Portugal offering temporary protection for over 31,000 Ukrainians

Portugal has accepted 31,543 requests for temporary protection from Ukrainian citizens and foreigners living in that country, since the beginning of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, on February 24, announced the Immigration and Borders Service, SEF.

According to the SEF, among the more than 31,000 requests for temporary protection, 21,220 are women and 10,323 are men, with 11,024 minors among the population who requested protection from Portugal and received a positive response. Regarding minors, SEF has communicated to the public prosecutor 433 cases of minors who arrived in Portugal accompanied by another person other than parents or legal representative, having also communicated to the Child and Youth Protection Commissions another 14 cases of unaccompanied minors or in the presence of another person other than parents or legal representative, in a situation of current or imminent danger.

The municipalities with the highest numbers of requests are Lisbon, Cascais, Sintra, Porto and Albufeira, adds the SEF in a statement. During the process for temporary protection in Portugal, citizens have access to tax identification numbers, social security and the national health service (SNS) numbers, so they can benefit from these services and enter the labor market.

SEF also has an “online” platform, in three languages, for requests for temporary protection by Ukrainian residents. The plataform named “SEFforUkraine.sef.pt” “enables all Ukrainian citizens and their relatives (households), as well as any foreign citizen residing in Ukraine, to make “online” a request for temporary protection of one year, then extendable for two periods of six months.”

The platform also contains information on other aspects of reception and integration of displaced persons. On February 24th Russia launched a military offensive in Ukraine that has killed almost 2,000 civilians, according to UN data, which warns that the actual number is likely to be much higher.
The war has caused more than 11 million people to flee, more than five million of them to neighboring countries.

The Russian invasion was condemned by the international community in general, which responded by sending arms to Ukraine and strengthening economic and political sanctions against Moscow.