Lisbon. Representatives of migrant organizations including Nepal held a joint meeting with the President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. In the meeting held at Belem Palace, the presidential residence in Lisbon, the team led by Timoteo Macedo, president of the Solidarity Association for Immigrants, specifically demanded to correct the immigration policy recently released by the Portuguese government.
Rajkumar Thapa, member of the International Coordinating Council of the Non-Resident Nepali Association, a member of the Nepali representative participating in the team, said in the meeting that the team drew the attention of the president to the problems and difficulties faced by the immigrants due to the recently changed immigration policy by the Portuguese government.
He said that millions of immigrants have been affected due to the policies and regulations related to immigration. Member Thapa said that the team asked the President not to be harsh on the immigrants.
According to him, President Sousa expressed special interest in the changed policy on immigration and the problem of immigrants, and said that his attention was drawn by the immigration representative. On that occasion, the team handed over a memorandum signed by representatives of 51 immigrant organizations to the President on the problems and difficulties of immigrants.
On the same occasion, member Thapa handed over the souvenir ‘Nepal-Portugal Darpan’ published by Non-Resident Nepali Association Portugal to the President. Immigrants have been affected since the Portuguese government implemented a new policy on immigration last month to make it tougher for immigrants. Immigrants were affected after the government stopped the process of applying for residence permits here.
