"It's not right, 400 euros is a lot of money", says the Turkish Levin, one of the many immigrants who gathered today at the institution's headquarters in Lisbon to try to ask for clarifications on the change in the rules for payment of scheduling costs.

According to electronic messages sent on Wednesday night to immigrants with expressions of interest who are waiting to schedule a meeting to complete their processes or within the scope of family reunification, AIMA is demanding advance payment of the costs.

For cases of spouses of immigrants in a regular situation, the cost is 33 euros, for citizens of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) the amount is 56.88 euros and for the others the total is 397.90 euros, payable in a few days.

"We received 1763 emails about this", lawyer Catarina Zuccaro, a specialist in these processes, told Lusa, who is critical of the decision, although she admits that the values are those practiced, but only at the time of scheduling and not before.

"These are people who have been waiting for years and now they are being asked to pay before something they did not have. This is worrying. Everyone is super scared, because they are afraid of losing everything. A lifetime waiting for a visa and those who live on a minimum wage have great difficulty in paying 400 euros at once", said the lawyer, who accuses AIMA of "solving its problems and not those of immigrants".

According to the lawyer, this measure will allow AIMA to "screen" who actually remains in Portugal, after having submitted an expression of interest.

"I understand. There are a lot of people in the system and this will allow us to select [who is still in Portugal], but it is unfair. There are other ways", considered the lawyer.

The Russian Valeria, who was waiting in line this afternoon at AIMA's headquarters, is one of those cases of despair of those who do not know how they are going to pay the costs of the process.

"I couldn't get a job, I can't withdraw money from Russia because of the sanctions. I'm going to have to choose between eating and paying", she said.

The leader of the Bangladeshi community in Lisbon, Rana Taslim Uddin, accuses the Portuguese authorities of "changing the rules" without taking into account the "difficulties of those who are here and want to live here".

"Suddenly, a person receives this request for a very high amount, without any consultation with immigrant associations", stressed the Bengali leader, who is concerned about the "negative signal" that is given to those who "also work so much for the Portuguese economy".

In the email sent to immigrants, AIMA warns that payment must be made within ten working days, to ensure "the scheduling of your service, following the presentation of the expression of interest".

The "failure to pay the fee within the established deadline determines the extinction of the regularization procedure" and, "after the validation of the account and the payment, you will receive a scheduling proposal within the following 20 working days".

After "the scheduling and before the scheduled date, you will receive a link that will allow you to resubmit all updated information and documentation, in order to expedite your process and simplify the service", says AIMA in the email.

"If you are no longer interested in proceeding with the expression of interest, please inform us by clicking here, allowing another user to have access to a vacancy more quickly", you can also read in the email.

Mohamed Sall came from Mali six months ago and was at the door of AIMA today to try to find out more information.

"You have to pay, I pay. I just want to make sure I'm not being cheated. I already owe a lot to a lot of people to get here", he said, without clarifying how he made the trip to Lisbon.

"Portugal is the country where I want to live. I want to live in an organized place without war", he explained.

The leader of the Association for the Support of Immigrants and Refugees in Portugal, Amadou Diallo, considers the cost requested at once, before scheduling, to be "unacceptable".

"400 euros is a lot of money and people have nothing. They live on the street and now they want 400 euros", he asks.

Levin left southern Turkey, near Syria, to try to "live in Europe". He works in a restaurant and dreams of bringing his wife and children. "I like Portugal, I'm not going to give up. But it's hard to pay like that all at once", he said.

If the objective of the Portuguese authorities is to keep immigrants away from the dream of legal residence in Portugal, Rana Taslim Uddin warns that this will not happen.

"People will pay. It's unfair, but they will pay, because those who want to stay here to work, those who like Portugal, don't want to leave here", he summed up.

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