President sends foreigners' law to the Constitutional Court

The President of the Republic sent the law on foreigners to the Constitutional Court this Thursday. The head of state requested a preemptive review of the constitutionality of the rules on the right to family reunification and the conditions for exercising it.

The request for a review of the legislative pact is urgent. The president fears that changes could violate principles of equality and proportionality in access to justice.

"The President of the Republic today submitted the Decree of the Assembly of the Republic amending the law on foreigners to the Constitutional Court for urgent preventive review of its constitutionality," the Presidency of the Republic announced.

For Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the decree “introduces or alters a significant set of concepts of an undetermined nature or, at least, of difficult (or even impossible) concrete determination”.

According to the President of the Republic, these concepts can not only “hinder the application of the law, not contributing to the necessary and desired legal security and certainty of the law, constitutionally guaranteed principles”, but also “generate differentiated and discriminatory treatment and, certainly, bring an increased and considerable risk of litigation in a fundamental matter of great importance for our country and for those interested”.

"Furthermore, in a matter of this sensitivity, it is not at all advisable for there to be conceptual uncertainty and recourse to indeterminate concepts, potentially violating the constitutional principle of legal certainty," he added.

He therefore requested “urgent preventive monitoring of the constitutionality of the rules” on the right to family reunification and the conditions for its exercise, and set a 15-day deadline for “an urgent ruling by the Constitutional Court.”