Regional Government welcomes approval of social mobility aid for all resident immigrants - Communication

Secretaria Regional dos Assuntos Parlamentares e Comunidades

The Regional Secretary for Parliamentary Affairs and Communities welcomed today's unanimous approval by the National Assembly regarding the proposal for a law extending the social mobility aid to all immigrants residing in the Autonomous Region of the Azores.

Paulo Estevão thanked the "constructive participation" of all the parties represented in the Legislative Assembly and the National Assembly, praising "the unanimity and speed of the entire process."

The social mobility aid for national air travel by residents of the Azores, created in 2015, was reinstated last November with a restrictive interpretation, excluding immigrants living in the region who are not from European Union member states or Brazil.

This new national interpretation of the law in force has affected almost 2,500 of the more than 6,000 immigrants residing in the Azores. According to the government official, it constitutes "clear discrimination and profound injustice" for around 1% of the population living on the nine islands.

The Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, at the proposal of the coalition parties supporting the Regional Government, then unanimously approved a preliminary draft law submitted to the National Assembly to "clarify the law and correct its interpretation." It even resorted to the legal procedure of a request for urgent parliamentary debate.

Following this decision, the Regional Secretary for Parliamentary Affairs and Communities travelled to Lisbon last week to meet with the parties represented in the National Assembly, urging them to "speed up and approve the resolution of this problem."

Paulo Estevão was accompanied by the president of the Association of Immigrants in the Azores, Leoter Viegas, and the Regional Director for the Communities, José Andrade, who praised AIPA's "important partnership" throughout this process.

The political parties represented in the National Assembly "acknowledged the convenience and urgency of this approval,"  according to Paulo Estevão, "and thus made a decisive contribution to changing the law, in record time, to everyone's benefit."

Now, all immigrants living in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, who work and pay contributions like the rest of us, are legally entitled to the social mobility aid for residents regardless of their country of birth.