Portugal announced a new plan to toughed immigration rules on Monday.
The Portuguese government put an end to the regime that allowed foreigners to enter the country and only then apply for a residence permit.
They also announced the creation of a structure to settle an estimated 400,000 pending residency cases.
From now on, it will no longer be possible for a foreigner with a tourist visa to apply for legalisation in Portugal.
“We want to put an end to some mechanisms that have become an excessive abuse of our willingness to receive,” said the Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro. “That end is today.”
The announcements come days before millions of European head to the polls to vote for their representatives in the European Parliament – in an election widely anticipated to tilt the bloc to the right.
