This measure is included in the "strategic plan for migration in Portugal" presented by Chega's president, André Ventura, at the party's headquarters in Lisbon.

Ventura defended that social support for immigrants "can only be requested and granted after a minimum of five years of contributions from these immigrants in Portuguese territory".

"Social Security makes sense to support those who need it, but it also requires that those who need it have contributed to a service that is not theirs, to a system that Portuguese taxpayers have paid for over the years", he maintained.

Positive balance

In 2022, according to an annual report by the Migration Observatory (OM) published in December last year, immigrants were responsible for a positive balance of 1604.2 million euros in Social Security.

According to the text, entitled "Immigrant Integration Indicators, Annual Statistical Report 2023", the relationship between foreigners' contributions and their counterparts in the Portuguese Social Security system, that is, the social benefits that some benefit from, in the reference years of this report, "continues to produce a very positive financial balance".

When asked about these data, Ventura replied that this obligation "does not call into question the contributions to Social Security" of immigrants, who would continue to contribute for five years without, however, being able to access any support.

Regarding the fact that the Portuguese did not contribute to Social Security for five years until they could access support, Ventura replied: "I know, but this country is still ours and still belongs to us".

The party, which proposes annual quotas for the entry of foreigners into Portugal based "on the qualifications of immigrants and the needs of the Portuguese economy", wants a "diagnosis of the sectors most in need of labour in Portugal to be carried out, as well such as the analysis of the risks of non-integrated immigration".

Revoking the CPLP mobility agreement, creating the crime of "illegal residence on Portuguese soil" or reversing the end of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) are other measures.

For André Ventura, "Portugal has a duty to welcome, but it must welcome with rules and control".