Family Reunification in Portugal: The Law in Practice

Book excerpt: Over the past fifteen years Portugal has promoted several changes in the access of immigrants to family reunification that were interlinked with a significant progress in terms of integration policies. This report analyses the practice of the law, highlighting the hurdles and challenges that immigrants might face during the family reunification process in Portugal. The contact with immigrants, NGOs representatives, policymakers, lawyers and mediators helped to understand this reality. This study was developed between 2011 and 2013 for the project “Family reunification: a barrier or facilitator of integration?”, co-funded by the European Integration Fund, Directorate B: Immigration and Asylum Unit, DG Home Affairs, of the European Commission.