration, Migration, and Asylum) website and submit it in person or by mail.

"After submission, the documentation is reviewed. However, we have noticed a significant delay in processing these requests, which now takes about 12 months. We believe this is not by chance, but rather a result of the restructuring that the former SEF (Foreigners and Borders Service), now AIMA, is undergoing, combined with the volume of cases and lack of staff. All these factors have contributed to the requests taking about a year," explains lawyer Jéssica Oliveira to DN Brasil.

Iana Lima, a Brazilian from Amazonas, waited 14 months until she received an email in April this year, informing her about the approval of her equality status. However, her roommate, Geovane Conceição, from Bahia, still hasn't received any response, even though they both applied at the same time, in February 2023. "It’s a life delay," complains Geovane. "It's a lack of respect for people. It disrupts public tenders and many things we could resolve online, but without the card, it’s complicated," says Iana about the rights enabled by the citizen's card.

Brazilians who obtain the equality status have access to several benefits, such as applying for public tenders, using government services online, and paying the same fees as Portuguese citizens in educational institutions. José Ronaldo, for example, hoped to study in Portugal with the equality status. "I wanted to do a master's in my technical field, IT, and not pay the higher fee. I sent an email once asking for information, but AIMA doesn’t respond," laments the Brazilian.